Posted by broken on February 2, 2005, at 15:41:41
Dr Bob,
I simply wanted to state before I left, my opinion on the decision (or perhaps idea) of segregating the Babble community.
You have some fantastic people here; I would imagine you know that better than I do. In my opinion, your idea of separating them has caused more hurt feelings, and even distrust, among the community than your "gated communities" could ever hope to repair. Long time relationships have been damaged, some maybe even permanently because their feedback felt meaningless to them. You simply invalidated their sense of being a part of this group of boards, perhaps unintentionally.
If your core group of visitors decide to leave, you're losing what I perceived Babble to be about. Sharing experiences. Whether it is with meds, grief, abuse, or hospitalization, sharing those experiences is a very comforting thing, at least for me. I came here in search of information, what I found was a large group of people willing to share more than just information, they were willing to share part of their lives with me. That is a difficult thing to do at best, and impossible at worst. Yourself or any other professional cannot replace experience with information, no matter how good your intentions are, or how much effort you put forth.
Don't lose that here. I may be being entirely over dramatic, no one may decide to leave, but why risk that? Maybe try validating their trust and sense of belonging by giving their opinion a bit more weight than it appears you have. I say appears, because only you know how much consideration you have given the wishes of your community.
One last thing... Just because you can see every post here, does not mean you can see every discussion. Many people, such as myself, would not speak about certain personal things in front of 20 members, or 100. The number doesn't matter. The trust matters. I have been privileged enough to speak to many by email, to trade experiences, and offer as much support as I could. Because I didn’t do it on the open boards does not invalidate what I did. I used the boards to meet people, all of the people, and on ocassion, I spoke via email to many one on one, because I felt like the subject was too personal to share in front of any number of people, again 20 or 120, the number didn't matter.
I certainly wish you well, and hope to see the community continue to thrive and grow.
Thank you Dinah, Alexandra, Rain, and Fallen for the emails, and to the entire writing board for your tolerance for my writing, and for the pleasure I got from reading yours.
Take it easy
Chris
poster:broken
thread:451876
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050128/msgs/451876.html