Good afternoon Troopers!!
Hiya! to Satz and Pauly!!
At work today and have a few minutes to post between phone calls and e-mails. I know I've been absent since Monday and have only just now read back over the posts and wanted to add my thoughts to what you have said. Warning!!! – LONG POST!!!
First of all, let me add that my lack of posting mostly has to do with the time difference factor and the fact that for the past few months, with my new-found sober energy, I have been getting up earlier and going to bed earlier in the evenings and my hours are a little out of whack with the times that the rest of the Army are posting. Funny enough, it's the days that I'm at the store that I find I can manage to spend some time here. At home, there is always something that needs doing besides the work that I do for our business from home. Also, the past couple of weeks there have been a few “incidents” in my personal life that have left me a little worried and anxious and I really haven’t felt that I’ve anything positive to say so I just kept it to myself. Anyway, I will try consciously to take time to post. After all, this site is where it all started towards my getting sober, even if it did take me years to finally manage it.
I don't know that MWO as a whole is fading away because I don't read the other threads. Only ever glance at the Steppers once in a while to see how some other members are doing in their sobriety. It gives me great satisfaction to see others, such as NoraC, who, like myself, struggled for a long time and has now managed to stay AF for a good length of time. I don't read other threads although I did stop by one of the meds threads for a read a while ago and left running as fast as I could.
What I have seen, in the little that I do read, is that there are very, very few new members posting and I noticed that there are by far fewer responses than there would have been some years ago from the regular posters. I'm not sure what this is due to but it may be that because many of the posters have been here for a long time and perhaps they are, like most of us, content posting where they do regularly and don't venture much onto the other threads.
I agree with what Tabbers says but what I'm wondering is if those people who are feeling the darkness and the desperation, see what they need to see when they read the posts here. They are different than they used to be. There is more an air of "close friends' club" on some of the threads, including the Army, and some people may be put off by that, may feel that they can't join in or wouldn't be welcome or wonder just how to actually join a thread where everybody knows each other so well. I’m not saying that as criticism, it’s just that most of the members both here and on the Steppers’ thread, have known each other for years and years, some of you have even met up and even met other member’s families. We all keep up to date on what each other’s kids are up to – who’s getting married, who’s travelling to what country, who got a new job/boyfriend/car, etc. A newbie or visitor might find it daunting, to say the least, to start posting where everyone knows each other so well. And another thing, if you’re seeking help for your drinking problem, there is very little discussion of that on the threads I’ve read. Don’t know about the Loamers’, but here for example, most of the members are AF and have been for months to years. The “when I was drinking” has faded into the past. There is no talk of what it was like, how desperate we were to find help and how we got sober. That’s what new members/visitors need to see IMVHO so that they feel a connection with us. They need to see, in writing, what we all know as part of our past. It’s a part of their present and the reason they are looking for help and landed here at MWO. Just my two cents worth but I think it’s valid. So, what Satz says below echoes what I’m saying here. With the exception that in the past, no one had to ASK for people’s advice and support – it was given. As soon as a new person posted – there were responses. And I, myself, am guilty of not giving enough support/advice to new posters. Yes, we can get bored. And sometimes we take the time to answer a new member and get no response from them which is also frustrating.
I think it’s more a fact of not knowing where to go (except for the Newbie’s Nest) to post and where to after that? You can’t stay in the Nest forever, no matter how comfortable it may seem. People who are getting and staying sober need to move on and find other places to post. What NS says below also echoes what I’ve just said about the “closed club” part and also about us posting our experiences getting and staying sober. We need to emphasize to those just starting out that no matter how long we’ve been sober, we were once where they are. At day 1. And that no matter how many months or years we’ve been sober, we know exactly what they’re going through and we can help because we know what it takes. And we need to share that with others to show that it can be done.
For the record, I don’t think people are NOT stating their opinions for fear of getting into arguments. For the most part, the members who were causing the uproars (putting it mildly) have left and I doubt they will be back.
Mary, I think the threads are fine, we just ALL need to reiterate why we landed at MWO and why we are still here. We do get caught up in our everyday lives and sharing that with others, which is a good thing, but we still need to emphasize that this is a forum for alcoholics and that needs to once again be our main focus. As Satz says, the weather forecast for Ireland might help Molly decide if she’s going to work in her garden but it won’t help anyone get sober.
Again, I agree about the LIKE/THANK feature – we used to get more responses to our posts in the past. Although I do have to admit I like getting “LIKES” cause a lot of them are from Mr. G and after all, he is one of the few gents here at MWO. :makeup:
Hopefully catch up with youz later in the evening.
Hiya! to Satz and Pauly!!
At work today and have a few minutes to post between phone calls and e-mails. I know I've been absent since Monday and have only just now read back over the posts and wanted to add my thoughts to what you have said. Warning!!! – LONG POST!!!
First of all, let me add that my lack of posting mostly has to do with the time difference factor and the fact that for the past few months, with my new-found sober energy, I have been getting up earlier and going to bed earlier in the evenings and my hours are a little out of whack with the times that the rest of the Army are posting. Funny enough, it's the days that I'm at the store that I find I can manage to spend some time here. At home, there is always something that needs doing besides the work that I do for our business from home. Also, the past couple of weeks there have been a few “incidents” in my personal life that have left me a little worried and anxious and I really haven’t felt that I’ve anything positive to say so I just kept it to myself. Anyway, I will try consciously to take time to post. After all, this site is where it all started towards my getting sober, even if it did take me years to finally manage it.
Originally posted by JackieClaire
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What I have seen, in the little that I do read, is that there are very, very few new members posting and I noticed that there are by far fewer responses than there would have been some years ago from the regular posters. I'm not sure what this is due to but it may be that because many of the posters have been here for a long time and perhaps they are, like most of us, content posting where they do regularly and don't venture much onto the other threads.
Originally posted by Tabbers (a.k.a. KTAB)
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Originally posted by satz123
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For the record, I don’t think people are NOT stating their opinions for fear of getting into arguments. For the most part, the members who were causing the uproars (putting it mildly) have left and I doubt they will be back.
Originally posted by NoSugar
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Originally posted by IamMary
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Originally posted by JackieClaire
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Hopefully catch up with youz later in the evening.
inkele:
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