Hey Muji….. As you wrote some are and some aren't so much....

I try and check on the Bereavement board every couple of days because I feel badly when someone that's grief stricken doesn't get any comments

If anyone has any extra time and if you'd want to pop over that would be great

I'm still hanging on for chat....cough...cough.... I truly think it could turn things around if anyone is looking....

The PTSD board does keep moving and although the BP board has slowed down we still have great members there

I think the Depression board is the largest ... not sure, but think so. It is quite 'busy' ... with one heartbreaking case after another. There is an effort by the group to be supportive ... but it seems so many posts are severe ... and not a lot can be done to help. It seems to me a sign of the times is that of greater anxiety and problems than during the OLD DS times. It's hard to deal with so much of it. LOTS of desperate young people. Lots of self harm. It gets hard on the nerves.

Jan has answered re Bipolar. Of the other boards I go on

Asperger's now seems to have ground to a halt in the last year.
Autism now appears to have died recently.

Jesse on my suggestion put together many of the eye problem boards together but unfortunately it's not stopped that going extinct.

Migraines is basically one person answering queries - she says it used to be alot more active.

Psorasis I joined briefly but it's inactive.

I get the impression that what is happening is that while we are gaining new members they are not staying except in a few places. My personal view is thais is partly over the refresh of DS and locking out of old members' accounts, but also due to an attitude of new members is that you come in, get the answer to your problem and then go on your way, rather than hang around, help others and develop a sense of community.

I don't see either of those problems are going to be addressable so I'd expect things to continue as they are for at least a few more years.

One thing I do see as worrying is the increasingly overt religious messages on boards. It's not happening in bipolar but I do see it alot on other boards now. I don't see anything in the US culture that would have caused such a shift from the largely secular nature of the boards so I do wonder quite what is going on. And I don't think all these people are FoF stooges. They seem to come in, have not actually been afflicted with whatever boards they are on, offer prayers, ask if someone can talk to a pastor and that's it. Nothing that really relates to the issue the OP is talking about, whether it is sexual abuse or indigestion. They don't make friends either. I've seen probably a few hundred like this.

I frequently see new members popping up on our BP board especially if it is a young person in crisis but when asked if they are bipolar or sent a welcome PM inviting them to post an introduction they disappear. I usually see 2-3 of these types a week coming into bipolar.

Anxiety...new people wanting immediate help with their situation. There are some people active on anxiety, and that keeps some activity going,
A lot of the older members have stepped back.

I do see some posts get activity and others do not.

Here's to all of our success in helping where we can, and to keeping the boards active.

Thanks, everybody. Yes, I have seen that the Depression group is the biggest. I am surprised. though, that the Autism group is having trouble here. Offline at my college both autistic students and their parents have visited me in person twice a week for 7 years now and in the last 2 years began to email me and phone me twice a week, too.

Traditionally the Asperger's group was populated by adults with asperger's and spouses of asperger's or people that had self diagnosed their spouses with asperger's - not a great mix.

Autism was traditionally populated by the mothers of autustic children - like you I'm a bit surprised that that has now seemingly died although it revives at key points in the school calendar. Recently there are a few adults with autism joining but not enough to generate much activity.

Widows & Widowers remain steady as far as members and posts. There has been a trend this year, however, of people joining and suddenly leaving after 3 months, when one is definitely not through the worst of it. I suspect there is stuff happening in private messages (nothing on the board would indicate why), but I have not been able to get anything specific to take to Jesse. We still have a steady stream of newbies, and thankfully oldies of varying lengths of experience. I have been nearly on my own for most of 2018 so far due to personal circumstances of my co-CLs, so have appreciated the help from the oldies.

One thing that is frustrating is that my board's numbers will jump a dozen in a day, but I can't see who joined. I think I am getting maybe 2 or 3 real members and suspect the rest of journal spammers, but I can't tell.