Good luck to you. I find it a bit mean that you seem to be blaming the users for the breakdown of this site. Many of us gave a lot of feedback at first, followed by complains that have gone unheeded. Why? Because we cared. But all we have said has fallen on deaf ears.

Good luck. Lucky you you find face to face stuff easy unfortunately its not so easy for everyone.....i live in a country area and kinda remote.
While i still have a soft spot for the old site but heres the thing its up to us to make this site any good! Personal this site has helped me in the past and still is even with the problems that happen on here. I wish you all the best but i do find what you said harsh.

No, no, no. Sorry that you misinterpreted my post, Rosenkranz. I was there, with you, giving feedback, and in the midst of the storm of complaints, but, as you say, they have fallen on deaf ears. I place all blame on DS, whoever, whatever, they are, and only wonder why this foum has gone silent, and business goes on, as though nothing happened. NOT business, as usual, by any means. My primary support group s something that I no longer understand.

My intent was to encourage people to look to their friends, build that friendship away from the confines of DS, and gain greater enjoyment nd fulfillment.

And, I think DS sucks. Not the users. The organization.

Resist.

@suchaslife. NO, it's not up to you to make this site any good. Maybe it's up yo ypu to make it useful to your life, but I wonder how that can be. Why do you find what I say to be harsh? Because I have the balls to leave it ans speak against it? I wish you all the best. If this site meets your needs, then GREAT. I'm not speaking against that, so let me have my vent. OK?

Thanks for the clarification, Jolene. Yes, you are right. We have to seek support elsewhere. I cling still from nostalgia, but don't contribute much support like I used to. It's just not working with this new format. Maybe it's time to move on...

I don't think everyone has acquiesced.

We took a major hit on member activity on the change over because many were locked out. Since then many have left and activity is much lower on the vast majority of boards.

Problems on DS aside I see all forums I visit on the internet having a rough time because they all contained an element of support / specialist interest plus social aspects. Facebook has sort of sucked that social aspect from forums and they are all in decline.

jolinejoline, I get what you're saying. But you have to remember that not all of us are fortunate enough to have the means with which to meet our ds friends in person. Most of my ds friends (that are left, which aren't many) live on the other side of the country. Some are on the other side of the world. And not everyone has access to supportive people (friends/family) or resources close by. This pos site such as it is may be their only source of support. And maybe they will take the crumbs that ds throws out because its better than nothing. (Sad commentary on the ds powers that be, dontcha think? i.e. a the one that created & made oodles off another medical website, a famous tv doc and a famous tv talk show host - all worth gazillions)

For those that are left, I don't think 'acquiesced' accurately portrays us. I think we're trying to make our way on this site and work around all the roadblocks ds has dumped on us. (I'm now thinking we are all part of an experiment to see how stubborn we are to persevere even under the strain of the pos site.)

Not only did ds put roadblocks out, but we also have to deal with those who feel it necessary to come on here and call us names like whiners and complainers, etc. and put us down for speaking our mind. Of course, just like them, we have every right to express ourselves here. Thank goodness we all still have the ability to ignore them.

Good luck in your new endeavors. I really hate to see you go.

@ fish I agree! Altho, I'm not so sure about fb sucking the social aspect from forums. I suspect we'd have way more active forums had ds kept the features attached to the old format and made it EASIER instead of HARDER to navigate this pos site.

Many of the forums here were not about socialization in the way fb is. They were actually about HELPING and SUPPORTING each other. And that's GONE...dead and buried thanks to the ds ptb. Here we don't have to use our real names. Here, even tho the forums are public, we have the ability to create sub groups (one of the few things they didn't take away - BUT because they f'd up the rest of the site, its really hard to MANAGE or even FIND those forums. Here, we could talk about our physical, emotional, mental, spiritual issues more freely because we are anonymous. We had journals, which, now DON'T WORK SO WELL any more.

Had the ds ptb wanted this site to continue to be the UNIQUE and BEST site in its class, THEY WOULD HAVE KEPT ALL THE FEATURES. (Not yelling, just emphasizing just in case there is even one ds ptw that actually cares about us.)

IF the ds ptb gave us BACK all the features they stripped away, this site would be booming. And mama site would probably get way more hits because of it. As it is now, this site is a SHELL of what it used to be. And I think the only thing we can be sure of is that the ds ptb WANT IT THAT WAY. Otherwise it would be different. I don't buy that there's a lack of money or good programmers. They CHOSE this format. Their excuses don't matter. All that matters is that they screwed over the very people that kept them on the internet map. This is and NEVER WAS a facebook copy cat. It WAS a unique site that served, imho, a way higher purpose than fb will ever serve. But I don't think they give a flying fig.

The only reason I'm still here is to stay in contact with the few friends I have left and help when I am able. That used to be a lot more before they totally f'd up the navigation. But again, they don't give flying fig about causing pain on several different levels.

There's one more thing that we may not think about. There is power in numbers. So IF the site was actually fully functional with ALL of the features it used to have and IF those features actually worked, we would have the potential to get more than one person's response, encouragement, support, caring words, and sometimes even a much needed gentle kick in the rear. Each time one more person comments, it increases that level of caring exponentially. We have lost approx 75% of that ability as this pos site is now. As it stands now, many posts and journals go unresponded to, and the thanks for that can be laid squarely and solely on the shoulders of the ds ptb. And, my friends, that is a very sad commentary.

Good luck to all of you, whether you stay or go. I had a good run at DS, and have been in and out through the years. I stay in touch with some former members, as well as a couple of active members, but contact right here in River City, has become painfully difficult and disappointing. My RL contact was priceless. BTW, MTC, I traveled across country using frequent flyer miles that I got when I applied for a credit card. Only 40,000 miles!

It's really sad for me to contemplate the cumulative loss that's occurred in the last year+. Fish is right about FB sucking the life out of support fora, but FB pretty much sucks on it's own, and I've quit that. IMHO, RL problems are not meant for virtual communities. DS was much more than a support site in its day, but it's truly pathetic now. Not the people, but the site, the tools. When will you be able to post photos? Right?

Best wishes to all of you.

I hardly just rolled over! I squeaked up PLENTY!

I have to agree, but disagree. For the one's who've stuck it out, challenges, etc. I'm so grateful! Hugs!

I am skipping my daily DS visits more and more often. Sometimes I go for days, and never remember DS exists, even though it is right next to a Christian Forum I frequent daily, in Safari in my IPad.

The real DS was a wonderful, clean and easy sight to negotiate, meet people, make long term friends. The "real" DS, as opposed to this pathetic parody.

How can I get excited about large banners of grey black colours, the inability to finish a hug, or even see the hug I am replying to, to make friends with the friends of my friends by reading their hug books, and to have a vibrant sense of community?

I think DS is done. I suspect a lot of newbies, at least in the forums I am in, are fake profiles made up by the ptb, especially in the early days. Because who posts the same basic info, and asks the same basic question that 10 other people did, and then never reply? I'm not saying that is everyone, but the problem is, I don't know who are sock puppets of DS and who are real people, so why would I answer that same question again, knowing that the answer is for no one? Why would I reach out and make friends with someone that might be real, even if they are! Because, who knows?

A good friend of mine left when she was sworn at by a member. The same guy who kept telling me I knew nothing, called me and that friend and another woman nasty names, when he left, and we kept trying to offer support to new members.
And when he came back and swore at me, and I reported him, the post was pulled and nothing was done. Or was that another nasty person? Well, the fact is that individual, who leaves and returns about 6 times a year, was deplorably nasty to 3 of us, yet nothing was done when he was reported. That really makes people want to stay! NOT!

Yep, fun times in the RA forum!

The fact is, if DS gave me the opportunity to upgrade someone else to founder in my member group, I would have been gone from day 1! But we lost all those controls. Some things were restored much later, but dissolving a group or upgrading someone else to founder hasn't returned. Or has it and I haven't been informed?

Too late, the person I wanted to make founder if my group has disappeared. Smart woman!

I am one of those who wish we got more tools from DS, but in the end it is the people who make the difference. It is the friendships that give us the support we seek. So the trick is to focus on what works for you. If DS can let you and your friends support each other, then stay. If not, then do what you have to do.

ps if I win the lottery big time I will take care of things here! lol, don/t hold your breath!

I left for about 3 months. I just checked in a couple days ago......and nothing has changed. It's still a very discombobulated website that doesn't function as it could.

So I think I'll be gone for another 3 months.

Pepperman, the tools for making friends are really gone! That is what you and the ptb refuse to acknowledge.

1. Sock puppets. When activity died to nothing in the early days, there were all these posts based on the barest minimum understanding of RA. They were all the same! And there was no reply. Now, it takes a careful eye to figure out if a profile is a real person or not! Once bitten, twice shy!

2. Disappearance of hug books. That includes character limit and not being able to read other hugs. So many times I would see someone post in the main forums, then in a hug book. It let me know this personnwas ok. The hugbook is a farce. A truncated pm.

3. Terrible accessibility. I used to open up DS, and see all the current information in one page. My groups, messages, hugs, what was happening in forums, journal entries, etc. I could link to member groups through people's home page. I found many good groups, made many friends that way.

Now, everything is separate and hidden. This is not social media but a support group! 90% of my friends either didn't make it through the switch, or left voluntarily.

This was the best support group I was in, and now it is dead. So sad!