lucinda - there are blog sites that allow comment moderation. The good ones do use it and not as a way of silencing people's differing opinions..but to weedle out any bad seeds.

I'm lucky because in my blog the only reason for comment moderation up to now has been to make sure I know someone has responded so I can write back. That may change now my personal needs for the blog have changed.

I agree with steht on the rape stories. There are a few generally good sites but their rape stories section feels a lot more like a glamorisation of trauma than something productive - for anyone other than the survivor who submitted. I love the way you approached people's stories in rar.

I think book reviews would be great and quite helpful.

Good quality articles too.

Tips and advice maybe from people in the group as to how they got through certain points in their recovery. I think it'd help being more personal and we'd be willing to accept it and listen more.

As for blog, good idea especially as you the moderator. You could write it. You could select others you know to write it. It could be fun stuff. Topics about recovery. Or just plain humor along the way. Many avenues you could go with the blog to keep it informative, fun, and creative.

I would like to see book recommendations/book reviews.

Some articles on "how to tell others" (like your family, friends, authorities)

I think that tips and advice from other survivors would be helpful. Maybe if there was a way to directly connect (like email or something) with other survivors that would be nice, but that may be too risky...?

Oh yeah...maybe a creative outlet for survivors to express themselves...

There are a few projects for that..we could either have an area of submittal or an area that mentions where you can submit. There's a survivor's quilt that matt helps with you can contribute to..i'll try and dig out that thread - it's an ongoing project.

I have a few more places you might be interested in..ill mail box you

I do agree that there are too many websites that offer "survivors' stories." I get that the gist is supposed to be inspiring, but it actually seems a bit strange, almost exhibitionistic with trauma. I seriously doubt anyone even reads them anyways.

What people DO seem to want are simple, compact tips for tough situations: How do I tell my dentist? My husband? How do I prepare for an anniversary? In short, a continuation of the chapters in RAR that each address a specific controversy or hardship.

70 pages of RAR later I realise...the quilt topic did not appear at ds I learnt about it elsewhere..

Writer i'll mail you that too.

That is pretty much what i would like..an extension of rar. How to deal with other people's ignorance would be a good topic too.

one of the things that i love about this website is you, matt. you offer statistics and knowledge and current therapy options and legal information...you are a plethora of information. AN EXPERT! and yet, you are so easy to talk to. my other favorite thing is all of you...the interaction and respect and understanding.

i would like a few more matts. i know that's not possible though!!!! so, maybe, i'd like some "experts" (who can't be that expert cause they're not matt) that would work with and under matt but would focus on different aspects of rape. say...one person that would know lots about legal stuff and could help other survivors with legal questions. another person who may research advocacy and political movements. stuff like that. not just a list of websites for these issues...but an actual person that a survivor could chat with about their concerns with their trial or to find out about a take back the night event. i imagine a website that is user friendly and becomes THE website while maintaining it's intimacy and community.

i don't know if i am articulating my thoughts very well. but i come up with ideas that i want to persue and then i research them and become overwhelmed...or find there isn't much in my area. i'd love to have a website that i could turn to that had someone that was in the know.

articles and book reviews would be great too! :)

What could be helpful in this is the site having an international theme, many countries legal systems differ from each other and often left me feeling confused when translating say U.S. law from British legal systems or U.S terminology and abbreviations and cultural divides. Working through our experiences and the trauma that has been forced upon us is hard enough without "feeling" the distance betwen us as survivors.

A spin off from that is an opportunity to see the differences in how one nation works from another enabling us to learn from and lobby for better help and support where we live.

I like the creative part idea a lot and the article and book review thinking.

Anything i can do please just let me know!

All the best to you all, take care, Debx

There is SO much information out there given the web these days. I would also see great sites reviewed which have relevant information. It has been helpful for me to read about CPTSD online, but I find the stuff here and there. I would like to see not only reviews on books and articles but websites. I always search the web on a new topic that I think that is related to me.

I agree on the story piece.

I will have to think about this some more.

I see this a living and breathing resource that gives hope and inspiration.

Oh yeah, it would be nice to have survivors be guest bloggers or writers. I am ok with that as long as you are screening it Matt.

Oh yeah, maybe a tab for activism would be great. This could contain ideas as well as maybe things that groups of survivors across the Internet choose to do together.

I think that forums work so well is that they encourage people to find and look and heal from within not someone else talking from outside but hearing the person and encouraging the person hear themselves and then offering support from there . How could that be replicated in the article advise community level?

Like maybe reviews of articles. Someone writes an article and then other people can write articles based upon that aritcle. Does this make sense?

OMG, when you said Articles did you mean articles WE write? I thought 'articles' meant those written by ....anyone other than us.

I read a really good article recently ... yes they could be categorized by topic... I've often envisioned a sort of encyclopedia of healing. Say some on is dealing with disassociation there could be articles and and also things like letters from survivors under that tab. Or any of the topics that we talk about...even feelings that many survivors face...not just clinical terms.

One of the things I would have liked was more information about my local resources, Rape Crisis center seems kind of small here. I think knowing what counslors are trained to work with or know how to work with sexual abuse, or rape victums would help to. And maybe that was available, but it was not easy to find. I am at the University alot and I noticed there are posters and flyers, but it takes you to the national sites and nothing local...which would work, but local and positive would be nice. Alot of the adds I have seen are basicly dirrected towards males and date rape. (on campus anyway)