As anyone can cleary see, that behind Dotsie I am the most frequent poster. I began posting in 2004.

I have felt insulted, berated, argued with for no reason, and even ignored from time to time. Those have been the bad times, and still I posted. By staying, and hanging in there, I received the good too which outnumers the bad 1000 to 1...

I have personally met maybe nine of the members here face to face because they were here in Vegas, my home, for a girls getaway together, BUT I feel as close and in some cases even closer to friends here I've 'never met' in person. I've connected with their spirits, and their hearts because they give them so freely, speaking openly and frankly.

I for one read every post and try to post some reply but there are those I have no intelligent answer for or disagree with completely so I bypass those posts.

I too have felt ignored from time to time in the beginning, and have gotten angry when I took the time to post recipes that "NO" one seemed to look at for weeks, or someone would come right behind my recipe and post one that covered mine only minutes after I posted it. Grrr!!!

SO BE IT!!! If I ran away or got my nose out of joint everytime I felt slighted, or that someone was being rude, I would have been long gone, long ago...

On a scale from one to ten with ten being the very best I would rate my experience as a steady nine and a half here at BWS...

A word of advice no one has asked for, lol... You get out what you put in! So if you want to feel like part of something, this forum or just life in general,openly participate.

I may post something, and maybe someone is in a bad place that day and not answer, or answer negatively, it is not personal just their mood that minute. We can never know what has happened to any of us before we came here to post on any given day. Our life may stink right then and there. There are so many variables to consider.

I have been considered harsh at times. I am not speaking harshly in my own mind but my words upset someone maybe already unhappy or mad about something else. Thats just the way life is.

OMG! This is turning into a sermon, sorry about that. Just remember when you're new anywhere, look around, get the lay of the land and just insert yourself (like we all have) into the mish mash of the group and soon it will come as second nature.

When we WELCOME someone to BWS, we sincerely mean it, it's up to them what happens from that moment on!!!

HUGS to ALL...

I think chatty that the use of capital letters and bold fonts might be misinterpreted by some folks as shouting or over-emphasis. Probably not the style in certain forums. For instance, I would never use it for any forum related to any of my jobs. Never.

I also think that many women do take things abit more personally both on the Internet and face to face, with respect to strong opinions or a critique that doesn't agree/conform to one's own opinion.

I view the different styles of behaviours, both discreet and strong, as what I truly experience with my real sisters in my family.

I pretty much trust everyone on this site, yet I've cut a few cards loose.

I never take offense because I believe women are sharing from the heart. If a post sounds a bit harsh, then that person may very well have a stronger opinion about the topic than I, but I haven't walked in their shoes.

My best advice is to jump in with both feet and expect to make some dear online friends whom you may end up meeting face to face someday.

Orchid, you do things your way and I'll do things my way, I don't much care what other forums do or don't do.

When I am trying to make a point that is important to me, I sometimes use bold print. I am not shouting when using bold font, simply trying to illustrate what I am sharing is important in my mind for whatever reason.

If you don't believe in using bold fonts or capital letters then don't! To each his own, right? I would never attempt to tell anyone on any forum how to or how not to post. I have enough to do minding my own posts, all 17,329 of them...But thanks for the input.

IMO this is home away from home. Folks' here are loving and warm. Post when you want and how you want. That's cool!

Chatty, you are one very big reason why this place is still alive and hopping. It's you, who often takes the time to comment on posts that are unanswered. It's you that so many turn to, even when they have stopped posting here, like Dianne and Mamared, just to mention two. It's you who shows your true personality, without any fancy ruffles.

That's why we love you.

Right!

Aw shucks, you guys are making me blush and that ain't easy, LOL!!!

We are ALL a huge part of this site, and in this case it does actually take a village, so to speak...

Thanks to our dear Dotsie this is our playground away from home, we know we can come here for friendship, fun and truth. To me thats what a proper forum is all about.

Love you ALL, even the sisters whose ideas differ from my own, it makes for an interesting round table, and believe me I can be pig headed sometimes and not easily swayed from my own opinions. I simply tell it like I see it, and yes, I do go out of my way to try to post something to everyone so no one feels left out. We should all do more of that and also not let a topic just sit there week after week with nothing going on, if you notice one, jump in create a new topic in its place if you can.

Oops, door bell, gotta go...I'm going to be fostering six newborn kittys and mamma cat until they get older and can be found forever homes. Here we go again, LOL!!!!!

There are ways to give pieces of oneself in a safe way here. Hope you'll drop by more often NYwoman.