Forums: A Safe Haven for Discussion

Greetings, all,

Hopefully all of you have had a chance to see me here in the forums, these past few days.

I know I haven’t exactly been living in the forum 24/7, but I have been here, trying to get to know everyone and get a feel for this group and its members.

Hopefully you’ve noted that I have posted on a number of topics. Believe me, as the days unfold, you will be seeing more of me – I’m one of those people who loves to connect, loves to communicate and lives to help others.

For the most part, I’ve been delighted with what I’ve found here as I’ve toured the various discussions. There’s a lot of good stuff happening. And I’ve been pleased to note that we all seem to be able to get along, despite the fact that Baby Boomer Women are NOT a homogenous group. Among us, we have the full Boomer range of concerns, loves, problems, and worries:

I’ve been delighted to discover that we are an active group, with lots of discussion topics in play. And for the most part, I find that people are following the rules.

Meanwhile, I have been extremely busy behind the scenes, working on plans to develop these two great sites Steve and I just bought – BoomerWomenSpeak AND NABBW –
as I have noted elsewhere…

My goal, as the “Boomer in Chief” is to make sure everyone has a chance to be heard, and no one feels they have been ignored, bullied, or degraded by comments made by any member.

I strongly support our NO TOLERANCE rule for hateful, snide, bullying, or degrading remarks made by any of our forum visitors.

Now I like to laugh as much as anyone, so I have no problem with anyone who decides to put up a post in which you tell a joke in yourself, or share some silly thing you did. Now and then we might choose to poke fun at OURSELVES in order to tell a story or make a point – and I understand that.

But I am adamant that we remain polite when we correspond with others whose opinions we might not share. Keep in mind that when we communicate in print, the reader can’t see our facial expressions or our body language, nor can they hear the tone of our voices.

Therefore, I urge you to abide by our policy of polite discussion. This is not a guy’s locker room. And I don’t think any of us really want it to become one.

Oh, one more thing: Steve won't be participating in the forums, as this IS a forum called "Boomer WOMEN Speak." But he is an expert in blogging techniques and technology, and he is available if any of you have questions about either of those topics.

Meanwhile, one last point: If you want to rant and publicize opinions that aren't polite enough for the forums, that's fine, but those points of view really belong in a blog.

So here's a suggestion: Join NABBW if you haven't already and sign up for a blog as soon as we make them available. Then blog about your political opinions to your heart's content...

OK, I'm off my soapbox for today... Peace, love and light!

Anne

Hi, Anne, I'm enjoying getting acquainted with you! Is there a way to sign up now for a blog? Or is that information coming later? Bless you for all your ENERGY with us NABBW-ers.

Linda

Anne, looking forward to hearing more about the blogs at NABBW. Sounds fun.

Thanks, Dotsie,

I don't see the blogs taking away from the forum, of course. But I am anticipating that we might have NABBW members who would enjoy blogging as much as I do.

As I see it, blogs really give a person a way to dig into a topic she cares about, and share. And, while you can do that with a web site, of course, blogs are a TON easier to update and the search engines love them...

I'm hoping we'll be able to start offering them next month.

Fingers crossed!

Hi Linda,

So pleased to hear you want to sign up for a blog.

Delighted in fact!

We're not quite ready to offer them, but hoping to do so in April, so give me about a week and I'll be posting how to get one!

Anne