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...