useful or useless?

[mudpuppy]

The previous usefulness of this board was that a person, whether new or old, could come here and discuss what had occurred to them outside the board.
The present uselessness of this board is that 90% of the discussions are about the board itself and its internal workings and relationships.
These discussions may have a certain limited utility but it's hard to see what it is.
I'm not saying I'm leaving but who wants to constantly listen to or discuss the board itself or who said what about whom in a PM or to listen to a member described as some epithet withut actually being named, as several have been?
Not me. My grassy bank beckons. Should have stayed on it last time.


mud

[Leah]

Amen!   Mud

[Ami]

Amen!                       Ami

[Certain Hope]

Hi, Mr. Mud,

I disagree... from a couple of standpoints. First off, I don't think it's proper to try to manage people's areas of interest in discussion... and I don't think it's practical, either. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know for myself that when I've made a significant emotional investment in something or someone (even if it's an online message board), there's nothing utilitarian about it. In fact, it seems like an oxymoron to me... to try to make an emotional survival board serve a certain utility; and who would determine exactly what that utility should be? Not I !!  There are plenty of discussions here in which I have no personal interest, but I wouldn't feel entitled to tell the parties involved that they should be talking about something more useful.
Since I don't know where they are (emotionally) and because I haven't walked in their shoes, how do I know what is useful for them? I don't.

That's all, Mud... just my view.

Carolyn

[Overcomer]

I said it in another thread and I will say it here-I am getting a little snippy and for that I am sorry.  I find a few topics that are worth reading and I just need to concentrate on those and avoid the others.

[Bella_French]

Its probably just a phase, Mud. I still feel safe here. It takes only one other good member to make this board worthwhile to me, but I feel that there are many more than that. What a blessing.

Please don't go. Think of the people whose opinions you value, and direct your discussions to them.

X bella

[Lupita]

Personally I am learning a lot of skill here. How to give comfort, how to express feelings, how to use tact to express feelings, manything that I would never had learn otherwise.
Plus here I can think and answer when I feel ready. In real life you get gut off guard. Here you can count to ten and answer later.
Also, the board is giving me some kindergarten skill that I never learned as a child.

[Ami]

GO------Lupita!                  Ami

[Certain Hope]

Personally I am learning a lot of skill here. How to give comfort, how to express feelings, how to use tact to express feelings, manything that I would never had learn otherwise.
Plus here I can think and answer when I feel ready. In real life you get gut off guard. Here you can count to ten and answer later.
Also, the board is giving me some kindergarten skill that I never learned as a child.

Exactly, Lupita... me, too! Thank you for expressing this so well.

Love,
Carolyn

[Gaining Strength]

I have always found value in your words Mud and admire their sparcity.  You always pack a punch INHO.

[lighter]

Hey mud.... if you wing a mint julep over the fence....

I'll flip ya some gator tots.

Taste like chicken, lol

[mudpuppy]

First off, I don't think it's proper to try to manage people's areas of interest in discussion

Not trying to manage anything. Just said I find most of the current discussions useless. If everyone else finds them useful they are certainly free to engage in them to their heart's content.

In fact, it seems like an oxymoron to me... to try to make an emotional survival board serve a certain utility

Isn't emotional survival a utility?

Perhaps as Lupita said the current board can be helpful, but I wonder how many have left or don't post due to the navel-gazing, thinly veiled aggressive nature of so much of the current discussions. A lot of people first come here to get away from that, not to practice it with strangers.

Please don't go.

As I said, not leaving, just relaxing.

Hey mud.... if you wing a mint julep over the fence....

I'll flip ya some gator tots.

Amphibians don't eat reptiles. That's why I'm on the bank; the food chain goes in the opposite direction.

I have always found value in your words Mud and admire their sparcity.

I think that's a compliment, although it seems to imply the less I talk the better.  

mud

[Leah]

God bless you, Mud

[lighter]

Hey mud.... if you wing a mint julep over the fence....

I'll flip ya some gator tots.

Amphibians don't eat reptiles. That's why I'm on the bank; the food chain goes in the opposite direction.

mud

Silly me..... of course amphibians don't eat reptiles. 

::slapping forehead::

Leaves more room.....

 forJuleps, lol. 

[Certain Hope]

I appreciate your post, Lupine... very much. Many fine points, there! I wish that you were able to post more, but I saw your note on another thread as to why you don't. I hope that your situation will improve soon!

Sincerely,
Carolyn