Previously the Mental Health Forum and Brass Button Singles Lounge have been available to Foundation Members and Citizens and entry required a password. Those forums continue to be open exclusively to Foundation Members and Citizens, however we have removed the password requirement. It is our belief that Foundation Members and Premier Citizens will participate in these forums with the same integrity and respect we see daily and that more members will participate and benefit when a password is not required. (In addition - assigning password permissions is labor intensive and we do not always get to it as quickly as we would like).

If you have concerns, technical difficulties or feedback please feel free to post here.

Again, let me state that only Foundation Members or Citizens can enter these forums. You are safe from lurkers, search engines, flamers etc.

Actually, I saw a post this morning from the Mental Health forum and didn't open it because I have never asked for a password and thought it was somehow a glitch. Now I know why it showed up and I will actually respond to posts from these forums if I feel I have something to contribute.

Celadon --- You are a contribution EVERYWHERE you go --- I know the MH forum will welcome you warmly and appreciate your thoughtfulness. Thank you.

Kaye, don't be mad. I am just being honest!


Disclaimer: The following is my personal opinion and pertains only to myself!

I understand why the forums will now be open to premier citizens and foundation members. I have posted in the MH forum and loved that it was password protected. I care most about the privacy factor, as I have really opened myself up in there, I am rather apprehensive about this no longer being a password protected forum as now there is limited control over who sees what I consider to be my private thoughts. With password protection, I really felt I knew who was reading the posts. Also, I wasn't worried about lurkers of any kind. Things that I have posted in the mental health forum, I didn't want common knowledge in the neighborhood. Heck, there are things I didn't/don't want all the foundation members knowing. But, I needed a place to vent and the MH was the safest place. As silly as this sounds, now I am more concerned that my posts will get lost in the shuffle. My first reaction is that I no longer want to post in the mental health forum.

I am not for this and uber (super) apprehensive about the change. Regardless of my opinion, if Kaye thinks it will be fine, I am ok with it.

Marla - never apologize for your opinion. That is your homework assignment - to own your opinion, ok?

Next, there has never been a Foundation Member or Premier Citizen who has requested and been denied access to the Mental Health Forum or the Singles Lounge. Anyone who has asked has been given permission. Perhaps some of these "permitted" members have not posted, but they have access, and you may not know they are there. It is the belief of the LAWLS Management that if a person is a Foundation Member or a Premier Citizen (paying member) they are here to give and receive kind and sincere support and they are the safe circle of friends we believe ourselves to be.

I appreciate your opinion and welcome more commentary -- And I hope you appreciate the position of the LAWLS management.

You are still protected from the eyes of lurkers and search engines -- but doesn't every Foundation Member and Premier Citizen have the right to benefit from this very safe place of support and empowerment?


K.

Kaye - Never apologize for my opinion and own it, that is some serious homework. Someday when I pass this assignment, I would like a gold star sticker! Please.


I forgot that no foundation member or premier citizen has been denied the password. And yes, I obviously never stopped to think about permitted neighbors not posting, but being there.



I completely agree with you, Kaye! Thank you for keeping us safe from lurkers and search engines, etc. This change is a good thing.

Kaye - Never apologize for my opinion and own it, that is some serious homework. Someday when I pass this assignment, I would like a gold star sticker! Please.

ME TOO ME TOO!!!

I am am kind of apprehensive about this, but if something should happen, it isn't like it can't be protected again. I had noticed some changes as I had noticed men posting in there and wasn't aware that any had been granted access, so knew that something was up!

I am definitely apprehensive. I would like to know what a premier citizen is and would like to know if what I have written could be removed. I would rather e-mail or call some of my neighborhood friends then to put my life out there. Please let me know. Thanks.

Diamond Girl

As I am waiting to join as a paid member I am strictly giving my "motherly" advice. Even though you may feel this is family, you still have to be careful of anything you put out there- on the internet. Your words never die, they may be deleted, erased, stored, but they are still somewhere. There is nothing private about the internet. So always remember, one day if you run for President, what would you not want people to know about you? Because if it's on the internet, someone will find it and post it on YouTube.com. With that said, I am not running for President so I rarely consider myself or my thoughts worthy of much consideration. If it's the truth as I know it, I may just tell it on the internet, and then my thoughts live on forever. I just hope they don't edit them.

Ina is correct. Anything that you've ever put on the Internet is out there for the public viewing. I googled my name under "images" and found a picture of two of my dogs that someone had put on their website. It's nutso crazy how open we all are. I discovered this with online dating and use it to my advantage. I don't use my full name in that forum, but if the man does, I google his info. I even discovered on man (who was claiming to be well off financially) had declared bankruptcy just six months prior. Bankruptcy is public info, therefore it was on the Internet. I had googled my name a while back and it had my phone number and address listed. Yahoo had it too. I was able to manually go in and delete the information, but nobody thinks to do this without prompting!

Crazy stuff.