Possible down time for BT within 2 days

[agate]

tic chick, I recently reactivated iGive and I agree that it's an easy arrangement. The only reason I cancelled it was that my computer is set up with enlarged fonts and other display properties that made it difficult to deal with.

I'm going to give it another try. Soon I hope to have a new computer, which I believe will have Windows 10, and I believe many things that are choking on my 12-year-old PC will be improving when that happens.

[stillstANNding]

Tic- Chick and Agate - there is still the problem of BT no longer being a charity.

ANN

[tic chick]

hey everyone !

iGive posts these terms of service:

iGive.com represents the individual user of the iGive.com service, not advertisers, sponsors, or causes. An individual who signs up with iGive.com becomes a member enters willingly into this agreement. Members list causes for their own use, and for the use of other members.
Monies are earned by members and are credited to members' accounts, and then disbursed from their accounts to their selected cause(s). iGive.com is providing a service to its members, not to causes. Any taxes on this are the responsibility of the member.

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

this means that any "cause" you select is fine, as long as it will accept money because the iGive program is a service to "members" (shoppers like me). so no worries about bt having to be a formal "charity". isn't that nice of them? i've been using iGive for several years now and they say my checks are going out to bt.

i hope the iGive button works out for you in the future, agate !

thank you for sharing and caring,
jeannie

[stillstANNding]

Thanks Jeannie,

ANN (and here's some chocolate, your favorite kind).

[Mike Weins]

I will look into changing the old FAQ tomorrow since I have a day off Not sure if I'll have the time to look into iGive right away but I will see where we are with that.

Yes Dr. Hoch is paying for BT's host out of his own pocket. It's not that you can't donate to BT, it's that we don't have anything set up. A lot of members are not in a place where they can donate and we didn't want to put any pressure on anyone to donate. David and I have been talking about setting up a paypal account for BT but getting Dr. Hoch, David, and myself online at the same time isn't easy

[stillstANNding]

Just tell us where to send checks and who to make them out to.

And/ or the iGive thing.
ANN

[Mike Weins]

Didn't get to fuss around with the FAQ today, it'll have to wait until my next day off which is next Tuesday I think.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

Team BrainTalk!

((((((Mike)))))) ~

Thank you for keeping us updated, but please don't feel pressured to change our FAQ. We've gone this long with it the way it is. I'm sure we can manage without an update for awhile longer. And I'll be glad to take a look at it, and edit it, if that would help.

You, Dr. Hoch, and David, as well as our Moderators, volunteer your time and efforts to keep BrainTalk viable. For that, we all owe each of you a ton of gratitude and a standing ovation.



We want to help. Just let us know how we can help. We're a community ~ and communities pitch in to help our neighbors.

TEAM BRAINTALK!

Love & Light,

Rose

[alex44]

Mike = I love this forum , s I am sure you know me by my handle but I been unable to post for a while since I have a very bad disease that is untimely terminal. I have been very sick or I would have been posting
Point being, my last post was somtime in JUNE - there have been few if ANY posts since then. Downtime then becomes meaningless unless people use the forum. What can we/I do to invigorate the forum -Let me know nd best of luck.
Alex44Skypilot

[Lazarus]

Mike = I love this forum , s I am sure you know me by my handle but I been unable to post for a while since I have a very bad disease that is untimely terminal. I have been very sick or I would have been posting
Point being, my last post was somtime in JUNE - there have been few if ANY posts since then. Downtime then becomes meaningless unless people use the forum. What can we/I do to invigorate the forum -Let me know nd best of luck.
Alex44Skypilot

Thanks for the analysis and question Alex. It is important. I have commented before and will repeat that a big problem is naming the forum. I use the multiple sclerosis forum and, although it is true that there are many other forums than when we began, a search for multiple sclerosis barely or rarely comes up with Braintalk. It could be that the name Braintalk needs to be tweaked so that the forums it has come to a person's attention when they are searching for sites.
I have no ideas but maybe others do.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Alex)))))) ~

I'm so very sorry to hear about your illness. I have missed you and wondered how you and your partner are, looking for posts from you. You are in my prayers.

There has been activity on some of our forums since you last posted in June, although not in Chronic Pain. The Spinal Disorders forum has had some returning members visit a few times, including Mark N. Mark indicated that he stopped posting, because the forum was inactive.

The forums became inactive, because people left for whatever reasons. Then, for whatever reasons, when they return, they are astonished that the forums are at a stand still. We can't exactly say, "Hey, I left, but why didn't everybody else stay?"

Some members left and never returned. Some members left and drop by every blue moon. It's difficult to attract new members, when they see no activity in the forums of their choice/need.

I try to welcome every new member, and thankfully others have joined the Welcome Wagon, but there aren't enough of us to garner the trust and meet the needs of the new members. I can't really help a person with a CSF leak, or a shunt, or a spinal disorder, or a chronic headache, or any of the other neurological areas, with which I'm not familiar/have no experience. And the members, who could respond and be helpful, are no longer here.

I'm a grieving parent, and I fought to keep the Coping with the Loss of a Child forum, even though it has no activity. I wanted it to be there, in case a grieving parent needed support. Every day, I see "1 Viewing" the forum, but that person never registers and posts. I even wrote a post to "1 Viewing" to let these guests know that I may be only one person, but I understand their grief journey and am here to share it with them. And where there are two of us sharing, more will feel comfortable to join us.

We also have new members, who only post one time, get all of the information and support they seem to want or need and then never return to provide an update or say "thank you."

We recently had a new member post, who thanked us for our help and support and then indicated that she'd found a Facebook group for her specific need and recommended it to others, who are in her situation.

BrainTalk membership began declining, when Facebook was implemented. Evidently, that is where many of our Child Neurology members hang out now. I strongly suspect that is the case for many of our other forums. We can't really compete with Facebook. Our forums are old school now.

I hope that you won't let the lack of activity deter you from posting, Alex. I'm here for the duration, and I care about you. I'll always respond to your posts.

Blessings upon you ~

Love & Light,

Rose

[agate]

alex44, it's very unfortunate that so many people who looked to this place as a source of companionship and support are being disappointed nowadays.

I'm sorry that you are among them and very sorry about your illness.

I can only echo what Rose said. Any number of people have come along with "Where is everybody?" posts in recent years, but as she indicated, if nobody is here, nobody will be here.

If a few people committed themselves to helping to make this place more active, it just might work.