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Another feature idea for the forum


mittam99

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I know that the IPS software that powers this forum has the ability to add a member chat room.

This might be a very nice add on and would allow members to chat either one on one or in a small group real time.

Imagine if a member is having "one of those moments" and other members could help them in real time!

Just an idea.

Mitch

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  • 2 months later...

I do not like this idea for our forum.

Our forum has always been different from anything else on the Internet.

We already have instant messaging where people can talk privately.

I don’t like the idea that there would be a chat room where people can say whatever they want and then come to the forum with comments that may have been shared in the chat room. Maybe I’m thinking that a chat room would take away from the openness we have on our forum. To me, our forum is about listening to what others have to say as we travel our grief journeys. This is only my opinion. To me, a chat room is like what people do on FB or InstaGram. Our forum should not take on this type of activity. People can end up saying things that could hurt someone’s feelings and that is the last thing we need as we are grieving. Also, a chat room is secret and our forum is open to all except for the IM section.  Again, this is only my opinion.

Again, this is only my opinion.

Anne

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Mitch, please forgive me for not responding to your suggestion sooner. I have indeed considered your idea, but have not acted upon it. Here is why.

What distinguishes this site from other message boards is that it is monitored by a certified professional grief counselor (me). Members know that I read each and every message that is posted in our forums, and I respond to individual members when I consider it to be helpful or necessary. I also screen each and every new membership application before deciding to validate it, thereby protecting our members from advertising, spam and otherwise inappropriate use of our site. If problems come up, it is my responsibility to respond to them and deal with them as quickly as possible. (What went on last week in the "It hurts so bad" thread is an example of how easily things could have gone so wrong.) In addition to monitoring all these forums, I'm not in a position to monitor a chat room as well ~ and I'm not comfortable being responsible for something that I cannot monitor . . .

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Marty, that totally makes sense to me. As you know, I am new to the site. When I posted my earlier comment I had not even realized that there was instant messaging available, and that is a really nice feature. I think what Mitch was getting at, and I see his point, is that it might be nice at times to be able to get hold of someone when you have one of those moments when you suddenly feel like the floor has totally dropped out from under you. But maybe there is a way to do that...some way to tell who is online that you could reach out to, maybe someone that you have had contact with before...? Maybe there is and I just haven't figured it out yet.

Anyway, I think your site is marvelously well done, and I am certain that it is due to your monitoring. I was talking to my grief counselor (from hospice) and was telling him that I had found your site. He was interested-because he is always looking for resources for people, but dubious-because it is well known how things can spin out of control online and end up hurting people. I told him that it was monitored by a certified professional grief counselor, and that from what I could see, the monitoring was being very well done. I think you're doing a great job, and it's a wonderful resource.

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Laura, my dear, I am so grateful for your comments. I do believe that our site is special, not only due to the monitoring I do, but because of the unique quality of our compassionate and caring membership. Some of our members have been active here for years, and they are truly awesome. No one here ever will go longer than 24 hours without a response from someone. That is something we ALL watch for. 

Blessings to you, and thank you so much for noticing how wonderful this site truly is! And now, you are one of us! How wonderful is that?! WELCOME! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a congenital tremor, when I get excited my hands shake more.  I have always been thankful I did not want to be a neurosurgeon, nurse, or waitress.  Unless I get too excited, it makes my fingers type faster so I guess God put me as a transcriptionist for a reason.  Grief counselors are a special calling, like ministers, doctors, nurses, etc.  My good friend was a transcriptionist.  We lost our jobs to voice recognition on a computer. (No big deal for me because 43 years was enough). She went back to school and became a nurse.  Her calling was to be a hospice nurse.  There are special people in this world, and we know some of them by their first name.

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I used to do medical transcription...I hated it.  I learned not to put it on my resume because I didn't want to do it again.  I trained as a stenographer and enjoyed shorthand, but it was quickly replaced with dictaphones, which weren't always easy to understand so I lost of love of transcribing.

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