yourabi's shout trail with sansceriph - Help.com

Hi, Yousef. Some of us regular users have been discussing ways in which the site could be more effective in dealing with suicidal posters. Considering our recent loss of Jason (Scatt4ever) to suicide, it’s on our minds.

Many of us deal daily with posters who may be at worst in the very act of taking their own lives, or they could just be bored kids seeking attention. And yet the only resource we have is an automated response with a link to suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Most of us have no training in this area, but are compelled by conscience to do what we can.

In this post begun by Shakeybritches, http://help.com/post/157759-what-do-y… we’ve been batting around a lot of ideas. None of it has been criticism of the site, just thoughts on how to improve help.com. Considering how many people turn to this site in times of extreme crisis, I think these suggestions are of the highest priority.

None of the mods are on my friends list (although Maxima may have invited some). But our ideas will need your, the mods’ and probably management attention if they are to be addressed. I would greatly appreciate your guidance.

Thanks,

Sansceriph

that’s a relief. i do think many of us are still wondering if the future changes will alter the character of the site. maybe that’s inevitable, but it’s hard to see how c-net wouldn’t want to make it more commercial.

Also, I don’t think that sounds like a feature that would be high on my list (or maybe even on my list)…

There will not be any subscription fees in the foreseeable future.

lately i’ve been spending too much time on here, and now i think i know why people announce that they’re leaving, whether permanently or temporarily. they get to say goodbye to friends. and it’s kind of a self-imposed exile. they’re embarrassed to come back for a time, and they go do something that needs getting done. and for some, maybe they want to see if anyone will miss them.

so i’ve been thinking about taking a break. i need to get work done and have been procrastinating. and it occurred to me that, while the powers-that-be are considering improvements to the site, maybe they could add an option for a time-out of our logins, a self-directed time-out.

here’s how it could work. enable each user to edit their time-per-login at their account admin settings.

why would help.com want to do this? wouldn’t it limit their traffic? it might. but it might also prevent people from becoming so addicted to the site that they leave. it would help us manage our help addiction.

i know.. “just log out and get your stuff done.”

i have to also wonder how c-net makes any money from the site, and whether subscription fees or banner ads are in our future. if it came down to that, which would people prefer? i hate banner ads, but most people who come here aren’t willing to pay for it. maybe “gold memberships” that include forums could be sold?

hi yousef. babacup just sent me a very strange shout. she says that someone is posting under her name and inviting her. at least i think that’s what she’s saying. or it may be that someone knows her real name. anyway, could you look into it? (or have a mod do it)
thanks.

fiddle with this!

just kidding. thanks.

I’ve been fiddling with stuff… should be back to normal.

any idea why i would be having to reload pages to view notices and shouts? others are posting with questions about this too.

aside from my pet suggestion of a checkbox for posters that would say “open to religious advice” so they can opt out of being proselytized, i have a new one..

a button for a poster that would say “please get back to my original subject” or some such. especially for people new to the site, it would help them to gently steer the conversation back to their problem or issue when others have turned it into a chat or an argument. what do you think?