As If You Care

The little voting boxes have been removed from beneath the posts.  They were pretty useless...and they caused problems for one of our girls with an old more "mature" computer. (^_-)

"First Page" aka What's Your Status?

I've set up a "What's Your Status?" section here on the blog which will serve the same function as the 'First Page' on our old FT cycle threads.  This is where we'll keep track of what stage everyone is in with their cycles.  I've tried to gather as much info as I could from Who Shot My Stork? and the posts and comments here on the blog.  If anyone is missing or would like their status updated, leave a comment below this post and we'll take care of it ASAP.

Phew, Ok, we're all together again...now what?

It was a very creepy feeling to log into FT and find half of you gone. Not just gone, but vanished. All the jokes, bitching, heartache etc, deleted from this world (although probably still in the archive!).

What a big relief to find everyone again. We're almost there on getting everyone via the blog or the group. Deep breath. Yay!!

Even better, we now have options (even though we don't have ninja smilies. I'll look into how we can get that.) As a group, we now have to find our feet on how we want to keep supporting each other.

I'm not a techno geek, but I use quite a few groups and blogs. In general, I find groups are great for quick chit chat and transient stuff and comments. Blogs are really good for people to communicate on something they feel strongly about, something they want to make available to a wider audience. I see that some of our gang already even have their own blogs!

I don't know if KB has this blog set to public, but if she does, then that will allow other IF folks to find us. And if they read some of the incredible stories, insights, commentaries and observations that you ladies have shown such great capacity for on FT, and could post here too, then we might be able to help these new folks. FT did have that ability - that people found us in the JJJA's and Confessions threads and decided we were kindred spirits.

If I were to throw a straw man out there for picking at, I'd like to think that the Confessions blog is a long term, solid, living document, posted to by people who care about eachother and total strangers who may alight here seeking our brand of support. It will generate discussion, and comments and further insight. Links to similar blogs and other stories.

The google group is more of an 'in the moment' gathering space, a place to alight and bitch while you've got stuff going on, but where things come and go and topics evolve and change and you can tune in and out. Perhaps when someone posts something that generates a great deal of discussion on the group, we can cross post onto the blog because it will perhaps be useful to a broader audience?

These are my two cents. I'm going to try and search the FT archive to see if some of the gems from Confessions might still be around for grabbing and re-posting here. Maybe if any of you subscribed to the email feed you'll have them in your inbox archives?! But if not, then we'll have to all think back to what moved us, what really helped us, and try to regenerate those thoughts and many new ones, here.

Serious Respect Vibes to all ladies with IF.
Kiellara.

Up to Speed

A day or two ago, the original Confessions thread was locked by a mod and we were instructed to start a new Confessions thread each week.  A few of us joked that we must be getting closed down because of our mouthing-off about Dave's FT Profile/Crap-for-prizes Contest, which many of us found strange, insulting, and insensitive.

The girls didn't hold back, they told the mod, Dave, and anyone who would listen how they felt about the contest, and questioned the convenient timing of the thread lock-down.  We asked if we could do a monthly thread instead of weekly...a compromise.  "No," was the answer.

The ensuing events are a bit of a blur...but, posts started disappearing, threads were gone...I was in the process of sending my email address in a PM to Mango, just in case something crazy happened...so we'd still be able to have contact, and when I clicked "Send" I received a ban message.  It said "Reason for Ban: None Given"...and looked to me as if I was banned until 08-02-2010...that's right, 6 months to the day.  I went numb!  I started Googling any and every screen name I could remember...hoping to contact at least one of you girls so we could find a way to come back together elsewhere.

I decided to start a blog (a first for me) and include everyone's names I could remember, and certain important keywords, hoping someone else would start Googling and find the blog.  After I got the blog set up, I decided to try a different computer in the house, because up until that point, I hadn't even been able to see FT, let alone post.  Wooooo, I could see FT on the other computers, what a relief.  Apparently Kiellara had come up with a similar idea and had posted a link to her newly formed Google Group, Who Shot My Stork?  I joined her group, sent her a link to the blog...and we were in business!

Since then, many more girls have received bans from FT after posting links to Who Shot My Stork? and Confessions: A Free-Speech Community for IVF Girls.  Putting their FT active status on the line, girl after girl has posted and PMd in an attempt to reach the Lost Girls.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us rebuild our community. 

(I'm sure I've left out some important stuff...feel free to start a post with other "good memories" if you're an author.  And if you're not an author, send me your email address and I'll send you an author invite!)

In Search of A Few Good Women

Kiellara (of Who Shot My Stork?) and I (of this blog) are still hoping to get contact information for the remaining "lost" girls from the original Confessions.  If anyone has contact information, please let them know we're looking for them and we miss them.  (Refer to the list in the Original Confessions post below.)

Aspiring Authors

Whomever would like to be added as an author on this blog (with the ability to write/contribute your own posts)...all I need is your email address to send you an author invite.

The Banished Unite!

For you former JJJAs who would also like to participate in a private Google Group:

Who Shot My Stork?