Romy, I think you've missed my point once again.
It would be nice to have ONE place where I could converse with people who I've already built up a common history with, without the constant distraction of needing to try to "learn" more people. so that was an idea that came off the top of my head. It all got too big for me. I couldn't keep track when the postings were so frequent, and newcomers so many. I found that I was missing out on many of the conversations I wanted to be involved in, and getting bogged down in many that were just distractions. I came back to the real world.
However, the idea of a Sue and Friends thread for invitees only is the complete antithesis of what I was envisaging. And repugnant. So no thanks.
Volker, no, it's not a matter of privacy. I'm happy for anyone to read what I write. Like most others, it's mostly about TIME . As I think more clearly now, there were two main things that I got from the forum, which made it a valuable place for me to invest my time. One was info, ideas and help on particular topics. The second was friendships with some people who I grew to know well, and shared some history with. For a while I was flying. My life has always been crazy busy, but when the time that it was costing me outweighed the benefits that I was getting, I had to pull back, and invest my time in other places. Which really wasn't a bad thing.
So for me it's time, and my own problems with distractability, and needing to be more strict with myself about keeping on track. (Right now I should be finishing off some papers for work, and then getting to bed at a reasonable time so that things won't pile up further tomorrow, when I have students coming at midday, horses to see to, and another mountain of paperwork, planning and organising to get through.. and then there's still my family..But I've been distracted.)
I have to be very careful that I don't allow myself to be distracted down paths that prevent me from achieving the things that I want,in a day, or a lifetime.
I would like to be able to follow and participate in interesting threads that I'm gaining something from, as well as giving something too. But when the site got too big and busy, I could not longer keep track of the interesting threads, or follow where my favorite authors were writing, It got too spread out for me. It consumed more and more of my time, just scrolling around the hugeness, and keeping contact with all the new people I met, but for less benefit.
And then, I couldn't keep contact with the people whose company I really enjoyed either, because they were spread out all over the place too. Hohum.
I was, offhand, trying to think of a way to make some parts smaller and more manageable again, but obviously my suggestion was misplaced.
Donald, AND wasn't discussed on facebook was it? Not from my posting anyway. I deliberately directed people to comment HERE if they were interested, as I know that not all AND people concerned use facebook. And I don't think it's a good forum for discussion anyway. You posted something, and someone kindly pointed out that you should repost it here instead.
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I have not sought the horse of bits, bridles, saddles and shackles,
But the horse of the wind, the horse of freedom, the horse of the dream. [Robert Vavra]