Tuesday 28 May 2013

Strange and very baffling

A couple of months ago I was talking to someone about the MBF site. She was going to do some work for the site and this required her to register.

A few days later she told me she had done this but with much trepidation. She said that if it was not because of me she would have left the site, particularly after she had logged in. She found the site threatening and was fearful about clicking on any of the links. I was astonished because as social media sites go, this is about the least intrusive site I know, and I have been on most.

What made it more intriguing is that the lady in question is registered on many if not most of the main media site, and many more non-media sites. It’s intriguing in that the only question that links you to this site is your email address, and this is not given out on the site itself; it’s purely there so that we can send the user a confirmation email that they must click to confirm registration.

No names required, no date of birth, no post codes, and no town; nothing other than email. The site itself has a Remove Account link on every page and yet, she was fearful of clicking on the links inside the site. I find this very strange and very baffling! I couldn't get a satisfactory answer from her as to why she felt this way as she felt I was being defensive.

Another thing: people are signing up all the time, every day, but you would never know it! Why? They register and log in but never write anything, so they are anonymous. You cannot be seen or found if you do not write anything and this is what hundreds of people are doing. They register, cruise the site and leave. When they come back again the site looks much the same because they are all anonymous, not having written a single thing about themselves or their experiences in life. 

For many people journal-writing can be a powerful and effective way for managing times of chaos, stress and decision-making. Taking time out to express your thoughts, feelings, dreams and life concerns can be highly therapeutic. It can even have a transformative effect on your outlook on life and help you manage life changes more positively and more creatively, as well as helping you access your creative unlived resources ultimately to propel you out into life with added vitality to live out projects which add meaning to your life, or just enhance the meaning of, or find a more creative attitude to, coping with the change and crisis of everyday life.

Everybody has something to say about life, theirs or others; experiences, comments or opinions, they are all important.

In terms of size compared to a site such as facebook; out of a single haystack we might represent one straw, perhaps just half a straw. We need to get to be a small handful of straws to make it a great site. I know how to do that but lack the funds. It’s early days and takes perseverance to make it work but you can all help.

Write something.


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