This has been an enlightening thread, but to be honest, most of you participating in this thread were not here through any of the Witch Wars, you were all not here during many of the mega dramas that happened with sellers, buyers-turned-sellers ripping people off or running charity schemes, websites cropping up for a month or so & disappearing (ripping off customers), and all the dramas that have been handled over time.
Being a good leader, whether it's Tenured members here, Ash & myself, or the mods, means making hard decisions and taking actions that are important for the good of everyone 1s Decisions that help people feel safe and secure; especially when you're talking about a community that needs to feel comfortable because the paranormal isn't widely accepted by many in daily life.
Member security here is paramount, and there isn't any complaint thread that's going to change that for Ash & myself. I realize that most of you here do not have or own a Forum of this size or this tenure, but it's no small feat to manage thousands of members and tens of thousands of threads. As much as you may think you will do no wrong as a Registered member, it doesn't mean someone else of your membership level isn't going to repeat past mistakes that caused a lot of drama here. The membership levels happened with time, and at the suggestion of members who wanted to share more private discussions & information without it being public, or without worrying about being contacted without merit. We are very much a community-driven website and it's important that the people who are active in this community over time feel open to being able to communicate and share as well. New members can gain a lot by being an active member, it's not just PMs that are gained, the Forum doubles in size for Tenured members.
As for Chat, the biggest complaint we get via Helpdesk is that people in Chat are not talking about spirits, magic, entities, etc., and that sometimes people are talking about gross things like farts & poop, or they are talking about sex and boobs, etc. Chat is going to be what you guys make of it. You guys need to actually have engaging conversations for people to feel like Chat is a place they want to spend time.
Ash & I founded this open Forum to welcome freedom of speech & freedom of sharing information to help others and have a community atmosphere. We wanted a welcoming and open site where people could actually learn the truths of Spirit Keeping & learn what it means and how to be successful in this path. Ash & I have contributed years & countless hours of material, in addition to all the members here, and we welcome anyone to be part of that.
Use your energetic motivation you have for trying to change the policies here to become a tenured member and have all the access you desire. Not to mention sharing, creating friends & mentors in this path, and be part of this historic community.
This Forum started out with everyone with with private messages, everyone had their names (sometimes real names) posted, there were email buttons & links, and all kinds of bells and whistles.
Then... slowly & slowly things were being taken advantage of, people were harassing others via email, sellers were adding every member of the Forum to email distributions lists, people were sending threats over Forum arguments, people were "selling" people things through email or PM and then not actually giving them the product or service, people were giving out credit cards via chat or PM and not even vetting who they were giving them to, people giving out their home addresses via chat or PM and having a stalking issue or threat issue, the list goes on & on.
If this Forum was the only thing we did in our lives and we didn't actually do anything but run this Forum, then maybe taking big risks like letting everyone just do whatever they want to do all the time would be okay, and we would spend our days addressing issues. But, when Ash & I have to take time out to address issues, to deal with law enforcement or lawyers, or respond to accusations of Forum members... not because of anything Ash & I did, but because of what the members are doing... that's different. Now you're taking time away from people who ordered a service or a binding, and we quickly get behind in our work when we have to address a Forum member who decided to stalk another member because they posted their home address... or, respond because someone threatened someone else, etc.
It's not Ash & I who ruined or wasted this community, it was the bad decisions of some who caused these "freedoms" to go away. It's sad, but it's true. And it didn't happen overnight, it happened over the last 13 years.
Ultimately "Creepy Hollows" gets the blame when one member harasses another, or one member threatens another, or a seller bashes "Creepy Hollows" because they had a bad review on here, and "Creepy Hollows" pays the price in ridiculous internet reviews all over for the behavior of our members. You don't see negative reviews posted that actually blame the person responsible when it came to a Forum blow-out, oh no, you see "Creepy Hollows".
We've been blamed even for actions sellers who advertise on here do when they have a private transaction with someone, just because the seller advertised here or posts here.
If everyone who participated here could behave like an adult, it wouldn't be a problem, but not even a few months ago we had someone taunting someone to commit SUICIDE on the chat window! And then comes this thread with people berating us for how much stress & drama we want to have to deal with and how many bells & whistles are here, when this is supposed to be about lifting each other up & having community camaraderie and discussions? It's not as though we are talking about ancient history, we are talking about something that's still in the rear view mirror.
This Forum was built and created not for you all to have a dating website, or a chat website, or a private chat website. There are plenty of those kinds of sites & Forums out there for those purposes. This Forum was specifically built for the sharing and communicating of information related to Spirit Keeping, Magic, and Paranormal Collecting for the purpose of enlightening each other. A single website that actually told the truth about Spirit Keeping and actually informed people. Most of you have no idea what it was like nearly 20 years ago on the internet. It was a barren wasteland with absolutely no information about Spirit Keeping. We were the only website that even discussed it, and we paid the price with many scars for even having this site, and we still do. Learning the history of this community & having some modicum of respect for the battle-laden people who built this community, and fought to keep it, would be nice.
It's not too much to ask to be an active participant here to have some perks. I don't even have to ask Tenured members what they think about everyone being able to see everything & everyone being able to contact them... they aren't going to like it. There's a reason we have membership levels, and again, it happened over time and the natural evolution of this Forum. If you are an active member who shows they are really interested in the happiness of this community, then at least Ash & I know you aren't a scam artist, you're not copying email addresses off everyone's profiles and selling them, you're not in a chat window acting like a fool, you're not setting up fake charity scams and PMing every single board member to bilk them, or a pissed of buyer from a seller who posts here so you're making 10 different fake accounts & PMing everyone trash talk, or any of other ridiculous issues we've had come up here over the years. All we ask is that someone actually be an active member here who actually cares about the other members here, and cares about learning. All of this (by the way) are real examples, and that doesn't even begin to touch upon everything that's happened here over the years.
The root & foundation of this community is the wisdom and information shared by members. There is NO OTHER PLACE LIKE THIS. No other website can even hold a candle to the volume of wisdom found on this Forum from not only Ash & myself, but many community members who spent their personal time building this resource. Their love & devotion to Spirit Keeping & magic kept this place alive during some of the darkest times of the entire community. Those who lived through those times will tell you how horrifying those years were for everyone; no one was left untouched by those Witch Wars.
It's easy to be someone who came along 10 years later and tell us how things should be done, because you weren't here to live through it, but no rule or regulation on this Forum was put here because Ash & I are tyrants, they are the result of the tremendously bad behavior and decisions made by members here to drove it to the brink of policy changes. And not just one incident, but multiple incidents over many years. Ash & I have a lot of patience, and we are willing to put up with a great deal of stress, and give people second chances, third chances, etc. No policy change was made on a knee-jerk reaction, it was made because it became a necessity.
To even consider the issue of PMs for everyone is bad-mouthing CH might happen via PM is absolutely ridiculous 1spt . That completely absolves all blame from the bad behavior of the members, and as convenient as it might be for the badly-behaved members to pretend that it's all us and not them, it's just not true. We lived through a hell-storm of bad reviews and press, and the only reason it didn't sink this community is because we actually stand behind & believe in everything we do, and no one can question that.
Unclesid, if you truly feel this level of disdain for CH then I do not know why you are here, reading your responses is disheartening 1sa . If you really care about the quality of the Forum, the quality of the conversations with members, etc then be proactive in making a positive change & be part of positive energy that comes here. We are glad to have you here, but the mission of this site isn't to drag down others & make them feel unhappy about being here, but instead being supportive and empowering of each other. We have enough anger and judgment from those outside of the paranormal community. Be a part of the positive change you want to see here.
