Please create your own thread if you want to post about something

[Ella]

Dear Members,

Some of you may have noticed that we have recently closed some discussion threads such as threads asking general questions. We did this to inspire members to post individual threads about topics that interest them in the various forums here, and hopefully increase the activity of the forum as a whole.

The purpose of the various forums here on TTL is that members can share things with each other and get personal feedback from other members. We feel that it is better to have separate forums where members can share how they feel and what they think about something - rather than just one thread per forum, for a couple of reasons.

Seeing a lot of threads in the various forums instead of just one may make more members feel better. Members may spend more time reading in a forum if there are a lot of different threads there, and they may more easily get inspired to post something themselves. It is also easier for people to reply to threads if they are about one topic or one member. It can be difficult to focus for a long time if you have depression, so replying to one topic is easier than replying to a long thread where many members and topics are discussed. In addition, the members posting the threads may get more positive feedback from other members about what they posted, which makes it likely that they will continue to post threads of their own.

It is especially important to us that new members find support here. It is common for new members to post in discussion/question threads the first thing they do. Then their posts may go unnoticed, and they may feel ignored and end up leaving the forum. This is why we have guidelines about creating your own thread when you seek support or want to share something. It is also not a good idea to post the title of your thread as a general question. By creating your own threads when you want support, all members can feel more noticed and appreciated, because other members will see what they post about and give them personal feedback.

As always, you are very welcome to tell someone that you can relate to them in their threads, as long as you do not take the focus off the original poster and topic. If a thread starts focusing on other topics or members without the original poster being supported by this and participating in the conversation, it can make them feel bad. Please report off-topic posts to us so that we can make sure that the original poster finds support here, and do not end up feeling bad, discouraged to post, or leave the forum.

Some of the threads we have closed were asking questions to other members about various topics. If you would like to post game threads where members make lists, and share one sentence or number, such as: "What's your favorite..?", "The last thing you ate", "Have you ever..?", "Count to a Million", "Last thing you bought" etc. you can post them in the Games forum. By posting "list threads" in the Games forum, it will make it easier for members to find those threads. Also, the threads on the main page will not be buried very quickly by the popular game listing threads, so more people may notice the other forums we have here and participate there. It seems like a lot of members enjoy posting in the Games forum, and we hope you will continue to have fun there, and participate in the various other forums we have as well.

I hope you all find support here on TTL, and I hope you keep sharing how you feel, what you like or dislike with other members, and support each other in each members individual thread. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you all to reply to each other more often. Even if you don't feel like your have something helpful to say, just letting someone know that you have heard them and that you are sorry that they are feeling bad can be of great comfort. It is common for depressed people to feel alone, so just being seen and acknowledged can help.

Thank you all for being here and for posting and supporting each other. You are doing a great job improving the lives of each other.

If you have any questions or concerns, or suggestions on how to make the forum more active and helpful, please contact us by posting in the Contact Moderators forum. You can also post suggestions in the Suggestions forum. We welcome any feedback from you all.

Best wishes,
Ella

[Road Ratt]

WTF?

You've locked almost every thread on this site that I liked to post in.

I can't imagine this kind of thing being good for the community. In my opinion it'll have the exact opposite effect as people will be posting in their own threads rather than getting to know each other in the threads you locked.

My two cents worth...

[Ella]

Hi Road Ratt,

I am sorry if you are upset that we locked the threads. We did this not because we want to discourage members from getting to know each other, quite the opposite actually. Especially our new members are often afraid of posting their own thread. If they see that most members do not create their own thread, it is likely that they will not do so either. This leads to new members often posting in question or listing threads, and their posts go unnoticed. Then they may leave the forum without interacting with other members and without finding support here.

There are plenty of ways to get to know other members, as you can reply to each others threads in all forums (apart from the Member Journals). By replying to a members thread where they talk about themselves, you can get to know them better, and they can feel heard and supported. They can also get to know you by replying to your threads. Replying to members when they seek support for something is a great way to get to know someone. This is what we want to encourage members to do. Create their own threads and reply to each other.

Members are also welcome to participate in the TTL Cafe forum. Here you can create chat threads where you can talk about light hearted matters. I believe a lot of members are posting there already, but new members are welcome as well. You can suggest to new members that they can join the conversation there. Sometimes an invitation to join can help them feel welcome here.

I understand that these threads are important to you, though. We could move some of them to the Game forum so that you can continue to post in them. Would you like for us to do that? Alternatively, you could create new threads in the Game forum where members can post about the same topics.

Best Regards,
Ella