I agree with many many statements made by various people, some of the statements might even be conflicting but that doesn't make both not be true in some ways. I agree PT has felt different the past few months, though I've been here a bit over a year and may not really be considered an "old-timer."

I agree that threads like this can be discouraging, but I agree they can be enlightening too.

I agree that it's sad some people's posts, especially the newer people's, tend to go unanswered, but I agree it can get hard when this is such a big community, and you want to answer both your friend's posts and newer folks' posts but have limited time. Gosh I don't want the wonderful friends I've made here to feel neglected or ignored, and I WANT to catch all their posts and reply, but just as much hate seeing people feel left out and ignored because they are new or feel unliked.

I agree that people can be judgmental or say hurtful things when others do something they don't understand, but also that everyone is different, has different opinions, and judging those people, getting angry and turning to bash them, doesn't help anything but makes the problem worse. The thing that speaks loudest to me is never someone yelling at me that they are disgusted by what I said or did, but by watching someone else respond in the way I should have, with love and compassion and without judgment. Leading by example. A n example of support and compassion is spoiled when the person turns around and bashes somebody else for not reacting the same way, and perpetuates the arguing and bad feelings, this is just my opinion.

That said, I'm going to turn around and make a statement that is not aimed at anyone in particular but just something that bothers me. I wish people would not utilize the rolleyes emoticon at all towards other posters on this board. It makes my heart sick whenever I see it used towards someone. If I saw it used towards me or something I said, I'd feel stupid. When I was in school, I wasn't one of the popular kids. When I tried to join in and make a joke or conversation, some of the girls would roll their eyes at what I said and then laugh together. I wanted to crawl under a rock I felt so humiliated, and to this day I struggle with having the courage to join in and express myself when I'm with people I don't know. I get that same feeling when I see the emoticon here when it's aimed at another person. It hurts even though it's not directed at me. I have used it towards a poster once since I've been here, I remember exactly which post (I believed the person was a troll), and still regret it. It was rude and unnecessary, and I felt so bad I eventually went back and deleted the post with it.

I agree it's up to each of us to make PT a better place, to put some effort into it. What if every person made some commitment in their own mind to make sure one post a day was to welcome a newer person to the board, or to dog/cat/pet of the day, or to give advice on a behavior or health thread, or to give solace in a memorial thread? If every one here decided to do just one of those things even every other day or so, think of the love and support that would put out. I'm just as guilty as the next for thinking "I just don't have time." "I've got too much going on in my own life." etc. etc. For me, I think the worst excuse is that if I post to one the rest will feel left out because I don't have time to post to all of them, so what do I do? I don't post to any! That's not helping anything.

Now honestly though, I have had so much going on. I had problems with my arm, my husband was unemployed for months, I have had extreme pressure from my job, and so on and so forth. I've let all that take over though and left PT behind for weeks now. I didn't even really post when my husband finally got hired again. I thought about it but for some reason I just felt like it wasn't something really of interest to the majority here. I think I had gone so long without really sharing that I just got used to not sharing so much.

This is certainly longer than I intended and I'm now half an hour late getting started on work, but I want to also say: Starting today, because of this post, I'm going to make more of an effort to at least post once, maybe just a couple lines, to one of the pets of the day, or to someone needing comfort, or to someone new to the board, or to someone who posted pics and isn't getting responses. I may not get to everyone, but I will make at least some small difference, and that is the only way to start.