Mourning change

For those of you who think that online forums are a waste of time or entirely too geeky for you, then you might not want to read this post. :)

There is a forum I found about a year and a half ago that I love. I have several "friends" there and have learned a lot about all sorts of things from breastfeeding to baby wearing to cloth diapering to making baby food to what the popular "it" bag is out there to how to meal plan to well...you get the idea. There was even a little "corner" of the forum devoted to spiritual discussions and there has been so much growth and encouragement in that area. :)

It used to be a forum community made up mostly of moms who were there because they loved the same product and stayed because they love talking about family, supporting each other and sharing knowledge/products/information.

There was always an underlying respect there and very few people involved were snitty and they usually didn't stick around long anyway because it wasn't the kind of forum where snittiness was "fed" so to speak.

Over the last 8 months I have seen a change in "my" beloved forum. It used to be someplace I enjoyed browsing and to be honest probably spent TOO MUCH time on there reading and replying to threads. It is now someplace I skim for the few posts that might interest me, read and rarely reply. The "old" forum readers are posting less and less as the newer generation comes in. And it's not so much about old vs. new as it is encouragement/uplifting/informative vs. complaining/snitty/greedy. It makes me sad. The owners of the company who make the product and host the forum are amazingly generous and indirectly this is pulling people who are out for freebies in to stay. There is no longer an undertone of respect and thankfulness for this company and their amazing generosity. There is now a feeling of expectation and obligation...as if this company "owes" the forum frequenters anything.

I imagine it is only a matter of time before I am only showing up for the new line reveals and staying fully away from any social threads of any kind. There are a few people from there I am in touch with outside of the forum and will happily continue to do so.

So geeky as it may be, I am mourning the change of a forum community that has honestly enriched my life for over a year. It has challenged me to look at both sides of various coins, to become a better mother, wife and friend and been a source of entertainment.