Trying to get back after several years gone

Hello!

I used to be a frequent flyer here, joined 12 years ago and posted/was on almost everyday. I was a kid back then, and looking back most of my work is cringe-worthy.
Life got the best of me, but I never really stopped writing. I did, however, lose access to this account for a long time (as I lost access to my old email). After around a month of back and forth, I am finally back on here! (My previous name was MissBehavior826 I think? Maybe MissBehavior)

And WOW things have changed! I was wondering if someone could give me a low down on a few questions I have:

1. I see there's a post about the chat being back, but I never got a PM, so I was wondering if that is something I could have for the password?
2. Where are most members active on here? How are the member numbers looking? This place used to be poppin' and I'm wondering if there are a lot of inactive accounts, like mine was, or if we had a good group on here still.
3. This might sound rude, but one of the things I remember most, was poor management of the site 10 or so years ago. I remember being a part of the new group of folks who sought after and held contests, voted on the main site contests, etc after management of the site changed. How are things going?

Thanks and I'm glad to be back! :)

-Lauren

Hey Lauren! I remember you! Glad to see you back :) I joined in 2005 and I will go back and see old posts/poetry etc and cringe also. Many people who have been on here 10+ years have gotten the luxury of seeing me grow from a teenage know-it-all to a 30 year old who has no idea about anything, and happy about it ;) Haha

The site recently got a revamp! Janis came back after approximately 349 years, changed everything, and now it looks like he may be gone again? Not sure what his status is. Elusive devil. Anyway, we're rolling with the changes and most of us have learned to love it, so it seems.

Answers to questions (from my perspective)

1. I don't know where it stands, but currently there is no chat room.

2. Members Forum where you are now is the happenin' place it seems. Lots of inactive accounts, lots of people strictly here for poetry, a handful faithful bunch who do forums and poetry, and heaps who just hang on the forums. We're all in very different places, so it seems. Definitely not as active as it was when you first started, but more active than the decline roughly 7 years ago.

3. I just left the mod squad recently, and can tell you the team moderating now is definitely a great group of people. They keep things going smoothly, and there isn't much to moderate on the forums. Gone are the days of high intensity religious debates, and it seems a majority of the people here who are vocal are in agreement politically, or at least find common ground. Kind of nice to have a bit of peace. :)

Lauren,
Nice to meet you. Although I joined back in 2008 I was not active in the forums until three years later. I agree with just about everything Britt said except for her estimation of Janis' absence. Seems much longer than she alluded.

Re mods: we've had the same corp for about 3 years now, except that Britt & Melpomene (two of the all-time best) stepped down this year. There are five of us left including Jane who is the grandmother of Mods.

I'm not sure I agree that everyone has the same perspective on religion, politics et al, but everyone does at least attempt to be civil about their disagreements. About the only people being penalized are plagiarists. Even the spam has dropped off considerably.

We're in the middle of one site-wide contest now, run by Mark aka hiraeth aka Senury. The previous one just ended.

We're always looking for new blood to run contests & start provocative forums. One new thread dealing with overcoming addictions is going on in Friendships.

Glad you are back and hope to see you around on the forums.

Hi Lauren aka missbehaviour I joined in 2007 left and came back in 2008, I do remember your name.. it was very active in those early years, lots of scraps with the mods and lots of lively threads and clubs. Things have certainly quietened down the mods are great, more emphasis on poetry as it should be.

Good to see you back :)

Hey Lauren I must admit I was here on a few different accounts from 2006 I say different I must have given someone a bad first impression and they said quite alot of my work was copied even though I still have my cringeworthy pieces written in a little blue book haha anyway so my accounts were suspended and I made this one back in 2008 I was inactive for a few years until the beginning of last year and I must say I'm glad I came back because I have made new friends and reconnected with old friends. I am sad to say I don't remember you but it's good to see you back after all this time and even if our older stuff is 'cringey' it's ours :)

1. Hiraeth (Mark) I think and some others sorted a page where we could go and chat but in all honesty when I went on there no one was a round and I think it just fizzled out.

2. Personally, I write poetry or what I think is poetry and comment alot. I do try to involve myself in the forum's but some are a little hit and miss as they've not been opened or shall I say written in for weeks some even months as I say I only reactivated last year then changes happened.

3. I don't think you're rude at all I'm sure the management has always been Janis or so I thought as Britt said he's been back made a whole bunch of changes then disappeared as fast as he came and made them lol though the mods have a whole list of stuff that still needs doing. I am in a group and unfortunately we cannot see who is in there unless they do a group forum or comment on one and we cannot add any new members which is ashame and I guess it will be on the to do list. Many of us here threw our toys out the pram because of the changes and had breaks but I think we are all over that now and we have gotten used to it.. I for one have anyway though if I ever come on here on a laptop I wouldn't be able to manage. My phone is my saving grace for this haha.

All the best and again welcome back :)

The chat is back up, I'm hosting it personally on my own website so it has guaranteed uptime, but last time I ran the chat it was inactive. Hopefully this time around it'll be better, more details can be found here:

http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/threads/145865

(no need for a password for the time being).

Edit: whoops. Didn't realize the reply was specific to one person. This was meant for all!:

Thank you all for the replies. I really do appreciate it. I'm sad the forums aren't as bustling as they used to be, but at least the site is still active and Janis has signed on in the past year! Ha. Are there any other ongoing contests or events?

Something that's been fun for me is not a contest, but a local poetry group posts a "prompt" once a week. It's normally just a word or short phrase, but I find it fun to spin off of that. Do you think people would be interested ?

Absolutely!
Prompt away, ma'am.

So glad to have you back, Lauren! I joined in 2007 and was active on and off... I really don't remember
too much as it feels like forever ago.

I know a lot has changed but I absolutely love the fact that you jumped in and started up the weekly prompt!
Many thanks and it's always refreshing to have a member come back with a some good ideas too :)