... back in the ReBoot community about ten years ago. She fell off the face of the internet, never to be seen again.

Make the forum page your home page? Worked on my old PC. Then when I switched to my mac laptop, I took a long break from the board.

~AW~

I think I'll just second everyone else's advice so far...because I haven't had enough experience yet to really offer my own. That is, I've done something similar myself, on and off, and haven't quite figured out how to deal with it yet, beyond deciding I'm doing what I can and that's that. So if I don't really post much for a while, and forget to welcome newbies (hi, newbies!), orcan'tbebotheredtopostonorreplytoanythingthatdoesn'tgrabmyattentionrightaway likealotofnewbiepostsbecauseIknowthey'renewbiesandI'mgoing tohavetodothesameroutineandeventhoughIdocareaboutnewbies--Iwasonemyselfyouknow--sometimesI'mjustreallytiredandbusyandamcheckingtheBoardforstufflikeanalysisoftheHobbitorsomething andIjustkindofgo'noI'llwelcomeyoulaterorI'llmakeacollectivenewbiewelcomingpostIloveyouanywaybutI'msotiredandcannotinternetbyez' andnoI'mnotsayinganythingwhyareyoulookingatmeyou'rejustlisteningtoahissingwindrightnowIdon'tunderstandwhy I'mjustasnakenoI'mnotnotasidekickeitherthatI'mawareof ohmigoshstoryideasomeone'sasidekickanddoesn'tknowit! anywaythehissingwindisnotherethehissingwinddoesnotexist donotlistentothehissingwinddonotthinkaboutthehissingwind thereisnohissingwindwhyareyoutalkingaboutahissingwind?Andnowtheweather...

Um. What was I saying? There was this nonexistent hissing wind and I moved to Night Vale temporarily...oh yes.

So yeah, once in a while I just really can't be bothered to reply to anything, unless it's...no, I don't even know what. Someone specifically trying to get my attention, I guess. So...I don't actually know yet what I do about that, but...I'm currently determined not to fade away (although that's a subject I could talk about at length).

While I don't want you to go either, there is what someone told me last year (about year-long/summer programs, but ignore that for the moment): even if you don't keep in touch with someone, if you lose all contact--that doesn't mean that you aren't, or weren't, friends, and that doesn't mean that you can't, or don't, appreciate them and what you've done together. It just sometimes means that your lives have stopped intersecting for the foreseeable future, and that's something that's going to happen a lot over the course of your life; but that doesn't make things pointless, or meaningless, or not worth doing. And it doesn't mean that you don't care about the friends you've made and may no longer be keeping in touch with.

But that's just what I was told at one point (when the program was ending) by a very smart woman who was one of our main teachers. What I'm trying to say, really, is...don't worry about it. And I'm only an email or chat line away.

~DawnFire

PS: Sorry about any nonsense...
PPS: Belated welcome to any newbies reading this who haven't been welcomed.../headdesk/ Sorry about that. ~DF

is just make the Board my internet homepage. That way, it's always the first thing to pop up so I see new posts when I start the internet.

It's really not something to worry about. A number of the people who've been here for quite a long time have gone through phases of posting a lot, then disappearing and coming back (yours truly included). We never really see it as fading away - just popping in as and when time and inclination permit.

I can understand your concerns, though; I made a number of very good friends through the PPC and this has proven to be one of the more consistently caring communities I've ever seen - though these days I spend more of my time lurking than I do posting.

The way I handle making sure I don't lose contact is to have the Board bookmarked and make sure to check it at least once a day, scanning the front page for anything new or looking at discussions that catch my interest, and sometimes (like now) I contribute to a conversation. :P

Hope that helps!

Well, the people here are pretty understanding of the fact that some of us have real lives beyond the PPC. I wouldn't worry too much about it.