SlayAlive, we are a community, are we not?

[Jaz ♀♀]

Love your post....and quoting Tara and using her character as an example made it just more awesome-er!

[deathisyourgift]

Well said, karma props.
Jen

[drusillacakes]

Well said. *karma*

The reason I think Slayalive works so well is because we obviously all love the Whedonverse, but we also have lots of other interests too. Don't be afraid to reach out and make friends, share what we have in common and learn about our differences. Sometimes all it takes is just saying hi, voicing your opinion respectfully in discussions and letting the best of you shine through. Remember also that we were all newbies once!

I would just like to add, when I was a new here, Ray, you were one of the first people to reach out and introduce yourself and just say hi. That meant a lot to me!

I would just like to end on this note...
That's all folks.

[Darth Rosie]

Lovely thread, raz. I second everything you're saying. I for one continue to enjoy this place, getting so much love and support from all of you and hope to give a little back and make people feel loved and welcomed. Gosh, I'm getting all soppy

[whitecandy]

I remember when I first joined and felt quite nervous about posting in case I upset someone or said the wrong thing. I did feel a bit of an outsider to begin with but everyone was so welcoming and kind to me I soon felt at home. There have been times over my time here where I have felt left out or lonely, sometimes not being able to get involved in conversations because they are about things I am not interested in/understand, but I just busy myself somewhere else on the forum instead!

I still feel sometimes that it can be quite hard to keep in with everyone, so I can see where newbies come from. I mainly find it because of my age, I find it hard to keep patience with certain things/members, but then I just keep out of the threads that I can't deal with or don;t want to participate in. At the end of the day, there are enough members here and places to chat and things to chat about that there is always somewhere to go and someone to talk to

[Scarygothgirl]

I'm going to blame recent upsets and disagreements on the fact that it is winter, and people get down in winter... I'm going to ignore the fact that it isn't winter everywhere.

It's often very difficult to make newbies feel welcome 'cos alot of them join, post once or twice, then disappear. I think the watcher scheme probably helps them feel more welcome, it's a very good scheme- I wish I'd asked for a watcher when I joined.

[midwesternwatcher]

I'm not quite ready, but I'd like to be a watcher someday.

[Skytteflickan88]

I joined slayalive because of the Angel interaction competition. No other reason really. I had avoided to get involved in forums for a while, because the forum I had previously made my online home had been closed down by the owners (a TV channel) one day without warning, deleting all the members discussion about Buffy and life, spreading us to the wind, trying to find each other through msn and such. I had loved the forum and the members so much, but all of a sudden our community was gone and our friendships, which had once been so strong that we actually meet for a RL Buffy meetings, started to die. I almsot never speak to any of them anymore.

So it took me quite some time after registring before I actually bothered to post here. I just wanted the glory of coming up with a winning comic concept, I didn't dare to get too involved in the forum. Then I started to post. After all, it's hard to keep a Buffy fanatic from sharing the Buffy love. I just wanted to post my opinions. Then I saw the community here, read the web-comic some members had made ("Mods on high") I think) and I felt the need to make a new online home for myself. So that's how I began. I longed to belong.

And now, I don't know exactly when it happened, I feel like I'm a real part of slayalive. Not to sound self-centered, but I think people would notice a change in the slayalive machine if I disapeared. People would say "Why doesn't Eric bicker with anyone? Why didn't someone make a dirty joke about that incident?"

I've recently been accused, behind my back I might add, of harrassment of a member (I think you can guess who). A year ago that would have made me very upset and unsure of my place here. Now I shrugged it off and a few days after, I'm not very upset by it. I know belong here.

I live in a one room apartment, 6 hours by car from my number one home, my family that lives farther north. But I don't count this apartment as my second home. My heart belongs here, in this community in cyberspace.

Slayalive is my second home. And I want my family to grow, and become more and more comfortable with each other. You can be my sibling if you want, sending me random PMs, joking and laughing in the What's Up thread with me, or share my sorrows. Or be my parents, the mods, which lecture me when I've been bad. Or a more distant relative, that I discuss Buffy with in the Season 8 section.

To sum up: Slayalive is my home. We bicker and we bitch, we cry and we laugh. This isn't some random forum. This is a family.

[Wyndam]

Dec 6, 2010 10:17:44 GMT -5 midwesternwatcher said:

I'm not quite ready, but I'd like to be a watcher someday.

Gotta live up to your namesake!

[Scarygothgirl]

I've always loved being part of forum communities, but I gave up all of mine when life got difficult about two years ago, with the aim of going back (but still haven't). Then last year I remember going to school and saying to my friends 'You know how I love forums... And I love Buffy... Well guess what I found...' when I found this place. I joined immediately then realised that I should avoid getting involved 'til after exams, so there's about a month's gap between me offocially joining and when i joined the community.

[usagianddarien]

i just want to say i love this community, being a thirty something stay at home mom it is nice to have a place to talk about the "geeky" things i like and the end of the day oh and at naptime lol.

[Darth Rosie]

Dec 6, 2010 10:25:25 GMT -5 Skytteflickan88 said:

To sum up: Slayalive is my home. We bicker and we bitch, we cry and we laugh. This isn't some random forum. This is a family.

I think I'd like to be your aunt Rosie

[Skytteflickan88]

^^*awwwing out loud*

That's so sweet. Here I was afraid I took the family thing too far.

Btw, AwOLing (awwwing out loud) is now a thing. I will say it until it sticks.

We should totally have a slayalive-dictionary at the new place, with our own words and other terms we use a lot.

Slayaliver - member of slayalive

karmasniping - someone who takes karma (sometimes for no good reason, or simply without saying why)

Gleek - fan of the TV show Glee

fanboy/fangirl - someone who takes their show too seriously

whedonite - Fan of Joss Whedon or his works


I think we could come up with more.

[Eric]

^ Don't forget about "Nertch".

[PJ]

awwwwwww! i love this forum so much. and this thread! That quote you added was awesome EWR. And i completely agree with you 100%. If you are feeling down or somewhat of an outsider, just be aware that all of us had our humble beginnings! Heck, i remember when i first joined i felt like such a weirdo, and i really didn't think i'd be here as much as i am now! and im sure some people were thinking that as well. but with time, you will become a well liked member of the Slayalive community! You just gotta keep with it and be yourself, and we already like one thing about you.....your love and passion for Buffy(and various other things Whedon)! and the people here are uber friendly and eager to meet new people with the same interests!

anyways, if any of you are feeling down or just need somebody to get to know you here on the forum, im here and many other awesomeness people are too, so drop any of us a PM!!!

<3

[CowboyGuy]

Humans are social creatures, and it's no wonder that social networking sites have taken the world by storm. Validations and feedback are important to make us feel our worth. We here at SA hope that the new forum software will help bring more of this to you, this is one of the big reasons for the "big switch".

I hope that everyone, new members and old will move forward to our new board. It will be so much better, and it is where "SlayAlive" will be!

More than a Buffy forum, I want SA to become a platform for you to be able to come and feel at home, and speak about anything you want. To make friends and connections all over the world and share your life, and thoughts. The primary focus for the administration will always be either Buffy, or trying to run contests and grow the community, but as members it's up to you to create interesting and sometimes controversial topics and keep us alive.