The state of BT 2/20/15

[flatfish]

Thanks Mike !

[Mike Weins]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Mike, thanks for keeping this place going.

I am WAYYY impressed at your course choices and GPA.
And your adaptability to making a new life of it with an obnoxious disability.

No story here about my unstellar academic experience.
I did graduate in four years.

Hi Renee :)

I don't have a disability other than tinnitus.

[renee]

OOOps, I was looking at Mark N's history.
That's what MS crazy eyes do to me.

So far tinnitis only bugs me when i remember I have it.
Too much close proximity to 6 foot tall jam band speakers.
Bless the roadie bouncers for slipping me good earplugs.

Unstellar undergrad record but waaay interesting.

[Virginia]

Thanks Mike for the update! However, I don't think you should concern yourself about BT as long as it is working as well as it is. Seems to me you have more than a plate full with your study load. Congratulations, your GPA is great.

[alex44]

Mike - While i admire your tenacity in school, do we HAVE to have every single upgrade that coes along, sometimes the board goes dow and people defect to others - soe have stolen our name. The old software seemed pretty decent, as in if it works, dont fix it. Thank you for your time and effort with BT but let's take back what is ours - name and members - we USED t be #1 on the query lists, good luck finding us now. Again - gd luck with school, my degree was no piicnic either, but please think aout what I have said and lets get BT back where it brlongs.
Ale44
Blessings
skypilot

[Lazarus]

Alex's point is exactly the point I have been making for years now. Searching the Internet for MS forums/help does not lead anyone to our site. If that can be fixed, the Braintalk site will regain members. We are hiding with a blanket over our site. Even when friends search for our site they have trouble finding it.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Mike - While i admire your tenacity in school, do we HAVE to have every single upgrade that coes along, sometimes the board goes dow and people defect to others - soe have stolen our name. The old software seemed pretty decent, as in if it works, dont fix it. Thank you for your time and effort with BT but let's take back what is ours - name and members - we USED t be #1 on the query lists, good luck finding us now. Again - gd luck with school, my degree was no piicnic either, but please think aout what I have said and lets get BT back where it brlongs.
Ale44
Blessings
skypilot

[tic chick]

hey everyone !

well...in my opinion, the old software wasn't that decent. if you remember about 3 or so years back, we had spammers crawling out of the woodwork and becoming distinguished members in 20 minutes with graphic posts and nuisance ones for cheap purses, etc. then about a year ago, we had another major spam or some kind of other security problem i don't remember the details of.

we've also been through several different url's over the years, from braintalk.com to hasty-pastry.net to this one, braintalkcommunities.org. when john didn't renew the easily remembered braintalk.com and we had the 6 month shutdown about 6 years ago, that's when most of our members left to go to neurotalk. i dislike rehashing this because we know what the problems were that led to the downward spiral of the site.

i'm pretty sure that mike said this newest version is going to help our security more and let him fix probs that people have with accessing bt with smartphones and other phones (explained in the first post in this thread). it's not going to affect what we see on the screen or the url of this site. it's like when you download a virus program, like mcafee. they ask you to update the program because they have found more viruses or something that improves the program...so you download it and that's it. it doesn't change the way mcafee looks or it's basic features or how you scan or whatever, it just tweaks what the mcafee people want it to tweak.

there also was a thread or many posts about how to make bt more visible in search engines and the fact that we are competing with other internet sites like facebook.

i have personally loved not having to report spam on a daily basis since we got this program and it's spam catcher. i hated having threads interrupted with spam. now i can just come here and post.

thanks to mike, david, dr. hoch and the moderators for keeping this site going and being so responsive to requests for help. i know i would rather have someone help me with a problem i am having posting or editing than just having them busy taking care of spam and spammers.

thank you for sharing and caring,
jeannie

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((HUGS TO ALL)))))) ~

FINDING BRAINTALK

When I enter "braintalk" in a Google search, our website is the first hit at the top of the page, followed by BT's Facebook page. Not the case in a Yahoo search, nor in the DuckDuckGo search. I primarily use Google, and I suspect many people do. My point is that there are several search engines available, and at least one, Google, lists us first under a "braintalk" search. So, if a former member wants to locate us, that member may need to try a few search engines to get here, or just use Google.

All of the former members, who left BT, and who are on Facebook (thinking that is a majority of former members), can find the link to our forums on the BT Facebook page. It's a public page, so anyone, even I, who am not and never will be on Facebook, can access BT's Facebook page.

So, I have a bit of difficulty understanding why former members can't find us, if they really want to find us.

I miss our former members greatly, and I wish that they would flock back to BT in droves. But it's been years since we've been established at this website address, and they haven't. We have to accept that former members chose other venues, like Facebook, or other discussion forums, and are happy or satisfied with their choices, and they aren't coming back to BT.

LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND

We also need to remember that our current administrators, Dr. Hoch, David, and Mike, are not the ones responsible for the downfall of BT. They, out of the goodness and kindness of their hearts, volunteer their services to keep BT on line and functioning. If former members still hold grudges against the former owner/administrator of BT, then they are unfairly faulting our current administrators, and punishing themselves and us by refusing to return. We are under new management, and it has been outstanding and compassionate management.

Our moderators are incredibly patient, fair, and caring. We had a spate of spam, as Jeannie mentioned, which was nightmarish at times. I had very little time to read and respond to posts, because like Jeannie, and others, I was reporting spam on every thread I saw. But Mike and our Moderators got control of that issue, and now we don't see spammers here.

This is the internet, and we have to keep up technologically with the latest and greatest. One of the improvements suggested for BT by members was adding more bells and whistles to attract members, new and old. The internet always has a new shiny thing to dangle in front of us to attract our attention (eg., the blue/black or white/gold dress), and we have to keep pace with that to a certain extent, or become a dinosaur.

If you want to bring back former members, then track them down on Facebook or other forums, and encourage them to return. Provide them with the link. Lure them with memories of the old days. Tell them how nice and safe it is here now.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

If you want to increase BT's membership, a better approach might be to respond to posts by new members. Welcome new members, even if you have no experience in their particular concern/issue. Just say, "hello, glad you're here, wish I could help..." ~ anything to let that person know that s/he has been heard and shown care and compassion.

Right now, we have a new member, Traveler, who is 71, and needs information about nerve conduction tests, and has had a spinal fusion, and has Parkinson's. Traveler needs support, just like every other person, who visits BT and posts here asking for help. But, time after time, the posts of new members are ignored, and go without responses.

People post ONE TIME, get no response, and then a year later, a new member replies, gets no response. Another year, a new member replies, and no response. Each member posted once in the same thread over 4 years and never returned.

Here's Traveler's post:

http://www.braintalkcommunities.org/...n-test-painful

While we are bemoaning the loss of former members, who have chosen other venues, we are ignoring the new members, who are pleading for help, guidance, information, support, companionship, understanding, and every other reason that every single BT member came here in the first place.

Instead of holding dinner for the guests, who didn't show up, I prefer to feed the guests at the table.

I encourage every BT member to check "New Posts," the "Home Page," and look for new members' posts, reply to them, lead them to the appropriate forum for their needs, and welcome them to our community. Someone here did that for you, when you joined. Please pay it forward to our new members. Thank you.

LET'S LOOK AHEAD

As far as upgrading our forums, I leave that to the expert, Mike Weins, and I trust his judgment because he's always made the right and best decisions for us. And he is an A student.

BrainTalk isn't a website, or a format, or any technical thing attached to its existence. It's you. It's me. It's us. And it is up to us to make BrainTalk the community that we want it to be. Our history is our foundation. What we've learned from that history, and how we go forth with that knowledge, is our future.

Love & Light,

Rose

[SalpalSally]

The only reason I go to Facebook is to keep track of my Family
and what they're up to. I come here to be with Friends and....
....to get away from Family..LOL!

[Mike Weins]

The "new" software is actually 2 years old now, but it's newer than what we have now. The main reason for needing to do this upgrade eventually is that the host will be upgrading the servers software which will not work as well with our current forum software. Keep in mind the current forum software is 5 years old or so and has some unpatched holes that are fixed in the newer software.

The absolute newest forum software is vB 5 and it really really sucks so we won't even consider it for a long time if at all

With regards to getting our ranking in search engines back, the best way to do that is to post relevant information in the forums you visit. All search engines now rank sites according to how much relevant content is found. Gone are the days of keywords and ummmm I forgot what the other big old train was called ... anyways the more research/articles that are posted the better our ranking will be.

I understand a few folks are still upset over the huge loss of invaluable data at the hands of the previous admin. Sadly there is absolutely nothing we can do about that. He never handed over the copies he supposedly had, and he hasn't spoken to anyone related to BT in over 5 years. So we basically get to start all over. At least the archives from mid 2006 until the server switch are still around :)