Some online self-help communities seem to have been having a hard time of things lately.
Last summer, the long-running BrainTalk Communities went offline for nearly 3 months before limping back into existence once we posted about its offline time here and started a new, more reliable support community to replace BrainTalk (our community is called NeuroTalk and continues to grow and thrive, check it out!). BrainTalk’s old database of hundreds of thousands of posts (and all the knowledge contained therein) remains in limbo, with no update of whether it’ll ever return, and the forum software is 3 versions behind from the latest production version. We’ve been told this is either the 2nd or 3rd time this community has experienced serious database issues where significant data loss occurred.
This morning we discovered that Mental Earth Community (also known as MentalEarth), the self-help support community that took the place of the community I started while at Mental Health Net, is offline. No word back yet from the community’s leader, Warren Selekman, Ph.D., but we have extended an offer of assistance if they need any help getting back online.
One of the keys for online health and mental health communities is not only that some company or individual goes out and creates one, but that they are going to be there long-term. I can list dozens of online communities that no longer exist over the past decade because the startup company went bust, or the individual responsible for running the community got interested in something else and let the community decay. An online community not only needs committment from a dedicated team of moderators, but also a committment from an administrator or company that is going to guarantee that the community is kept online, the data is regularly backed-up, and that they will make the “best effort” to keep the community online and available 24/7.
Online communities should also have emergency server procedures in place, so if the community does go offline for any reason, information is available to its members about the status of the recovery effort. Most recoveries should occur within 24 hours (I’ve never had one go longer in any community I’ve run for the past decade), and virtually all should be done within a week. If a recovery is going to take longer than a week, that needs to be communicated to community members in some manner, so they can make other arrangements if need be.
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From Psych Central's World of Psychology:
What Happened to HealthyPlace? - World of Psychology (11/14/2008)
8 Comments to
“What Happened to the Mental Earth Community?”
MentalEarth, I’m pleased to say, is back online and operational. It doesn’t appear they lost any data since their last crash in May 2006.
Unfortunately Warren no longer oversees the day to day operations. Two users, Eros & Dazed n Confused, are running thins there and it would be accurate to say- not for the better.
An example…
March 1st
I’ve ruminated and have had a knot in my gut the past few days. I sat down
and spent the time reading all of your posts for the past three months. You
were right: I don’t know you. Your wisdom, caring and wit has been a
valuable asset to others. I feel responsible for taking that away from them
even though you voluntarily left the site. I was wrong in the way I
approached this whole situation and if I had handled it better, I think you
would have responded altogether different
I also found the few times you did lose it; you did clean it up in a very
honest and creative way. My personal life at this time is not an excuse for
what I did. I did the same thing I was chastising you for. I lost it. This
was an injustice.
Maybe we’re too much a like when it comes to being direct and confrontive.
I should certainly give permission of others to be the same way.
Personally, I don’t think it’s a “simple decision” to just leave MEC– not
only for you but for the many friends you have there. Maybe it’s in yours
and my own best interest to face it and get through this misunderstanding
together rather than walking away from it.
What I’m trying to say is “Dude, come back home”. besides, it took a while
to make your avatar and I don’t want it to go to waist.
Look. I’ll respect whatever you decide. If you decide you’d like to give
it another try and put up with someone like me, just give the word and I’ll
open your account right away. Many people would be thrilled to see your
return. If this is time for you to move on; I and many others will miss
you.
I have to face up to my own mistakes. I’m making a public apology for
something I could have handled in a better way.
Best Wishes,
Eros
Three days later Eros changes his mind (again) and approves banning me (again) to appease the other admin.
Worth mentioning when I protested this action they contacted my IP and had my service suspended for “potential future abuse”. The error was corredted.
So, this is a word of warning to anyone considering joining MEC.
I think this is the best site I have ever been too, and the administrators, Eros and Dazed and Confused go above and beyond to make everyone happy and feel safe. This is a wonderful site and I consider it my second home!! Many wonderful, supportive people are here and its a great place to feel secure and safe and talk about your life and struggles dealing with a Mental illness. I’d highly recommend this site to anyone struggling with these types of problems
Paul? Oh my.
The unfortunate thing about this copy/paste is that it is rather one-sided. For what it is worth, I enjoy MEC a great deal and have not experienced anything but kindness from the administrators and moderators to other users. Eros, in particular, is warm and welcoming and been a great support. Dazed is equally as strong a leader and works hard to ensure the site is well maintained.
Paul, your comment here speaks volumes about how hurt you must be. I do not know the circumstances leading up to your ban, nor do I want to, but no good will come from this display of emotion.
Eros is well known for having crossed boundaries by sleeping with his clients.
have explored many similar websites and find mental earth to be the best have found so far. someone in this thread mentions being banned and just going to say that is only done by a majority of the staff agreeing to it and done very rarely.
I was banned too. I think. I wasn’t even given a warning or reason. And now I sort of feel bad for JD, who, because of me, revealed his mental illness to the rest of the community. Now I fear he’ll be persecuted as I was.
Okay, so I was banned without reason or warning. All I did was discuss my mental illness and answer questions. Given, the contents of my mental illness does offend certain people, but it still is a neurological condition. I was blatantly insulted by some of the other members. One of them called me a “pathetic excuse for a human being”. Yes, I defended myself, but I never swore at anyone or intentionally tried to offend anyone. I got banned because I don’t have an “acceptable” mental illness.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 29 Jan 2007
