"speak Out"

[Sam!]

Hey guys. Thanks so much for all of your support. Here's the deal - at this time we do not have a functioning main page, chat server, blog server, or even paid forum software, but our free trial of our forum software doesn't expire until about 5,000 posts.



We're probably going to buy in the next couple of days.



I am now ready to post the link to our forums. Please sign up and enjoy. Anyone who wants to help is welcome, but I think we're just about full on mods. I'm sure, however, some people will decide soon that modding is not for them or realize they may not have the time for what they signed up for, so I would expect there to be some transitions for these positions so stay tuned.



We still need people to do articles. Anyone who offered to, please PM me, I'm glad to enlist your help



The forum link: http://teenspeak.net/forum

The site link: http://teenspeak.net (currently under construction)

[daffodildreams]

Originally posted by OnlyInside+Feb 28 2005, 05:57 AM--

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That's a really negative attitude and you should be ashamed for posting that. Any website dedicated to helping people should be more than welcome. If it succeeds, great, there are more people that have been helped. If it doesn't, oh well, at least they tried. I can't believe a post like that actually came from a mod here.

[right][/right]

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Right.



I've been doing this teen website thing for quite a long time now. I know how many of the "small sites" exist, and know how damn cliche they become. Then the users start fighting and end up leaving and go back to the "bigger" sites anyway.



Personally, teenhelp needs a lot of mentors. Why? We have over 100-200 emails coming into the site per day and over 800-1000 new posts in the forum every single day.



We need the staff, we need people to stop starting their own "little" forums and start helping out with the bigger sites which need the help.



If you want to start from scratch, fair enough. Speaking from a personal point of view, I know how the smaller sites end up (no matter how much work you put into them) eventually because you can't get the search engine ranks. TH has been around for 6-7 years.. that's how long it could take to get to the point we're at now.



HT probably needs your help too, but I know for definite that teenhelp needs people to start helping out where the people are coming for help.



I've got a few users at the moment going off and creating their own little forums using trial forum software. OK, so that's quite cute but we could really do with them helping out on the forums where there are already people coming for advice.



Like Adam said, "write some articles for us!".. suddenly a new site pops up and everybody jumps on the bandwagon. I also know that HT needs to retain it's current userbase if it's going to carry on supporting the users for much longer than another year. If you all go off and join other forums, eventually you ~will~ forget which forums you're a member of and stay on the newer sites.



You've got creative energies, fantastic. You want to help people, also bloody fantastic.



Why not help out the people who really need the help on the sites which are getting most of these people coming to them?

[Sam!]

Actually, Helen, if it makes you feel any better, we're not using "trial forum software". I purchased an IPB license today. Jenna and I are taking this very seriously.



The reason people jump on the bandwagon is because as much as they may like the bigger sites, they probably feel there are things they'd like changed that just don't exist.



Our rules, while structured, are much more lax than HT's rules. Jenna and I put a LOT of thought into them. Also, if this site needs so much help, why is it that so many people leave because they feel turned away?



Helen, I don't think it's fair for your to criticize us because we've barely started. This isn't another rinky-dink free-hosted with ads-all-over-it operation, this is something we are really putting time and thought into. We already have a professional web designer working on the site's front page and people interested in helping.

[Doug]

Just to tack onto what Sam said, TH was once a small, start-up site as well. Things change as long as people are dedicated.

[daffodildreams]

They take a long time to change though. I ran teenmentors for about 2 years and we were barely averaging 10 emails a day, even though we had adverts in teenage magazines and stuff (something which teenhelp doesn't have yet).



If you want to purchase IB licenses and stuff, that's fantastic. I also recall Adam saying he needed money to pay for the license they bought for helpingteens though.



If you want to take something seriously, why don't you become a mentor on here or on teenhelp? It's beside the point I'd never hire you, but Adam might.

[CausticTears]

This is all funny, to me. I agree with Helen's intake of this and Jenna/Sam's.



Helen is right, these bigger sites (HT and TH) need help and users like you are needed. But, like Jenna said... you guys will still be coming to this site?

And I really don't understand when people say stuff like, "There's so much negativity.." "So much drama.." "The people at HT suck." I really think who ever has that opinion takes things too seriously. I have never had "drama" on this site for the two years that I have been here. But, whatever.



And also, go ahead and start your own site. It seems like you guys have pride in this new site, that's good. It's another teen-helping site, which is great. Enjoy that site.



Just my random opinion.

[Sam!]

[OverDrive]

DON'T GET THIS GOING OUT OF CONTROL OR I WILL CLOSE THIS TOPIC



Sam, you're instigating.



Helen, plz just read, then walk away....



Same with the others

[Sam!]

Go ahead and close it. I'd like to start a different topic anyway. One that can actually be about my site and what's going on there instead of debating with Helen over whether or not I should even have it. Is that alright?