Hi everyone, I'm new here but feel the need to post about what's going on with me right now, I'll try to keep it as short as possible, but warn you that sometimes I ramble on. I suffer from bipolar too and depression is a big part of it. I left another depression forum last night because my posts, where I expressed myself openly, were frequently deleted or censored. And that made me feel unsafe and not listened to. People rarely responded to my posts, whether they didn't know what to say or they were just too self involved to bother, it seemed like I was never really offered advice or got enough support. So I'm going to try this site and I hope that it's better than the one I was on as far as support goes and having the ability to post without it being edited or deleted all the time. I'm not a really confrontational or erratic person, really I'm not, but some times I just expressed myself and the moderators thought that my blog or post might upset others. There were many folks on there who did the very same thing and weren't edited much or deleted for their content. Anyways, I hope that this post just explains the hurt I feel at leaving that other site and doesn't put anybody off as far as I'm concerned. I need to feel safe and listened to. Not much to ask, I think. I'm a very supportive person who frequently responds to others posts and I try to help as best I can, I think you'll find that I try my best to be helpful. Thanks for listening. darkshadow.

to DF, (((((darkshadow))))).

I'm sorry to hear you felt rejected, ignored, and unfairly treated at the other site. I think you'll be very pleased with the level of compassion and support here at DF. I'm very happy and proud to be part of this community, and I hope you will be, too. We have some rules that are pretty clearly explained in our Terms of Service and Posting Guidelines, and we try to enforce them in a just and unbiased way. It's really nothing personal, we just need to uphold a certain standard to keep DF safe and welcoming to all. If you ever have a concern about policy, you can send a PM to any Admin Team member, and we'll look into it. But based on your first post, I don't see a problem. Thank you for not naming the other site, by the way, as that would be against the TOS.

Just remember that we're a place of support above all else, and you'll be fine. We encourage you to express yourself, but we can't have heavy debate or other conflicts, as that would be very counterproductive to our mission of healing and support.

Welcome to our forums! We look forward to getting to know you better!

Hi suburgatory and thanks for the welcome!

Hi Darkshadow,

Welcome to the DF forums! I understand there are some other forums out there that are not so friendly or are just too "censored." Some of our conditions are not pretty and thus our explanations may seem frightening, but if you stick to the guidelines and rules, I'm sure you'll be fine. A forum moderator will let you know if somehow it gets out of hand.

There are many sympathetic, understanding people here.

Sincerely,

Maddie

Thanks Maddie, I should have no trouble here as I am not a troublemaker. Thanks for your reply. darkshadow.

I realize I misstated something above. When I said "conditions", I meant depression, anxiety, bi-polar, etc., -NOT the conditions for using the forums-ha! Sorry if I confused you.

I know you aren't a troublemaker, as I saw your wonderful response to theguy's post.

Sincerely,

Maddie

I don't have bipolar, but I wanted to say welcome, and to offer my empathy for what you've been through - I've had similar, although not quite the same, happen to me.

I joined this forum few months ago and I felt welcomed from the beginning. Peolpe are so supportive, they always have some nice things to say or some good advice. I'm very happy I found the DF.
And I'm sure you'll feel the same way soon.

Thanks achingheart, for your kind words, I think I'm going to like it here!

Thanks colourless butterfly, I already like the people here. Your all so nice and supportive not to mention friendly. Thanks again. darkshadow.

Just wanted to say hi and

I only joined a little while back but I have found the information available here and the members to be wonderful. I have just started taking lithium, seroquel and lexapro and it has been so useful to be able to read about other peoples' experiences. It has been invaluable to me.

Thanks Kat, I really appreciate the warm welcome everyone's given me! I'd love to feel like I belong here and that I can help and be helped as long as I'm with all of you. I hope that on this site, people listen to me for once and realize that I have problems too. There seems to be a lot of intelligent folks on here, so I think I'll get my wish. On that other site, it seemed to me that people were intimidated by me and thought that I had it all together, when in reality, I didn't and don't. I look forward to getting to know all of you and I'll stay here as it's already feeling like home. Thanks again! darkshadow.

Hi and Welcome to DF darkshadow.

I'm sorry that you have had some less than pleasant experience on other forums. You are completely welcome at DF and there is a wonderful, compassionate and caring community here. Please make yourself right at home.

Trace