Did anyone notice we reached 10k members...

[Rev. Moon]

nycpoz became the 10,000th person to join the forums.  glad to see that so many people find support on these boards.

[ademas]

...and yet if you look at the stats, participation seems to be markedly down over the last couple of years.

[elf]

Too many people sign up and never write a word. I call them spies.

[PozBrian]

As long as they learn something, or find an answer they need, let them spy away.  On the other hand, having that many members while good for the website, means that there are that many who are hiv+, think they might be hiv+, or know some who is hiv+, which is not encouraging.

[Ann]

I also view the amount of members with mixed feelings. It's good to know people have a source of support, but the fact that so many NEED support is discouraging.

BTW, don't forget that probably around 50% or so of the members join for the Am I Infected forum, and probably around 75-80% of those haven't actually been at risk, which is upsetting in itself. It's not upsetting because they haven't been at risk, but because they think they can become infected from things like touching doorknobs or getting a blowjob or lap-dance. It shows just how much ignorance, stigma and discrimination is still out there.

I remember Peter Staley once saying that he looks forward to the day AIDSmeds/POZ can go offline permanently. Me too.

Ann

[Joe K]

I remember Peter Staley once saying that he looks forward to the day AIDSmeds/POZ can go offline permanently. Me too.
Ann

Sadly we know that that day will never come.

[Rev. Moon]

I have to agree with everyone... while I am glad that many people use the forums for support, I wish that there simply was no need for it (in my "ideal world" there would be no new HIV infections... at this moment, for me at least, wishing for a cure is just wishing).  Hopefully Peter's wish will be fulfilled in our lifetime.

Ann, I also find it upsetting that so many people post in the "Am I Infected" section with such silly (if not absurd) questions and fears.  It goes to show that ignorance and misinformation are out there as prevalent as ever (I was naive enough to believe that everyone was a little more educated in this day and age). 

In the meantime, so that the true spirit of the boards is always strong, we seriously need for the "real" members to participate more frequently and proactively.  Wouldn't you agree?

[Ann]

Sadly we know that that day will never come.

Aye, well, hope springs eternal. If I can't have hope, kill me now.

[Ann]

In the meantime, so that the true spirit of the boards is always strong, we seriously need for the "real" members to participate more frequently and proactively.  Wouldn't you agree?

Yep, I'd agree to that.

[Joe K]

Dear Ann, of course we must hope, because hope is often all we have left.  The real tragedy of the past three decades is the miserable job the world has done, to educate and protect.  In the US, there has been no effective HIV prevention policy for almost eight years, because sex is dirty, yada, yada, yada.  Even after thirty years of this horror, I still have hope, because given the past eight years, that is all that I have left.