Streams of Consciousness & Thoughts~~~

Ew. Like anything could get me to go through BDF.

I'll take the tutu though, if you still have it lying about. It would go well with my w*rk uniform.

Why is a pink tutu always used in these scenarios though? It's never a chicken costume or a plaid suit from the 50s or skivvies. It's always a tutu.

Sometimes I’m thinking that management here doesn’t approve of the craziest threads I’m creating. Maybe it’s for the best lol.

It all pays the same.

The News Forum is on the brink of getting too stupid.

T'is the season. It always gets pretty silly around election time.

Three weeks until vacay and meetup!

Hopefully you'll bring enough snacks for Winston. 🦉

I'll bring enough snacks for the guys. And he's not one of the guys.

Actually I plan to bring a big tub of homemade pimento cheese and some bread. If the guys don't like it I'll have a lot of leftover cheese to take home.

Aside from that I plan to graze on what is provided on site. If Winston wants snacks he can buy them there like I will.

I am guessing that there is a thread somewhere that announces the meetup, tells the when-and-where information for the itinerary that is planned, and invites all CC members who are able to attend...?

(If not, why would you make such a public statement that can only serve as an "in your face" jab that says "some of us are going to have a private party that the rest of you are not invited to - but - I am going to have a good 'ole time"...?)

Any-and-all "official"/"public" CC meetups/parties/etc. should be well planned with all CC members invited.

Private events for a small group should be kept private within the group who are invited. (Use group private message.)

And - this is [just] one reason why there needs to be a forum/space on CC that only logged-in CC members can access/read/etc.

(So that CC Members can make announcements that the whole world does not see - so that only logged-in members could see them.)

I am thinking that - to encourage more/other CC members to have meetups/etc. - it is acceptable to create a thread after-the-fact to show how much the attendees enjoyed a certain particular meetup/etc. (even including pictures if agreed upon by the attendees); however, to advertise one that is upcoming without inviting all CC members to attend - I am not so sure that is the best way to go about it...

It's a very small group get-together with friends from this site who have already met at least once, sometimes several times. Everyone has met at least one member of the group in real life and can vouch for them. We wrote a thread about our last meetup a few years ago as well -- just to share our adventure, like any other vacation or life event.

Would you invite anyone and everyone to your family reunion? I'm guessing not, and this meetup really is like a family reunion.

Years ago (when I was part of another group,) we talked about having a meetup and opening it up to everyone in Singles.

But it became too much of a liability issue. Some of the people in the group were already having problems with members who were a little too enthusiastic about meeting certain other members (aka, stalking,) so we decided collectively to have certain limitations -- mostly for reasons of safety and security. In the end, I think it wound up being about 6 people, and again, some had already met in person, so there was a better level of trust and security.

Unfortunately, there can be serious problems with meetups.

What if Member A is crushing on Member B, and Member B isn't interested, but Member A won't take no for answer? And then what if Member A finds out where Member B lives?

As much as I'm all for friendship and fellowship, I have also unfortunately known cases of real-life incidences in which people on this site had to get the police involved due to someone else actively trying to force themselves into their life.

We've also talked about trying to have general meetups in which we announce here on the forum, "Hey, some of us are going to be meeting on August 13 around 12:30 at Louie's Crab Shack -- come stop by if you can," but again, we've been concerned about privacy issues.

Obviously, the place we're meeting at is going to be close to where at least one or more people in the group live, and most people I've become good friends don't want anyone knowing those kinds of things about them.

I tend to make friendships very, very slowly. These are all people I've known here for a minimum of 5 and up to 10 or more years through their posts, PM's, chats outside this site (so I got to see what they were like in real time and around others) -- eventually, I wound up meeting them in person while visiting family, and now a few of us who have met in person meet up in person all together.

If you have ideas how to have a safe and secure meetup for more people from the site, I'm more than open to suggestions.

We've actually been talking about this for years, but haven't been able to come up with anything everyone is comfortable with.

Yes, the two other meetups (again, in very small groups among people who had already gotten to know each other well in private) did this exact thing, posting threads after the fact that posting pictures only everyone was comfortable.

The last group meetup photo featured only our hands, but everyone's hands were labeled.

Please excuse my ebullience. I promise it won't happen again.

Lynx is talking about his vacation and meeting up with meetup friends the way any other normal person here talks about things that are going on in their life.

It's just that the friends happen to be from this site. It's not meant as a jab, it's Lynx eagerly anticipating an event.

It's the exact same way tons of other people on the site have posted about their love lives (saying they have a date or romance they're excited about, or flirting with another member, or writing threads about when they've met in person,) or the married person who talks about snuggling up to their spouse at night in Singles, or the amount of money they just made from a business deal, etc. etc.

Sure, it could be a way to try to make others feel bad, or it might be someone just very enthusiastic about what's going on in their lives.

I do agree that such statements can both be meant and/or read in different ways, but the forum is a place to share life events so...

If you can provide a list of guidelines that guarantees how to have a site-wide meetup in which no one will be in any danger of possibly being stalked, assaulted, attracting unwanted attention from others who either can't or won't read social cues, or having their personal information leaked without their permission, believe me, I am all ears.

We've been talking about how to do that for years.

Many years ago, the CC site was actually talking about a site-wide meetup as a 3-day praise and worship event with a live band, etc., but as can be imagined, it got to be too complicated and the idea was scrapped.

Hopefully, it won't go woke.

...it is, indeed. Seems to me this site is about sharing who you are, what you are about, and what is important to you. Yes, the fellowship aspects are very important also. Mainly, I come to this site to simply spend some time with my friends in Singles. Yeah, at times I venture to the BDF to stir up a little trouble. Nothing wrong with trying to have a little fun, right?