Depression Hangout Home Page

Do You Need Some Support?

2011-12-15T22:06:00.002Z

If you are feeling depressed or stressed or unable to cope, you don't have to be alone. This is a place where you can tell us what's up with you and get support. And if you have been there and can help someone else who needs support, we'd like to hear from you. Just click below on Get or Give Support.

THANKS TO EVERYONE

2011-09-10T23:09:00.002+01:00

Thanks to everyone who donated to renew our subscription and keep the chat room going. We have reached our target thanks to the generosity of several totally brilliant members. Thanks so much, guys!

TIME RUNNING OUT

2011-09-06T15:09:00.003+01:00

If you would like to contribute to renew the annual chat room subscription you have until Saturday. So far we've only raised about US$75 and we need to raise US$131.95. If you have promised to contribute now is the time to do it. For details of how to transfer funds, see the post on the Members' Page.

RENEWAL OF CHAT ROOM SUBSCRIPTION

2011-09-02T19:54:00.003+01:00

The consensus among the members at the meeting on Wednesday, and of the posters on the Members' Page, was that we should have a collection to pay for another year of the chat room. If you would like to help, please go to the Members Page for details of how to contribute.

Thanks a million to everyone who's stepped up to the plate to keep the chat room going!

UPDATE RE: FUTURE OF THE HANGOUT

2011-08-30T10:44:00.002+01:00

THERE IS AN IMPORTANT MEETING ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE HANGOUT IN THE CHAT ROOM ON WEDNESDAY AT 21.00 GMT/UTC. PLEASE BE THERE IF YOU CAN. IF YOU HAVE NOT COMMENTED ABOUT THE ISSUE ON THE POST ON THE MEMBERS' PAGE, PLEASE DO SO. MANY THANKS!

THE FUTURE OF THE HANGOUT

2011-08-23T14:08:00.002+01:00

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS! PLEASE VISIT THE MEMBERS' PAGE. THERE IS AN IMPORTANT POST THERE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE HANGOUT. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE SURVIVAL OF THE DEPRESSION HANGOUT SUPPORT GROUP PLEASE READ IT AND COMMENT. IF YOU DO NOT THEN THE NEXT TIME YOU TRY AND COME TO THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIND THAT WE DON'T EXIST.

Hosting a Chat

2011-06-10T23:36:00.001+01:00

It's always great to join chat and spend some time with each other. The best way to ensure that we keep in touch is to host a chat. It's not hard. Just think of a time you can come on and put it up on the calendar. Here's how:

Click on To Add a Hosted Chat Click Here

Then sign in with depressionhangout and the chat password with a 2 at the end of it, i.e. *******2

Click on the tab for the calendar. A monthly calendar comes up. Just click on the day you want to host chat, write the text and then Save. Easy as that! Do use the options in the box. You can use whatever font and size you like, any colour text or background. Choose 14pt type if you can so that Baying doesn't need her reading glasses to see it.

Happy Hosting!

Three cheers for Guru ! (aka Baying)

2011-05-23T23:57:00.001+01:00

She's just passed her counselling course !!!! Three cheers for Baying !!!!!

LET'S ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET FOR OUR NEWEST MEMBER SENSE TRANSPORT

2011-05-23T17:37:00.002+01:00

Let's give a big, warm, depressive welcome to our newest member, Sense Transport.

LET'S WELCOME MOLLY TO THE HANGOUT FAMILY

2011-05-11T13:40:00.002+01:00

Hey guys let's give a big warm welcome to Molly. She'll be using murph88 as her username. Offer her some iced tea when she drops by.

A BIG WARM DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO ALANA

2011-05-08T01:35:00.002+01:00

Let's welcome Alana to the hangout family. She'll be using TheSuitcaseKid as her username.

More Comments

2011-04-26T01:23:00.002+01:00

Hi Guys! I just wanted to say that it would be nice if we could have more comments on the posts on the members' page. Most of the time when we are depressed all we need is hug to make us feel better. So even if you think you can't think of much to say at the moment a simple virtual hug (((()))) or a "sorry that things are bad for you" might be good enough to cheer the fellow member. So let's be generous with the hugs :)

A WARM WELCOME TO LOU

2011-04-20T21:15:00.001+01:00

Let's give a big warm welcome to Lou, she'll be using Ladybug as her user name.

LET'S WELCOME OUR NEWEST MEMBER DAVID

2011-04-19T23:46:00.000+01:00

A WARM WELCOME TO KEITH AND LEXIE

2011-04-02T16:59:00.002+01:00

Let's give a big warm welcome to our latest members Keith and Lexie.

Big Warm Depressive Welcome to ghostbuster

2011-03-24T20:10:00.002Z

Let's give a big warm depressive welcome to our newest member ghostbuster.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR UK MEMBERS! THE HANGOUT CLOCK WILL NOT CHANGE TO BRITISH SUMMER TIME!

2011-03-23T18:12:00.005Z

The membership has voted to remain on GMT (Or UTC as it also seems to be known as) even when the clocks change in the UK. This will mean a big change for our UK members. From 27 March you will have to SUBTRACT an hour from the times you post for your hosted chats or the time you plan to go to one. This is because when the UK changes to British Summer Time (when the clocks will go forward), the Hangout clock will still be on GMT (or UTC) . For example: If you are in the UK and want to host a chat from 8pm to 9pm, you will have to put it on the calendar as 7pm to 8pm GMT. If you are ever in doubt about what time it is in GMT, it appears in two different places on the Home Page: on the world map clock and on the chatbox clock (where the time is shown as UTC). It might be a bit confusing at first, but that's what everyone who's not in the UK has had to do since we started this place! Any questions, just post a reply to this post.

CLOCKS CHANGING!

2011-03-19T14:53:00.003Z

It's been proposed that the Hangout remain permanently on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). The clocks have already gone forward in the US and Canada and will go forward in the UK next Sunday. Please reply to this post to make a case for or against so that there can be some discussion for people who may not know what the issue is. This affects how you calculate the right time to be in chat, so please do read the arguments, then go to the Members' Page and vote!

JULIE HAS BEEN ELECTED TO THE HANGOUT COMMITTEE

2011-03-11T00:24:00.001Z

Congratulations and thank you to Julie for being willing to help us out.

You're all amazing!

2011-03-10T19:34:00.003Z

I've really enjoyed chatting to you all since I joined the Hangout and I just want to say YOU'RE ALL AMAZING BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! :-)

I'm so sentimental, haha.

GREENWICH MEAN TIME

2011-03-10T14:10:00.003Z

It has been brought to my attention (by Lac) that the site is British-centric in that when we go into Daylight Savings Time (or British Summer Time) we put the Hangout clock a hour forward. He does have a point in that everyone else has to calculate from GMT and then adjust when we do. SO if there is no objection, when BST starts in Britain on the 27th, the Hangout Brits will have to add one hour onto their chat timings. You can also put the timings in BST if you want. If you object to this, please reply to this email and we can discuss it.

HANGOUT COMMITTEE VOTE

2011-03-08T23:15:00.002Z

Julie is standing for the Hangout Committee. (Yay for Julie!) Please do get over to the Members' Page to vote. If anyone else feels they would like to help out keeping this place going, please let anyone on the committee know. Thanks!

BIRTHDAYS!

2011-03-06T12:04:00.001Z

Hello All,

We'd like to be able to say Happy Birthday to all our members on the right day, so could you reply to this message and let us know when your birthday is? Thanks!

Skype IDs

2011-03-05T14:59:00.002Z

The Skype IDs of the members who want to connect with other members through it are displayed on the Members' page. You can add these members on your Skype account if you wish to. Moreover if you want to include your details on the Skype list, just send an email to depressionhangout@hotmail.co.uk

THE ALL NEW LUNACY PAGE!

2011-03-04T23:56:00.002Z

Caroleena and Megzz are going to be resurrecting the old "Cheers Page" and turning into the All New Lunacy Page. At the moment it's how it was left when there were last volunteers to run it, but I'm sure Caroleena and Megzz will be putting their own personal stamp on it in the coming days and weeks. So watch that space! You can link to it from the Members' Page.

A WARM WELCOME TO ZEE

2011-03-02T23:28:00.001Z

Guess what guys, we have a new member Zee. So lets give him a big warm welcome and make him feel at home.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LAC ON HIS NEW JOB

2011-02-26T15:46:00.003Z

A BIG WARM DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO THOMAS AND MEGAN

2011-02-17T02:00:00.002Z

Hey let's give a big warm welcome to the latest additions to the hangout family, Thomas and Megan. Do offer them a warm cup of tea when they drop by.

HOSTED CHATS

2011-02-16T13:50:00.003Z

We have had a good few members join from the US and Canada who haven't been able to find anyone in chat because of the time difference since our active chat members are mostly in Europe and Australia. If you live in the US or Canada, please do sign up to host a chat. It's VERY easy. All you have to do is put a chat on the calendar and show up! To put a chat on the calendar, just click on the date you want to host on. A window will come up and it's pretty easy to see what you need to do after that. You need to put the times in GMT which you can work out from the digital or world clocks on the Home Page, but otherwise it is very straightforward. Don't get discouraged if the first chats you host don't attract a lot of chatters. We find that more people show up if they start to see that there is going to be someone in to chat to. Thanks!

A BIG WARM WELCOME TO MEGZZ

2011-02-16T11:26:00.001Z

Let give a big warm welcome to our newest member Megzz.

LET'S ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET FOR OUR NEWEST MEMBER CHRISTENE

2011-02-12T13:52:00.002Z

Hey let's finally make use of that red carpet we got at the auction to welcome our newest member Christene.

A BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO ROBIN AND DAVE!!!

2011-02-11T21:07:00.003Z

Let's give a big warm depressive welcome to our newest members Robin and Dave. Please offer them a comfy chair when they drop by and make them feel at home.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS!

2011-02-07T13:02:00.003Z

BIG WELCOME to all our new members: Daniel, Erik, Erjones, Jane, Kat, Mark, Parul, Niall and Phillip. We're delighted to have you here and want you to feel comfortable and supported. If you have any questions just email depressionhangout@hotmail.co.uk or ask us in chat. We've reserved the comfy seat for you and have always got a kettle on to make tea!

A BIG WARM WELCOME TO NIALL!

2011-02-06T20:42:00.002Z

Let's welcome our newest member Niall! Hope to see you soon!

GREAT TO SEE YET ANOTHER NEW MEMBER!

2011-02-05T15:30:00.001Z

We're delighted to welcome Mark to the Hangout fold. Hope to meet you soon!

A GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO DANIEL

2011-02-05T15:29:00.003Z

...who's just joined us! Just take the comfy chair and get yourself settled in!

A BIG WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER - ERIK

2011-02-04T19:49:00.001Z

It's great to have you here, Erik! Hope to catch up with you in chat soon.

SOMEBODY PUT THE KETTLE ON FOR PARUL!

2011-02-04T00:59:00.001Z

A great big welcome to Parul who's just joined us. Hope to see you in chat soon!

LET'S GIVE A GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO ERJONES!

2011-02-03T22:15:00.003Z

Welcome, Erjones! I hope we see you in chat soon. I've ordered more tea!

LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR VERY NEWEST MEMBER - KAT!!!

2011-02-03T16:40:00.002Z

We're delighted to have you! We're definitely going to have to order more tea for the chat room.

A HUGE WELCOME TO JANE!

2011-02-03T10:24:00.001Z

Jane's the latest addition to our depressive family here at the Hangout! Let's give her a great big welcome. Hope to see you in chat soon, Jane.

GUESS WHAT? WE'VE GOT ANOTHER NEW MEMBER!

2011-02-02T23:24:00.001Z

A big depressive hello and welcome to Phillip (username pending!) who's just joined us. Caroleena may have to let him have the comfy chair when he comes into chat. Great to have you here Phillip!

A GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER - CAROLEENA!

2011-01-31T21:04:00.005Z

If you see her wandering around looking lost, be sure to show her the way in. And when you see her in chat, remember to give her the comfy chair and the best china tea cup!

WEBSITE CHANGES

2011-01-30T19:23:00.001Z

Just to let you know I'm going to be slightly changing the look of the Hangout by moving to two columns. This is in response to people who've said that the site can't be seen on their comps unless they scroll sideways. Hopefully this will be successfully completed in the next couple of days.

YOUR HANGOUT NEEDS YOU!

2011-01-11T20:24:00.005Z

Hello All,

Had a great convo with salman last night and we decided we'd really like to see if we can make the Hangout a busier and even more supportive place. For a start, we know that there are a lot of people out there who could really benefit from finding us and being welcomed in, and it would be great to help them do that. Salman has made a few suggestions, including having a Facebook page, and it would be great if some of you out there could suggest some things too. Finding places that could take our link would be good too. But please do some "Blue Skies Thinking" even if the sky above you is anything but blue, and share your thoughts.

One way to make chat a bit more welcoming would be if some of us could sit in chat even if we were doing something else and were Busied Out. Just having one of us sitting there is really reassuring and it would help make the place look like more than ghosts live here! So I am going to ask you to please, please do that if you can! Please? For me?

So let's see some of that Hangout Spirit, people!

Lots of love,
Baying

LET'S GIVE A GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO STAN, OUR NEWEST MEMBER!

2010-12-26T19:45:00.002Z

Welcome, Stan! Hope to see you in chat soon!

BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME TO JULIE

2010-12-06T21:32:00.002Z

Please give a big warm welcome to Julie who's just joined us. Can someone find another comfy chair for the chat room in case salman and Julie are in at the same time? lol

PLEASE GIVE A GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME...

2010-12-05T23:14:00.001Z

...to our newest member, Salman. Be sure to give him the comfy chair in chat and offer him a cup of tea!

A BIG WELCOME TO YELLOW OWL (formerly known as a.)

2010-11-14T17:14:00.005Z

Let's give a great big welcome to Yellow Owl who has just joined the Hangout. Hope to see you in chat soon!

A BIG WELCOME TO BARB!

2010-11-05T09:45:00.002Z

Please give a great big depressive welcome to our newest member, Barb! So if you see her wandering around looking lost, be sure to stop to give her directions.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!

2010-09-05T11:40:00.014+01:00

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW THAT, THANKS TO EVERYONE'S GENEROSITY AND SUPPORT, I HAVE JUST PAID THE CHAT ROOM SUBSCRIPTION FOR ANOTHER YEAR. I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL IN CHAT SOON. ISN'T IT GREAT IT'S STILL THERE?

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY LAC!!!!!!

2010-08-19T14:00:00.002+01:00

PLEASE READ THIS!

2010-07-25T18:55:00.008+01:00

Hello All,

As our Parachat chat room subscription runs out on the 6th of September, it seems a good time to have a discussion about what happens to the Hangout after that date. Due to how small we are now, it is not conceivable that we could raise the US$160 or £100 to renew our current subscription. So as I personally see it, there are the following options:

1) We see if we can raise enough to downgrade to a Standard Chat Room which would cost about USD $50 or about £34. This would be pretty basic and we wouldn't have the facility to see who, if anyone, is in chat. We wouldn't have our own graphics, avatars or emoticons, but as I understand it we would still have password protection.

2) If we can't raise the £34, we downgrade to a free Basic Room, which would not have password protection or the ability to see who's in chat, and would, in addition, have advertising on it. (If I remember, some of the advertising is a bit tiresome, i.e. of the Sexy East European Girls Waiting for Your Call variety.) If anyone wants to volunteer, we could look for a different free room altogether, but those of us who remember this site at the beginning know that some free rooms steered some pretty weird people to our door.

3) We accept that this site is no longer viable due to the small number of members who still use it. The more this place is empty, the less people pop in and this includes myself. It is going to get worse, not better, until no one comes in at all. So before that happens, one idea would be to direct people from this site to Depression Boards because they also have a chat room and are a lively site where people could find others to chat to. In addition, those of us who talk to each other regularly could exchange msn details so that we wouldn't lose touch with each other.

There are only about five people who still come onto this site, so I think we should agree among ourselves what the best option is before the subscription runs out. What do we think?

Love, Baying

A Big Depressive Welcome to Our Newest Member - Freelancer!

2010-05-17T14:29:00.002+01:00

If you see him in chat, remember to put the kettle on and give him the comfy seat!

(There is a introduction post on the Members' Page, so be sure to head over there and read it!)

Happy Birthday Dawn!

2010-04-21T10:41:00.000+01:00

From All of Us Here at the Hangout!

50,000 HITS!

2010-04-08T13:45:00.002+01:00

This is just to let you know that we are approaching the 50,000 hit mark - which means there will have been 50,000 vists to the Hangout since August of 2007. Shall we plan a party in chat? If so, when is a good time? Answers on a post card. Or as comments to this post.

Avatar? Movies?

2010-03-23T23:56:00.001Z

What do you think? Check out Member's (support) Page... :-) KurlyKath

SUGGESTION BOX!

2010-03-20T11:22:00.002Z

As you read in the Hangout News, we've decided to try and make the Support Page more of a Members' Page. This is because the Home Page is open to anyone who finds it and it makes sense to have an area of the site that we can post knowing no one will read it except members. So you can continue to post for support there, but you can also post about anything that is just for members. And you can post and comment in confidence there. It also makes sense to do our voting there since we obviously don't want anyone but us voting!

I spoke to louie (I haven't caught you yet, Beth!)and we've started thinking about how to make the page SO full of interesting stuff that you just HAVE to go there. louie has brought back Hangaroo by popular demand and wants to continue Track of the Week. Florry, do you want to post some more Cheers type stuff?

I realise we all mainly use the chat room and the message board, and there is no point in having a Members' Page - or a Support Page - if nobody goes there. But let's see if we can put it to good use and make it "essential reading". Let's have some suggestions about what to put in the new improved Members' (Support) Page?

Finding my way around

2010-03-17T23:14:00.002Z

Hi All, When I tried to check in to the DH Home Page, it said I couldn't. But I seem to be able to post on it. Technology! lol ;-)

Once I figure out what your times are in my time EST I'll try to join a chat.

:-) Kath

LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR VERY NEWEST MEMBER - SHIRLEY!!!!

2010-03-16T10:22:00.002Z

I'm sure you will all make very welcome! If she pops into chat, be sure to put on the kettle and let her use the comfy chair!

ANOTHER NEW MEMBER! WELCOME LORI!!!

2010-03-15T15:50:00.002Z

Let's give our traditional GREAL BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME to Lori who's just joined us! Yaaayyyy!!!

A NEW MEMBER!!! YAY!!!

2010-03-14T22:37:00.006Z

Time to give our usual heartfelt and hearty welcome to KURLYKATH, our newest member! I've copied her email to us in the comments section, so you can get to know a little bit about her.

WELCOME KURLYKATH!!!!

WELCOME TO DEPRESSION HANGOUT!

2010-03-13T21:47:00.001Z

If you've just found us, thanks for popping in! Depression Hangout is an online support group. We are small but perfectly formed, and we tend to get to know each other pretty well. We are all at different stages of recovery and you don't even have to be actively messed up to belong here. Some of us use it as a place to stay sane. We are run as a democracy and all important issues are put to a vote. We elect a committee who run the place on a day-to-day basis.

The heart of our site is the chatroom where we can meet, have a laugh, have a cry, or just be accepted as we are. Members can post here on the Home Page, and there is also a support forum for us to vent, and to give and to receive the support we need when we're hurting.

If you would like to join the Depression Hangout, or find out more about us, or just say hello, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. We'd love to hear from you!

Email Depression Hangout

2010-02-18T11:24:00.007Z

TIME TO GIVE A GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME

TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER

JENNAROSA!

Make sure you leave a comment on this post

to say hi. And if you if you see her looking lost,

make sure you give her directions!

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE HANGOUT

2010-02-14T12:49:00.002Z

PLEASE READ THIS!

The vote to give automatic membership to anyone who emails us with a genuine desire to join has carried. Hopefully this will make it more likely that people will join and the Hangout will still be the welcoming friendly place it has always been. We will continue to ask prospective members to say why they wish to join and we will post these on the Home Page as we always have. They will simply be able to join us without a vote.

I know there are concerns from a few members that we might attract people who stumble onto the site and decide to cause trouble or treat others here with disrespect. To reassure you, there are safeguards in place. Any member of the committee (Florry, Beth, louie and I) can immediately suspend or ban anyone who comes into chat and causes problems. This is in the constitution. We can ensure they stay out by changing the password. A new password will then be emailed to everyone.

Their right to post and to access the support page will be immediately withdrawn. Their right to post to the Home Page will also be withdrawn. In addition, anyone who leaves an inappropriate comment will have this deleted quickly. All comments cause an email to alert us that it had been left. It also informs us what has been said. If it is inappropriate it will be removed. My email programme checks our Inbox every ten minutes when I am at my computer, so this will be done pretty sharpish unless I'm away. In that case, Florry, Beth or louie can remove it. We are also protected from spam comments by word verification. Anyone who has commented recently will have encountered this. Lastly, anyone posting inappropriate messages in Shoutbox can also be banned and their messages deleted.

The Support Page can only be accessed by members who are logged in. You will be asked for your login when you try to navigate there. So you can post there safe in the knowledge that only members will see it. The page is also invisible to search engines and Blogger listings.

Obviously if our experiment with a more open site and a more open attitude to people joining causes us problems, we can vote to change back. Personally I think this is a good development. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would love to be able to belong to a site like this. We are just making it easier for them to find us.

Baying
x

Important Changes at the Hangout

2010-01-25T21:18:00.004Z

Hi All,

The motion to open up the Hangout has been carried so here are some changes you should know about.

1) You will no longer have to log into the Home Page, but you will have to be logged in to post.

2) There will eventually be a password to get into chat, but I will first notify members before we start this. The password will remain the same unless we get a problem with someone we have allowed to come in. The password will be passed on to anyone new who joins.

3) You will have to be logged in to go to the Support Page.

4) Please do post on the home page. If people find us, we want them to know who we are.

5) When you want to leave a comment on the home page (NOT the support page), you will have to be "word verified" (type in the weird letters of a word Blogger gives you). Anyone who comes to the site now can leave a comment. If we have any problems with that, we can easily make all comments subject to approval by one of the committee.

I will be making a few changes to the Home Page - mainly to let people who find us know a bit more about us.

Any questions or comments?

Baying x

Just an Idea

2010-01-21T11:52:00.006Z

This place has been really dead, as those of us who still pop in know all too well. None of our efforts to recruit more members have really got the place going. So I had an idea. Maybe we should open this place up to whoever wants to find it, but make the chat room password protected so visitors can't get in until we are OK with them. And we can change the password if we get any problems. We could make the Support Page protected by username and password as the Home Page is now. If we put announcements (like Merry Christmas and It's Brit's Birthday) as separate from posting, then anyone who comes in could leave comments, but would not be allowed to post until they were a full member. We could also protect the comments by making them subject to moderator approval - which means they wouldn't be allowed to show up on the post until one of us had a look to make sure they were OK.

In the end it probably won't bring us many new recruits because, even if we change the settings to let search engines find us, we probably wouldn't get much of a google rank anyway. But I think it's worth a try. Does anyone else have thoughts on this?

Baying

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T22:21:00.001Z

Merry Christmas everyone.

Have a fantastic time.

Hope to see you all soon.

Happy Birthday Brit!

2009-12-14T18:00:00.001Z

Hey, it's Brit's birthday today! Don't know whether he's coming in to chat or not but I'm celebrating anyway. Meet me there at 10pm GMT!

Have a good one, Brit!

love,
Baying

2009-11-17T18:15:00.002Z

hey everyone, i just want to say sorry for not being on for awhile. im still in hospital judt on home leave atm, till thrusday. im hoping dr b will discharge me thrusday when i see him but not sure yet what will happen. hope your all ok and i will be in chat tonight so hope to see eveeryone soon.

love louie xoxox

CHAT ROOM AVATARS FOR NEW MEMBERS!

2009-11-02T10:12:00.003Z

If you've recently joined us you'll need a personal avatar for chat (or else get stuck with the very boring default one). If you send a jpg or other image file to depressionhangout@hotmail.co.uk I will put it in the chat room avatar library which is accessible through the Options menu in the chat room. It doesn't matter how large it is because I can shrink it for you. Hope you are all settling in here. Please do volunteer to host chat, which you can do by clicking on the date you want to host on the chat calendar. That will take you to a Create screen and it's pretty much self-explanatory from there.

If you have any queries at all about the Hangout, don't hesitate to contact me!

Baying at the Moon
Membership Secretary

Welcome to Carol

2009-10-30T19:52:00.003Z

Everybody give a GREAT BIG DEPRESSIVE WELCOME to our newest member Carol! There are a good few new members wandering around the place at the moment, so do your best to make sure they find their way. Welcome Carol!!

2009-10-25T01:19:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone =)

Welcome to Mayrin the Mountain Climber!

2009-10-23T19:45:00.002+01:00

A Big Depressive Welcome to our newest member, Mayrin the Mountain Climber! So, if you see her wandering around here looking a bit lost, take her hand and show her the way. Hope to see you in chat soon, Mayrin!

...

2009-10-20T20:18:00.001+01:00

just wondering where everyone is. seems really quiet around here lately.

Birthdays

2009-10-08T17:28:00.002+01:00

Hey all,

Just to say, if you'd like your Birthday to be known to the rest of the Hangout, please make sure you write it in on the calendar above!

If you're unsure how to do that, just post a comment with the name and date and I'll put it there for you.

Thanks!

Florry.

Welcome to Izzy!

2009-10-06T10:25:00.002+01:00

Let's all get up and give our usual Warm Depressive Welcome to our latest addition to the Hangout community: Izzy! Some of you will remember her from DF and some of you will be meeting a new friend. And remember what to do if you see her looking lost. (Show her around.)

Welcome to Moxie!

2009-10-04T21:58:00.001+01:00

Let's all give a big Depressive Welcome to Moxie who is our newest member! And if you see her looking lost, be sure to give her directions.

Happy Belated Birthday to Katie!

2009-10-03T14:46:00.001+01:00

Guess we missed Katie's birthday! Hope you had a good one Katie. Please leave a belated Happy Birthday message for Katie on this post.

With all best wishs from Everyone at the Hangout!

looking forward to meeting everyone:)

2009-09-30T15:37:00.001+01:00

Hi, im new to the blog. Im looking forward to meeting everyone and reading, commenting blogs. I also hope that this will be a nice place for me to write and express myself:)

Welcome to Jess!!

2009-09-26T22:01:00.002+01:00

It's always a cause for celebration when someone new joins the Hangout, so let's fly a few balloons for our newest member: Jess! And if you see her and she's looking a bit lost, be sure to point her in the right direction!

Welcome to Johanna!

2009-09-10T14:31:00.003+01:00

A great big "hello" and a bucketful of waves and handshakes to Johanna, our newest member here at the Hangout! If you see her around make sure to welcome her and offer her the good biscuits.

Welcome Johanna! Hope to see you around soon.

2009-06-19T21:24:00.003+01:00

Happy Birthday Beth!

2009-05-26T14:51:00.006+01:00

Happy Birthday to Beth who is some kind of age or another on the 3rd of June! Lots of love and best wishes from All the Gang at the Hangout! Please pop into chat on Wednesday the 3rd of June at 10pm to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Dawn!

2009-04-19T11:13:00.006+01:00

Everyone here at the Hangout wishes you a Happy 29th Birthday! There will be celebrations in the chat room at midnight BST (British time) on Monday. (At least I think that's what it means when it says Tuesday midnight to quarter past - maybe it means Tuesday/Wednesday?) There is a proper birthday bash on Wednesday at 9.30pm BST. See you there!

Happy Belated Birthday to Koba!

2009-04-10T22:09:00.004+01:00

It seems Koba had a birthday a few days ago and didn't tell us till it was too late. So happy birthday to Koba from all of us here at the Hangout!

Now Comes the Practical Bit

2009-03-29T23:17:00.002+01:00

Okay, we've all voted to try and post in Mentalist Nurse and other mental health blogsites as a way of recruiting new members. We now need practical suggestions and volunteers to do the posting. Anyone?

just an idea....

2009-03-25T20:43:00.003Z

hey everyone,

i was thinking earlier about how we could get more people to join the hangout and came up with the idea that we could ask about doing a post on blog's like this one:

http://www.mentalnurse.org.uk/index.php/2009/01/10/this-week-in-mentalists-62/#more-1501

or ask if they could put a link to the welcome page on there blog.
i dont know if they'd agree to it but i just wanted everyones opinions on it first.

louie

Voting

2009-03-22T17:44:00.003Z

Hi Guys,

First of all thanks to everyone who voted. The proposal to advertise in Gumtree was voted down, so the other proposals are irrelevant. The proposal to suspend the post of Chat Moderator carried.

All inactive members of the committee have been contacted twice to ask if they intend to become active again now or in the coming months, and only one has responded. This means that though these committee members can come back at any time, for the moment this is the current committee:

Homepage Editor: Florry
Cheers Page Editor: Florry
Support Page Editor: Louie

Baying is currently an inactive member of the committee, but intends to come back as soon as she can. Lynndy has offered to help out on the Cheers page, but I'm not sure whether that means she is active on the committee again.

Currently, there are only two members of the committee and we have no actionable plan to recruit new members. Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday to Jus A Boy

2009-03-20T23:09:00.000Z

Jus a Boy's birthday is TODAY and we'll be celebrating in chat from 10pm GMT. BE THERE!!!!

Voting Is Open

2009-03-17T12:02:00.007Z

PLEASE VOTE!!!!

After discussion on the previous thread (see below) I am proposing 4 things for you all to vote on:

1) That we advertise in the Community section of gumtree and ask interested people to email to introduce themselves and we post votes in the usual way.

2) That we put a cap on the number of people who join at any one time. A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet, but it's hard to get too know too many people at the same time. So one of the votes up there is asking how many people should be allowed to join in any quarter (3 months).

3) That we work out a way of getting rid of someone quickly who is obviously a troll? The only mechanism we have in place takes ages. If we vote to do that, we will have to have a separate vote to decide how to do it. Suggestions?

4) That the post of Chat Moderator be suspended until we feel we need one again.

Please do vote. This is your Hangout and we need to know what we all think!

Please Read This! Your Hangout Needs You!

2009-03-11T12:09:00.005Z

As you know from the post below, Dawn has stepped back from serving on the Hangout committe and you can tell by all the warm messages on her post how grateful we all are for the incredible job she's done.

According to the constitution we can elect a new Joint Editor of the Cheers Page to replace her, but the problem of late has been that Dawn, Florry, louie and I were the only active committee members. Committee members have all had times when they couldn't be active, including me, and that's why we have joint editors - so there is always someone to take over when that happens. At the moment there are only us three of us keeping the place going. So we had an informal discussion about the situation last night in chat and came up with some suggestions.

The Home Page. The home page pretty much looks after itself these days. The Home Page Editors are also the Hangout Computer Geeks who have been setting up profiles for new members, sending out automated invitations to them, and helping out the other editors when they need it. We haven't had many new members come in for a good while, so that doesn't have to be done so much now. (Although I would like to see us attracting new members!) We wouldn't necessarily need an experienced computer person editing it if one of our resident geeks were willing to help out as needed.

The Support Page. This page is very important because we all need a chance to vent once in a while. A lot of the pressure of running the support page (and the cheers page) is the need to keep putting up new content. It could be simplified a lot, though. We could go to 2 columns, with posts on one side and ememrgency information on the other. Other stuff could be added now and again but it doesn't need to have regularly updated content. The other thought that I had was that people aren't posting to the support page so much nowadays because they are tending to blog on their profiles. Could we encourage people when they are having a crisis or a very bad day to post something like "Please have a Look at my blog. I need some support"? The post would show up on the home page and members could click that person's link, read the blog, and then leave a comment on the support page. Just an idea.

The Cheers Page. This is the most content hungry page and it really does need to have content updated all the time. Dawn put a HUGE amount of work into it, as did Sanze and Lynndy before her. One of the suggestions was to suspend the Cheers Page (we could bring it back later if we wanted) and just have some humourous content on the home page instead. Florry says she is willing to "find a sense of humour" in order to do this. It would mean we wouldn't need as many editors.

Chat Moderator. We have only ever had one problem in chat, and we haven't had any problems at all since we elected a chat moderator. We can probably get by without an official one at the moment and deal with problems as they come up. This would mean we could get by with a smaller committee. It would also mean Sanze, if she was willing, could move to another job.

Head of Members' Affairs. We can't do without someone checking the mailbox and posting prospective new members. There isn't a lot to do, but the inbox has to be checked every day or so. The best ever Head of Members' Affairs was Lynndy who sent out thoughtful, funny emails to members from time to time. But that isn't a necessary part of the job.

Florry said she is willing to take over to the Cheers page if we don't end up amalgamating it with the home page, but that would mean no one would be looking after the home page. I could move to the home page, but that would mean no one would be looking after our correspondence. Louie is happy to stay on at the support page so we've got that covered with at least one person. But we'd be stretched if any of us went through a bad patch and wasn't logging in for a while. If some of our current committee members wish to be active again, that would help a lot. But we could probably do with a few new volunteers?

Please let us know what you think about amalgamating the cheers and home pages and abloishing the post of Chat Moderator, which we could put to a vote later on. Also please think about whether you'd be willing to stand for the committee to help out. This place belongs to all of us and I for one would be lost without it!

Baying

PS And we need more people hosting chat! It's been really successful when people volunteer and you really don't have to do anything but show up. And even if you can't show up, you can send your apologies on the message board - but it will encourage others to turn up at that time!

Penguin is Having a Birthday Party!

2009-03-09T11:19:00.000Z

Sunday is Penguin's Birthday and we are having a little party in chat at 7pm GMT Please do pop in and bring your own cake!

Time to step back.

2009-03-09T03:06:00.003Z

I regret to say that the time has come when I am no longer able to dedicate the amount of time that I would like to be able to, towards maintaining the Cheers page and doing little bits around the site. I feel that at the moment I cannot contribute freely to the site, and while this is the case, I would prefer to step back. I hope that you can understand and respect this decision. Until Lynndy is able, I am happy to help anyone who wishes to do a little maintenance on Cheers. Love to you all, and party on down to the discothèque. For serious.

Dawn.

Hosting a Chat

2009-02-28T16:39:00.003Z

Okay, this is very easy and you don't have to clean the house or buy cakes or be in the mood for scintillating conversation. You can even be very quiet as there are usually people who turn up that can take over on the talking front. As such there is no reason not to put yourself down to host a chat - unless you don't know how to post it. So here's how to post a hosted chat so you'll have no excuse:

1) If you want to host in the currently posted week, just click on the underlined number of the day you want to schedule in. If you want to schedule in another week, just click on any of the days you see to go to the calendar scheduling screen.

2) If you want to schedule in another week, this is where you choose the date you want to schedule from the ones arranged at the top of the screen. If the date you want is in the next month, you can choose your month from the top of the screen and then choose your date from there. If you are already on the date you want, just carry on.

3) Once you get on the date you want, you can very simply sign up. If the date you chose already has a hosted chat scheduled, just click on Create Event and you will get a screen for you to fill in. If there isn't anyone else scheduled, then you will automoatically be given the Creat a New Entry screen.

4) Now just fill in your details. Put in whatever text you want to appear: Chill Out with Baying and Watching Snow Melt are recent examples. (It is useful to put your name in this so we know who's hosting!) Then put in the times you will be in by using the drop-down menu. Remember to use GMT or people will get confused! The screen is a bit squashed so you have to scroll to the right to be able to put the times in. If you don't know what GMT is, there's a clock to help you on the home page. Then click on the drop down menu where it says Category. You will find your username there and if you click on that it will format your entry automatically with your own personal colour (courtesy of Dawn's great efforts on this project). Then click Submit.

It really is that simple. In fact it's a lot simpler than I made out since I have written the instructions so that even someone like me would be able to do it. Any problems, just post on the bulletin board and we'll sort you out.

Please, please consider doing this. Without this system we would have gone on not knowing when to get people in chat. Your Hangout Needs YOU!

Everyone Give a Big Depressive Welcome to Our Newest Member: Sunny Robot!

2009-02-13T12:31:00.003Z

And if you see her looking a bit lost, be sure to show her around.

Thankyou dear friends

2009-02-07T10:52:00.002Z

Just want to say a huge thankyou for all the birthday wishes I recieved,

It was so good to see lots of you in chat,Im sorry I never made it back but the air hit me when I left my friends and by the time Id got back home and come online I was rather woozy from the er.........diet coke......ok then wine!!!!!

I have set myself a thousand lines to write today......

I must not be in the partaking of alcohol when on my mentalist meds.
I must not be in the partaking of alcohol when on my mentalist meds.
I must not be in the partaking of alcohol when on my mentalist meds.
I must not be in the partaking of alcohol when on my mentalist meds.

Thats 4 and Im bored already!!!!!!
Much love to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Happy Birthday Lynndy!

2009-02-05T22:57:00.005Z

Hey! It's Lynndy's birthday!Time for FISH CAKES!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

2009-01-20T15:30:00.003Z

Happy Birthday, Aron!

From all of us here at the Hangout, best wishes for a wonderful birthday. (Even if we are wishing it before Friday. ;) )

Give me feedback!!!

2009-01-13T20:25:00.002Z

Alrighty then.

Well, kids, I very nearly rearranged everything on this page. Nothing that can't be undone but I tried to keep a focus on ease of use and compact information.

Tell me what you like, what you hate, and everything in between. I'll be overhauling Cheers next so keep your eyes peeled and let me know what you lot think.

Laters!

Dawn xxx