It's been a while since I've updated the main page here so my apologies. My personal life has become increasingly busy over the past few months so unfortunately publishing articles was something I just ran out of time to do. For the record, inactivity on the news page does not equal inactivity onsite or around the network so I think this is a great opportunity to update you all on what's been happening in the Lifesupporters.com and Lifesupporters Network.

Staffing Updates: 

First and foremost, I'd like to announce the promotion of two longtime staff members at Lifesupporters.com, Vautrin and TKDLady. Vautrin has been a dedicated member here for close to 3 years now and has been a voice of reason for myself on many occasions. Vautrin is also very good at pointing out what I missed when setting up new sites as well as finding any and all bugs in new software both onsite and within the Network. He has proven himself to be an invaluable member of our Staffing Team and I'm honored he accepted my offer to become an Administrator.

Another member who has shown her desire time and time again to help us move forward is TKDLady. TKDLady has been with us just over 2 years now and has shown nothing but patience with my own short sightedness and somewhat anal way of approaching problems. She has an obvious desire to see our site flourish and as such will make a great addition to our Moderator Team. 

...sorry for taking so long to welcome you both.

Site Updates: 

There are a great number of things happening onsite here that I hope will only make for a more "homey feel" when visiting Lifesupporters.com. As much as I'd love to see Lifesupporters one day become an information resource for those in need, I'd also like it to be a home away from home for those looking to connect with truly great people who really care about each other. Quite honestly, point two takes precedence in my minds eye because we can all use someone to lean on in times of need. 

I'd like to point out first and foremost that even though life on the News Page has been somewhat barren; our forums have been extremely busy. The last two months (December 07 and Jan 08) have been among the busiest in our history online and we have a number of terrific new members to show it. As much as a joy this site is, it's always extremely gratifying when new members sign up and are immediately embraced by our fun-loving and extremely supportive community. If you're looking for a home away from home where everyone around you genuinely cares about your welfare, you owe it to yourself to give our community a try. Even though we do tough on heavier topics now and again, there simply is no "storm cloud" hovering over the community nor is there any semblance of negativity as there's every cloud has a silver lining. We collectively strive to find the silver lining but even if some rain must fall, it's a little less dreary when faced with true friends. 

On to the updates...

Community Chatbox:

Posting in the forums is a blast at this site simply because our members are very warm, friendly and personable yet supportive, caring and understanding when the situation calls for it. Even with the serious issues we discuss within our forums there is no "black cloud" or feeling of doom, just supportive discussion regardless the issue discussed.

Of course even webforums can seem a bit impersonal at times so to help our members connect more on a personal level, we've added a Community Chatbox. This Chatbox is located at the footer of our forum categories and discussion topics to allow people to connect in real time, much as MSN, AOL, ICQ, etc. This level of connecting has only helped many of our members grow closer while getting to know each other in a dynamic not available in your typical forum environment. 

In other words if your looking for a forum where you can actually connect with the members, lifesupporters.com/forums is the place for you.

You must be a registered member with 5+ forum posts in order to use the Community Chatbox. As with many aspects in our forums, the Chatbox is configured in this manner to protect our valued members from spam and potential nefarious offsite linking. 

Community Chatbox FAQ. 

Lifesupporters Blog: 

Due to repeated member requests, I've now added a blog component to Lifesupporters.com. The purpose of the blog is to publicly post ideas that would normally belong in our forums so as not to detract from actual news articles found on the main page of Lifesupporters.com. Many of the blog articles you will be seeing are written much more from a personal point of view and as such will usually be opinion based in nature. 

The blog is still in its infancy stages and as such, does not have a lot of content at present nor is the theme complete.

Family Friendly Web Link Directory: 

Prior to switching from phpnuke to Joomla, Lifesupporters.com engaged in reciprocal link campaigns only with sites that shared a common interest and published similar content. The reason for this mindset was simple; we did not want to appear as a "link farm" and possibly run the risk of becoming "sandboxed". 

The only method I could conceive to get around being seen as a link farm in the eyes of the SERPS is to offer a legitimate Family Friendly Web Directory with helpful and informative Family Focused Websites. Even though we've relaxed our guidelines on who can list with us, there are still some basic guidelines that must be followed. 

To view the most up to date submission guidelines, please refer to this forum topic.

Lifesupporters.com Social Issue Wiki: 

There are times when we all need a little help understanding issues that not only affect ourselves, but those around us. It's times like this when it really helps to talk to someone but what happens if you don't have anyone you trust to not take offense, judge, or criticize you?

Our discussion forums are great for discussing issues that affect us all in our daily lives and as great a vehicle as it is, it does leave a gap in regards to understanding of what may be at the root of your particular issue.

For this reason, we've begun working on a Social Issue Wiki that we hope will one day cover issues that we all face throughout our lives. The Social Issue Wiki will work hand in hand with our forums as the wiki will provide facts, figures and possibly link to further information and self help resources whereas the forums will give us a place to discuss and further catalogue said issues. 

Unlike the remainder of our forums, the Social Issue Forum will be strictly moderated (where applicable) and kept on track to ensure all available information is easy to find, discuss and collectively learn from.  

Of course an ambitious project like this will not build itself overnight and as such is considered and on going, long-term project.  

Lifesupporters.com RSS Feeds: 

Lastly, we've added an RSS NewsFeed Page to Lifesupporters.com that not only links to our news but to other Family Friendly Information Resources such as MSNBC Men, MSNBC Women, MSNBC Kids, BBC News, CBC Health News, Net Family News, etc. 

...

I'd also like to add a big THANK YOU to our new and established members who continue to return to the site regularly and add your thoughts; without you fine folks there would be no LIFE in Lifesupporters!