7 years on TSR - AMA 🎉

I always end up missing my anniversary because I joined on GCSE results day and the site is always so busy around that period that I never end up making this thread.

I am only 10 days late so AMA :biggrin:

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Runninoutatime

How many more years do you anticipate being on TSR? Till the bitter end of the website?

Reply 2

TriplexA

Original post by CoolCavy

Congrats for 7 years on TSR! :smile:

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 3

JT_888

Original post by CoolCavy

Happy 7th anniversary on TSR, Cavy! I keep forgetting mine as I joined in mid August way back in 2015. :smile:

How are you doing?

Reply 4

BurstingBubbles

Life & Style Forum Helper

Happy 7 years :smile:

What have you enjoyed about TSR? What has changed/not been so good?

Reply 5

The_Lonely_Goatherd

Original post by CoolCavy

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Cavy :hi:

Deputy Calliope here :cool:

Persephone has asked me to pass on hearty and Very British congratulations on 7 years on TSR :awesome:

We have a question: who is your favourite Therapy Penguin on TSR? :ninja:

Deputy CtN :cool:

Reply 6

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

congrats!

what's your fave TSR moment? :smile:

Reply 7

Charles III

Time flies! What's your breakfast cereal of choice?

Reply 8

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by Runninoutatime

How many more years do you anticipate being on TSR? Till the bitter end of the website?

Honestly I don't know, as long as I continue to enjoy it and derive some sense of achievement from being on here then I will stick around. I don't think I would still use the site apart from bobbing in now and again if I wasn't on the VT as I would feel like there isn't much point in me coming on here. I feel most useful as part of the team and I would have less to offer personally if I wasn't.

I started volunteering for an animal charity last November as I wanted to do 'real life' hands on volunteering. Since I have started that I have had a lot less time for TSR so I imagine eventually I will just become less and less active and leave.

I still enjoy being a volunteer here and by extension being on the site but it's definitely now not what I would consider my main past time as it once was.
To be honest I think that is just a natural part of getting older and just how forums work. At one point I was over invested in the site so I think how I am now is a lot healthier.

TLDR: I don't know :tongue:

Reply 9

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by TriplexA

Congrats for 7 years on TSR! :smile:

Thank you

Reply 10

black tea

How do you think you have changed as a person compared to when you first joined?

Reply 11

the bear

kefir.... yay or nay ?

:holmes:

Reply 12

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by JT_888

Happy 7th anniversary on TSR, Cavy! I keep forgetting mine as I joined in mid August way back in 2015. :smile:

How are you doing?

JT!!

I am still plodding along :colondollar:

How are you doing? :cube:

Reply 13

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

What's the square root of 64?

Reply 14

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by BurstingBubbles

Happy 7 years :smile:

What have you enjoyed about TSR? What has changed/not been so good?

Good:
It has given me a community when i had 0 close friends in 'real life'. This isn't only since i joined the team but before then, I have always struggled socially and although there are moments which are a bit yikes to look back upon (a 16 year old joining random tinychats with complete strangers) it really was a way for me to develop socially when i couldnt in person. I have a lot of fond memories from that time and even the people i no longer have contact with (we just drifted apart as is quite common online) i do still think about and wonder how they are.
Joining the team expanded upon that and now i have a good circle of people who i am close with and i know support and care about me. Its nice to get to meet people who you have been friends with a long time in person and my inrl best friend @furryface12 started from this website :yes:

Although I dont think it's healthy to be too reliant on online sources when your mood is low, threads like the mental health support society have also been really invaluable to me over the years. Being a volunteer has also helped with my mood overall as it gave me a sense of purpose when i didnt really have one (however sad that might sound!) and was/is a constant feature in my life despite lots of things changing for me over the years.

Bad:
I was bullied quite relentlessly when i first joined the site, looking back i can see how i could have appeared as a troll (incredibly naive and very wide-eyed about absolutely everything) however i dont believe that is an excuse to target someone in the way that i was. I have not held grudges, i dont really care about the people who did it however i would be lying if i said it didn't make me very distraught at the time. Having people set up group chats about you etc wasn't very nice and the fact i remember it all 7 years later suggests it made an impact. Yes i was annoying, yes i was immature but nobody deserves that treatment.

Sometimes it has felt frustrating on site, when that's not always seeing eye to eye with a particular CS/business decision, the odd arguments with other volunteers (inevitable when its such a diverse range of people working together and when tone can be misread over text), being blamed by users for moderation decisions you had no control over, having troll threads made about what an awful person you are for banning said user etc etc

and of course....circle avatars :colonhash:

Reply 15

Andrew97

Entertainment Forum Helper, Debate & Current Affairs Helper

Do you miss me posting every day? Jk but feel free to answer

What’s your music of choice?

Reply 16

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by The_Lonely_Goatherd

Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Cavy :hi:

Deputy Calliope here :cool:

Persephone has asked me to pass on hearty and Very British congratulations on 7 years on TSR :awesome:

We have a question: who is your favourite Therapy Penguin on TSR? :ninja:

Deputy CtN :cool:

@TSRGus

Reply 17

Muttley79

Well done for surviving 7 years on here!

I think you've achieved a lot in raising the profile of MH before it became more widelly recognised.

I've really enjoyed your blogs and I hope you are proud in how well you've dealt with challenges :grouphugs:

What is TSRGus up to these days?

Reply 18

CoolCavy

Volunteer Team

Original post by black tea

How do you think you have changed as a person compared to when you first joined?

Thats a really good question :yep:

When i first joined in 2015 I was super naive and really 'green'. I didn't know much about life (despite having a difficult early start in life) in terms of what was beyond my own family and i thought everyone i came across was the best person ever. I spent all of my time on site either telling everyone how great they are, being upset because people were being mean to me or just posting a million pictures of guinea pigs.
In 2016 is when my mental health really began to decline, it was when i lost my optimistic view on life as a result of stress in my personal life and things just started to go downhill. Unfortunately this was reflected on site and i was an absolute moderation nightmare, i feel sorry for the volunteers and CT that had to deal with me at the time. I was posting triggering content and being PSVed constantly, i really appreciate how patient everyone was with me but it was ultimately a bit of tough love that made me seek inrl support. TSR can only support people so much,
really it becomes dangerous to just be posting these things on a website and not seeking avenues in your real life. Although i was restricted in what help i could seek confidentially, i did what i could at the time to tide me over until i went to university.
This was at the end of 2017 and my mental health began to get worse even though i now had medical support. I was lonely and isolated but posting more consecutively on TSR and so i could start to rebuild some community feel on here with other site members. This helped me immensely and i deiced to apply to be a forum helper. I was told i needed to start creating some more content etc which is something i put my focus into and three months later in early 2018 I was accepted.
I think being on the team and eventually becoming a VT was something really good for my personal growth. Not only the social aspect of meets but also because it taught me profesionalism and not just splurging everything you think.
VTs are obviously expected to be more professional than FHs in their posts and tone and this is something i struggled with initially, i put the work in - calmed down a fair bit - and ended up moving up.
I am proud of that progression and I believe it has helped me in the world of work now i have an inrl job. It gave me a good base to build on for my actual career.

It's nice to look back on these things and see how far I've come, from not knowing what was wrong with me, to being diagnosed with BPD up until now where I'm managing a lot better.
TSR has supported me during this and i couldn't be more grateful to the CS, both those at the time who supported me when i wasnt on the team, to the ones now who say they are proud of my progression. I appreciate all the effort of everyone who had any hand in mentoring me :smile:

Sorry if that was a bit long :colondollar:

Reply 19