I can't tell you how sad your post makes me. And
please don't feel I'm not sympathetic to your point of view. I most certainly
am. None of us here is happy when one of the forum features isn't working-- for
existing members the lack of email notifications meant the added step of having
to periodically check favorite forums for updates; for me, it meant no new
recipe submissions for an entire month; for new members, it meant a total
inability to log into the site (the registration process depends upon
automatically generated messages providing temporary passwords). While IT was
attempting to work out these issues, most of us managed to work around the
inconvenience by devices such as adding links to our favorites in our browsers and setting time
aside to check these favorites for updates; by requesting that members PM me
recipes I hadn't received; by requesting that new members contact the
Help Desk for temporary passwords. None of these were ideal solutions, I know--
but they got most of us through the worst periods-- and throughout all of this,
Tenderpaw and I were continuing to answer posts and PMs, attending to the needs
of members as they arose. NBU continued to function, offering the same support
its students enjoy, and most of the support groups seemed to persevere as well.
I understand that due to technical issues, some
folks weren't able to access the site at all. I hope that's all been resolved
by now and that the recent change of servers a week or so ago has resolved the
email issues. Though I don't work the Help Desk and have absolutely zip
knowledge when it comes to anything technical, I would hope that anyone
still experiencing issues has been reporting the issues to the Help Desk,
Customer Service or to BMOS Jess. Those of us who come to this site each day,
striving to provide the best service, information, motivation, direction, and
comfort we can-- and I'm including Tenderpaw, NBU Provost brwright, Jess and
myself in addition to the many, many members on this site who extend their hands
to others in this group-- none of us wants to see anyone else cut off from the
support he or she needs. That's not why this site exists. Support is still
here and has been here throughout this entire unfortunate period-- certainly in
the form of our faithful Customer Sevice desk when this site hasn't been
accessible to some. I would truly hate to think people are missing out on this
wonderful, life-changing program because of the email system.
And yes, Maxine-- if you're reading-- I would be very sorry to see you
give up on it as well. 