Subscribers
As of March 2008 I am going to try something new. I have realized there is a need to keep certain things more private. There are stories that I want to tell people about but I need to know who I am telling them to. For example, if I write about something in my "real life" it could affect someone. There are several things I want to write about for the site but I have not been posting them because of my fear that it will or could cause problems for people the stories are about, or because they have specifically asked me not to write about them on the public site. Right now I don't have any help in editing my stories to clean them up for public posting. I am looking for volunteers to help with various things. This is one thing I need. But it has to be someone who is totally trustworthy, has a lot of time available, and isn't a "teen prisoner" who can only access the Internet at the whim of their parents. So it has been very hard to find someone...
Anyhow, my idea is that I will create a password protected section of the site for the "subscribers". To become a subscriber my idea right now is that you can either make a monthly donation, (or yearly or whatever) or you can do some volunteer work for me, or you can tell me who you are and why you are interested in the things I write about. I will need to do some kind of verification. I am not sure how this will work yet but for me to feel comfortable accepting someone as a subscriber I need to feel fairly sure they are who they say they are.
I do not promise any kind of regular schedule for posting or anything like that. I will write about the same kinds of things I have been writing about: parents, schools, teen suicide, etc. It will take me some time to create and maintain this sub-site so I'd like to get some financial help to justify the time used on it. As I have explained in my "coaching" page I have given away almost all my time for several years, now I am in Europe where the cost of living is much higher than, for example, South America. I am using up my savings at a pace that is starting to scare me a bit. So I will ask for donations on a sliding scale based on your income. I will let you suggest a monthly amount. My idea now is something like from 1 to 10 US dollars per month based on whether you are a student, an underpaid teacher or a pyschologist (to just give a few examples). If you are a teenager or someone else who has no way of making a donation of money, then you could make a donation of time by helping with something on the volunteer list.
I have had too many bad experiences when people were reading my site and using what I write to hurt either me or others. Or they felt hurt, embarrassed, exposed, etc themselves. To reduce these problems, what I am thinking is that if I am in country X then I won't accept subscribers from that country. This way no one could happen to read a story which talks about someone in their city or even their family. My site has always been based on real life stories and experiences. It would be too much work for me alone to change this, so until I get a "staff" of people helping me, this is my interim solution.
If you are interested in becoming a subscriber, write me a note please and we will talk about your particular case. I don't expect many subscribers by the way. And because I want to know each subscriber at least a little personally, I would guess that it will have to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 people. But even if there are 10 people who are really interested in my work, I will feel motivated to post the more private stories. Obviously I would ask that these stories not be merely copied and pasted and sent to others or re-posted somewhere. By accepting you as a subscriber I am extending a significant amount of trust. I have learned by experience that in the work that I do trust is critical.
Thanks for understanding and your support of my site and my ideas.