That's where I'm coming from on this. March 2005 when I first joined, if I had an opinion on a hot topic, I wouldn't say a word, not one word. Once I was able to join in, I'd post and run because I was afraid of being disagreed with.

I've finally broken out of that, but I still feel I'm being chastised for it.

Yes, it has just started in the last two weeks, because in the last two weeks is when I finally got over that hurdle. I still have to give Mandyfins a lot of credit for that.

How is my getting my voice back any different than, say, an abuse survivor finally realizing it wasn't their fault? Would they be criticized for that? Probably not.