Talking in generalities helps no one. Chat is not all one thing, all day long, in every room. That's why there's a variety of rooms our members can choose from. If you choose to be in a member-created room, you're also taking responsibility for your own self-care. If you don't want that responsibility, don't enter a member-created room expecting emotional self-help 100 percent of the time.

If you see *anyone* engaging in behavior that you believe is an abuse of their room powers while in chat, a quick PM to me is all that it takes for me to look into it further.

The only report I've received in the past month had to do with someone who didn't act on something that the member thought they should've acted upon. So that was an example of someone not using their room powers (when the member thought they should have).

Finally, to say "chat has changed a lot" since so and so a time is just speaking the plain truth. Chat -- and the community in general -- is an ever-changing thing. It is not static. It grows, expands, and changes constantly. While we may wish it to stay as "it once was," there's no way to make that happen, since the community isn't like a government -- it is a collective made up of an ever-changing roster of new members coming in (150+/day!), and old members leaving.

I would no more want the community to stay the same as it was 11 years ago as I would want myself to be the same person I was 11 years ago.

If you want chat to be more supportive, be that member who offers emotional support in the emotional support chat room.

If you want chat to be more supportive, and see harmful behavior taking place, send someone on the community support team a report. We can't act on things we do not know.

Thanks for your help.

DocJohn