Like I said in my integration thread, when I first found out I had DID and my treatment providers were mentioning that dreaded word integration and explained it to me, I went on the internet and registered for many DID/ Dissociation forums. I didnt know much about the internet back then and didnt know much about internet safety, But I learned a few things real fast....

After visiting and registering for so many forums I learned that it was a situation of "same old same old thing"

many times you can tell where / what "build your own website template site", they used because the layout of the forum is the same as that one you visited yesterday. theres only so many "build your own website" websites out there for free or for hire.

They have a home page that usually has a pretty picture or information about the forum site or their home page is an index that lists what boards their forums have.

They have between 1-15 boards where members can post things unless they have been on the internet quite some time.

the boards are also mostly the same on DID specific forums. The site name may be different and the boardes may have different names but they are the same old same old thing.

theres usually a board where only the administration/ moderators post. usually this is notificaitons of changes, rules, and who the admin/ mods are.

a board for get to know you, introduce yourself, get to know your neighbors... this board is usually called by things like the Cafe, the mall, the garden, the terrace... anything that shows this is where you just chit chat, have a cup of coffee or tea together.

A board for Alternate personalities in general that everyone can post to regardless of if they are a child or teen or adult alter.

a board for mixed aged child alters. this board is usually called names like the sand box, the playground, the play room. its a place to play and talk about little kid problems and interests.

A board for teen alters.. this board is usually called things like the mall, the game room, named after a popular video game or activity.. posts in here are things like the latest movie or fad, dating and other teen activity.

A board for adult alters... this board is usually adults only conversations including sexualized conversations. Again the names of this board are adult only kind of names. the dark room, the sauna, the den, inner sanctum...

On rare occasions you will find a baby/ toddler alter board where everyone tries their hardest to talk like a babbling baby still in diapers and unable to hold their bottles but yet can boot up a computer, do an internet search, log on, somehow being too young to read and say the word Play and still be able to find the board called playground or sand box and post using th instead of S, and k instead of c, and w's instead of L's, and other alterations to words to make it look like a baby or toddler is talking. everyone participating in this board understands its all pretend but gosh forbid someone break that world by mentioning the reality that a toddler still in diapers and bottle cant actually do whats being talked about. a fun way to pass the time if someone is willing to act like a babbling baby for a while.

A board for mental disorder... this board is usually where everyone posts information and links about DID and dissociation or any other mental disorder that someone is asking about. sometimes there will be a separate PTSD board and each dissociative disorder may have its own board unless the whole site is specific to DID

a board for integration... this board usually turns out to be a complain about how much people dont want integration. though I do have to say I have found a handful of places that now have integration boards where people are actually sharing what integration is, links to things about integration and the brain and other things too about integration and problems/ issues and the joys of it.

Some will have music and gaming area where they have an outside websites games and music site linked in with their site. example click on the word checkers you might be taken to a page with a checkers board sponsored by big fish games or some other checkers game from some other website.

Sometimes there will be a chat room attached or on site of the Dissociation/ DID forum, if not theres usually a post or two in the general forum with a link where a member created chat on facebook or yahoo or other chat room site. this member created chat rooms off the websites usually changes hands and web addresses often.

Sometimes online forums for DID and dissociation contains options like editing where members can edit their own posts either all the time, until a certain time frame or not at all.

Sometimes online forums will have a section where you can talk directly to the founder of the site or a hired therapist but most do not have this section.
sometimes in this section there will be someone that can answer question but they only go so far. they can tell you opinions but they cant treat you as if you are their clients. why because if something should happen because you followed their opinions they can lose their credentials just like off the computer. online therapists have a line that they can not cross. and they have to be very clear that what they are telling you is not meant for diagnosis or treatment (evidenced by their terms of use pages)

to be continued..