Some help, well kinda.

[incompetent artist]

So I have been bouncing around the internet trying to find the right forum for me. I have found that I do not get responses to my posts. There are several factors for this, the main one being I am usually ignored both in real life and internet life. The few sites that have chat rooms and I have joined the chat within a few moments most people leave the chat. I know some sites are cliquey and everyone has known everyone else forever and new people are just ignored. I also went to a site I don't think anyone was sick anymore and were making fun of people for the most part in chat.

I am shy as it is and all these sites have made it hard to search let alone make posts. Then there was my intro post here with one response, not very reassuring to say the least. If you made it this far I am going to try an experiment, I have seen posts where people have asked other members to ask questions about the original poster. So I want to do the same, maybe it will help me talk about myself (which I have always hated to do) and reaffirm that this site might not be a bust.

I have no real rules on the questions asked personal ones will be better but I will take any questions and answer them the best I can. So have at it people...

[.Poppy.]

First off, I know how you feel about internet "cliques". I recently joined a dog forum and there are cliques there too - sometimes I don't get answers to threads I post; often I am ignored when I post responses, etc. The funny thing is, some of the members in the "cliques" joined maybe a month before I did! If they had been there forever, I'd understand :/

I've found people here are usually very supportive, though sometimes it's hard to know how to respond other than with general support so sometimes people won't respond. At least, that's what happens to me sometimes. Anxiety is often so person-specific it can be hard to fully understand and give the answer that the poster will find both helpful and understanding. If that makes sense - it's getting late and I'm tired

So, questions:
You're from the US - whereabouts? I'm from KS, myself.
How long have you had anxiety?
How did you find this forum?

[MyNameIsTerry]

My observation has been that there are some groups on here but the majority of people openly talk to each other and so do members of the groups, the group thing comes into play when there is a dispute about an issue. I've only experienced it a few times though and thats nothing compared to the more mainstream non medical forums from my experience.

It can be a bit like that in the welcome threads and if I'm honest, I tend to be looking more on the condition specific boards and look more at the general ones last.

So, welcome to NMP

One thing I can promise you...no one on here is going to be giving you any grief about having anxiety. Sometimes people may argue but I often think this is more because things can be misread when written as opposed to verbally expressed or because the person you are speaking to may be extremely anxious so their judgement is not fully working.

Threads on here tend to get answered but I find that if someone writes a really large one, it can get less responses. So, it might be best to make them shorter and more direct but its really up to you.

Some boards gets a lot more trafffic than others, such as the HA one and the GAD one whereas a lot of the others seem to have less people using them.

[Rennie1989]

Welcome to the forum.

[incompetent artist]

First off, I know how you feel about internet "cliques". I recently joined a dog forum and there are cliques there too - sometimes I don't get answers to threads I post; often I am ignored when I post responses, etc. The funny thing is, some of the members in the "cliques" joined maybe a month before I did! If they had been there forever, I'd understand :/

I've found people here are usually very supportive, though sometimes it's hard to know how to respond other than with general support so sometimes people won't respond. At least, that's what happens to me sometimes. Anxiety is often so person-specific it can be hard to fully understand and give the answer that the poster will find both helpful and understanding. If that makes sense - it's getting late and I'm tired

So, questions:
You're from the US - whereabouts? I'm from KS, myself.
How long have you had anxiety?
How did you find this forum?

Thank you all for the responses. I hope I find this site to be better than the last ones. Onto the questions:

I am from Dirty Jerzey
Thinking back most of my life I have had it in some shape or form. Just not like I do now.
I have been searching the internet for months. I will lurk on sites and if it looks like it has potential I pop in.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Its worth raising some threads about issues you wish to understand more about and people will pop alone and offer support & advice. I think people get a lot out of websites like this and you can see that people make progress over the months you talk to them which is very encouraging.

[gregcool]

I would stick to the forums in NO MORE PANIC,iv been part of it for years now and have built up some fantastic friends in hear.i post mainly in general anxiety and depression and find my post are allways answered,people hear are really supportive. Good luck and welcome to the forum,.....

[Moley]

Anybody is welcome in Chat here. it has been really quiet in there lately so if there is no one in don't take it personally. Look forward to seeing you in there sometime