Please can you tell me about RuralMuse?

[Primrose]

As you will realise I have come from Country Living and joined this very welcoming site through others saying they had 'come over'.

I have to admit I really do not know anything about the concept of this site e.g.

1. When did it start?
2. Who started it?
3. Are the other options 'open' I notice when I click onto them they do not work.
4. Oola has also been helpful in suggesting that we 'Can (cer) Girls can have a Thread??? of our own. What does that mean?

Thank you for any info and thank goodness it is raining so that I have found time to ask these questions that I have been meaning to find the answers to.

Gilly

[franbee]

Hi Gilly, Oola started RM last Autumn for a group of us escaping from some unpleasantness on the CL site. Oola can set up a new topic so that you girls can keep your specific chat together in one place, but the rest of us will also be able to join in. Some parts of the site can only be seen once you have logged on, and are sometimes withdrawn for a spell.
Oola will sort you out, I'm sure. Fran.

[Oola]

Hi Gilly

To answer your questions

1. RM started last September/October when there was some bother over at CL. There were a lot of people frustrated with the lack of moderation, and I thought the easiest option would be to take matters into my own hands, and run a forum where moderation wouldn't be an issue. The problems at CL were allowed to get way out of hand (trolling, inflammatory posts, usual chat room problems), so I think a lot of people didn't feel like posting anymore. So this seemed a viable option. A lot of our members post elsewhere too, which is perfectly fine.

2. I (Oola/Lucy) started it, my other half is a web developer and set me up. In the past I have done database administration, so had some experience and felt it was something I wanted to do. I am the sole administator and moderator at the moment whilst the site is relatively small. But to be honest, moderation isn't really needed, it tends to be dealing with the technical questions etc.

3. On the Rural Muse home page, there are a few icons up. These links don't work at present, because I'm developing that side of the website into what I hope will be an online magazine sort of website, a bit in the vein of the old CL website. I'm hoping to have regular articles and features based around Rural Musing, e.g. cooking, gardening, vegetable growing, rural issues and politics, eco-friendly ways to live, tips, health and wellbeing articles etc. The idea is to expand on the forum rooms that already exist here, and to create fresh new content regularly for people to read and comment on, so it's a bit more interactive.

The problem is that a website launch takes a long time, but I'm working on gathering enough material etc, photography etc. I will keep people updated on what's happening with that side of Rural Muse. At the top of the General forum you'll see a sticky post asking what you'd like to see on an online magazine - feel free to post your comments there if you have any ideas.

4. As you said in your thread, you're feeling a bit lost because of the disbanding of the old CL site. I thought if you still wanted something a bit familiar I could set something up for you and the other girls that used to post over at CL. There are a few ways I can do this. If you're all RM members, when you start a new 'thread' (i.e. you post, and people reply), I can make it a 'sticky thread'. This means that your dedicated Can (cer) girls posts in that thread will always appear at the top of the Health & Wellbeing forum. That way you always know where to find them.

An alternative is to create an actual Can(cer) Girls Group, which will exist within Rural Muse. This will basically act like a normal chat room, where you can post your own topics and threads. It can be viewable by everyone, or I can make it so that only Rural Muse members can see it. Just a thought, but if it's something you'd like, I can talk you through it.

Hope this answers all your questions :)

[Primrose]

Thank you so much Oola for taking the time to explain this. It is wonderful that you, and your other half, got this together and provided us with this 'retreat' offering a friendly and supportive place to visit.

I am pleased you identified what was missing on CL and 'ran' with it and I wish you every success. In other words you identified the niche in the market and what we all needed through Cl's failure but I know it must be hard work.

I have just had my new computer arrive today and need to transfer everything over so once I have got that out of the way I can concentrate on how best you can help us 'Can (cer) Girls' in the meantime I will keep popping in.

Have a great day,

Gilly