I was a member on the old MSN site. I found this site difficult to manage and have discussions on. Maybe I just don't know how to navigate the site well.
Anyway, I liked that on the old site I got an email when someone made a reply on a topic that I was involved in. That doesn't seem to happen on this site. I think I need to understand it better. There used to be some really good discussions about being gay and having kids.
Its been about two years since I have written anything and I hope you this gets to someone who was there at that time. It would be nice to have messages sent to my emial on a regular basis so I can respond when the urge hits.

I recommended this site to other gay fathers who have come out over the last couple of years but I don't know if they used it. I hope they did becuase it is was a good place to be open and discuss what ever was on someones mind.

Best Regards,
Alex

Hey, it's great to hear from you, Alex. It means a lot to know how this community has helped you. And I can solve your problem of the emails easily. Actually, I don't think you are the only one who has that problem. There are plenty of others.

Let me tell you how to fix that email issue. It's easy and if everyone here did it, we'd all be chatting more. Two things first; and be warned, this is me being very, gut-wrenchingly honest.

One - I am sorry. It's my fault, really. I am the one who started this whole Gay Fatherhood group on MSN way back, almost five years ago. For various good reasons, over one year ago I led the attempt to take our group off of msn and onto a new site, our own site, without all the unwanted advertising, spam and constant msn glitches.

However, especially in this last year, I've let things slide. Personal difficulties, being in and out of an operating room, a recent move, a recent job change... and the chance to pursue my other writing led me to get lazy here. And to be honest... I don't know... I just lost my passion for the whole enterprise for a while. Life was just too troublsome at times and too wonderful, so as to occupy my time and interest at others, and there really was nobody who fully had the desire to pick up the ball where I dropped it.

Sorry, if that upsets anyone. It's just how it appears to me. I mean no offense. I just think we all had a year where we were either happy or preoccupied and none of us really cared enough to do anything with the Gay Fatherhood Group.

That is changing now. I feel a need, not just within me, but from others like you, Alex. That's why you are posting, maybe. A need to encourage other dads, a need to chat again about my own challenges, fears and joys in my journey with other men like yourself who find that parenting is the ultimate of joys.

I should have been updating this site more, posting more help articles and tutorials and keeping the group alive and active. There are plusses and minuses to being on a big name like msn, and to be on our own takes dedication. I am now dedicated again to getting this bitch back in the air, the site of Gay Fatherhood, that is.

Two - I think we as a whole, men, even the members and managers of GF are a bit lazy. Please don't be offended, because I am pointing the finger at me as much as anyone. Groupee sites are actually pretty easy to navigate. We just (including me and another couple of managers I know... ah hem...) need to be interested enough to not be stuck in our rut and simply just have fun exploring; clicking around the options and seeing where they take us.

Have you clicked on all those buttons, like "go" and "tools," and have you explored their drop down menus? Well, to be honest, this site can do soooo much, almost too much. In this way it could be a victim of its own great potential.

We are human and we don't want to learn new things. We want the same cup of coffee in the morning, the same route to work. The same secure patterns.

But... we moved from MSN for good reasons. I don't think that they are less valid now. Fact is that the discussions were only active back then because a select few of us made the site active. We posted on a regular basis. We sent out mass emails to all the members. We sent out chat messages and schedules nearly every week... we had topics of the week...

The only thing I find difficult with this site really, now that I've gotten excited about the whole topic again, is the editor for posts... It isn't as easy as some. But it's not that tough once you play with it and see what it does, really.

Okay, the way to do this Email Notification: It's easy. And please remember that email notification was not automatic on MSN either. You had to select when you joined the group how you wanted to be notified of new posts; either online, in a daily or weekly email digest, or by an individual daily email each time a new post was made.

Okay, all you have to do is go to the main forums page by clicking on FORUMS above this post or from the home page.

Then click on that little button at the top left that says "Go" with the little blue start beside it.

From the drop down menu, click on "Notifications."

It will say Alex's Notifications.

First it will say Private Messages, but the second choice is "Forums."

Under Forums it will say "Subscribed Content," and under that "All Forums."

To the far right of "All Forums" is the word "Edit." Click on that. A Windo will pop up that says "Notification Tool."

Click the box you want to select; either Daily Email Digest, Weekly Email Digest, or Immediate Notification by Email.

If you want to have not only new discussions emailed to you, but replies also, then just click on "Include replies" to the right.

That should do it.

There is another way that should work and that is to go to the GO button, then Preferences. Under Notifications, click Immediate Notification by Email. I say that this second option should work, only because I haven't yet tested it.

Alex, good luck. I hope you stay with me/us and I promise you two things for the moment.

1. I will post a tutorial hint every week, and email it out to all members. And...
2. I will open a discussion about what to do next with GF. Several managers and other active members have been discussing this among ourselves via email lately and I must admit that there are a variety of opinions.

I hope you'll stick with us, post regularly and help us be an active vital influance on gay parenting whatever we do.

Thank you so much for being open and frank, and for being here. You count and are appreciated.

Yours,
David

I am not young enough to know everything.
- Oscar Wilde

Hey Alex,

So what is the situation now 2 years on with you and your...kid(s). We have all been through a lot I am sure but time we up dated each other on what family life is like currently for gay fathers across the globe.

Cheerio for now ...Vincent...x

Um, yeah, and what Vince said too!