Whoopsie-Daisy!
As we’re sure you noticed, an article “Help, I Need Somebody…” went out to the communities a few weeks ago. Although it was very well received, it did accidentally generate an abundance of email for some community members. That’s been corrected.
So sorry, Merl!
We also need to apologize to the author of last week’s feature article. Somehow, we neglected to say that the “Help, I Need Somebody …” article was crafted by none other than Merl, one of our Moderator Support Staff. An ever-cheerful New Zealand born Australian, as a living skills teacher Merl has helped countless people, including himself, live full and productive lives. When not advising on various neurological issues Merl is usually found pottering around in his tool shed. You may have read his thought-provoking reflective posts on many of our communities. Apologies, Merl, and thanks again for that fine piece of writing.
If you happen to have missed last week’s mail, you can catch up on reading Merl’s article by going to the home page of your community and then looking on the left hand side of the page, and scrolling down for the News category. Click, and it should be there.
With the new year, we’re launching a new program, a newsletter of sorts, with the goal of publishing an article a week under the “news” category in the communities. The topics will be far-reaching and varied with numerous authors. Tips. Tricks. Advice. Support. Links to new research. Almost anything, actually.
Got something to say? Right on! So write on …
We’re looking for articles “in my own words” from those who are living with chronic/rare diseases. Please feel free to write something or encourage someone else to do so and send it to modsupport @[bensfriends.org](http://bensfriends.org). Your article can be anywhere from 300 - 1000 words and cover any reasonable topic for discussion. If you don’t feel inspired to write an article yourself, ideas for future articles are welcome, too.
We’re hoping to generate continuing conversations. No one will be able to reply directly to the article as doing so will spark an avalanche of emails to members, but they can start new topics based on the articles.
We’re excited to see what everyone has to say!
News Dispatches like this from Ben’s Friends will appear about three times per month. If you have comments, or you’d like to contribute, please send your submission to: ModSupport who’s at @[bensfriends.org](http://bensfriends.org) We’d love to hear from you!
If you’d rather not receive our newsletter a few times a month, you can control what you get from Ben’s Friends by adjusting your “Notification” preferences in your account. Click here for a Slide Guide which shows you exactly how to do that.
If you are reading this as a thread on the community website, you won’t be able to comment, but do feel free to start a response thread and share your thoughts with your fellow members.
Have you taken a Slide Guide for a spin yet?
Just under the banner of your screen, to the left, you will see a tab for “How to Use This Site”.
If you click on it, you’ll find our Slide Guides: step-by-step instructions for how to do most things that you’d want to do on your community. Let us know what you think!
Been Away For a While? Lost? Don’t know your password, or want a new one? Log-In isn’t working for you?
Here’s how to get right back into your Ben’s Friends community:
Click on this link to see a list of our communities, and then click on the colour banner for yours. Or just go straight to your home page if you remember it.
Your email @ddress is your [Username]. Use the email address on the “To” line of this message when it arrived in your email inbox.
If logging in is giving you difficulty, click on [Forgot My Password] and follow the instructions.
The system will send you instructions for getting back into the community. If you don’t see anything in your Inbox, check your Spam folder: sometimes these emails land there by mistake. Open the email and follow the instructions, and you’ll be back in your Ben’s Friends “home”.
As always, ask your community moderator or Moderator Support if there’s anything that we can do to help. (Click on the ModSquad avatar wherever you see it, and then on “Message”). That’s what we’re here for.
All the best to you from all of us here at Ben’s Friends!
