As a newcomer (Summer 1999), and incurable non-lurker, I am still in the honeymoon stage with Lactnet.
I have asked for help in specific cases, and received it, warmly.
I have responded privately to some posters when I felt the response was more appropriately directed to them personally, or the topic was not directly BF-related but still interesting to them, and to me.
I have also had numerous pleasant responses privately to my own posts, and made some new e-friends.
I get support and stimulation on BF issues from all over the world, I get to communicate quickly with an overwhelming amount of competence (the collective knowledge of the entire Lactnet) and I haven't  felt bogged down by negative posts, to the list or to myself.
I see by this thread that Lactnet felt more intimate when it was newer and smaller.  I am grateful that the listmothers have allowed it to grow.  It is up to us to allow it to mature gracefully.  Just like all children, you give them a start, and then a nudge, and then before you know it they are making their own decisions and running their own lives.  Let's make our listmothers proud of us!
I have to say that I really like the small poignant notes on people's illnesses, accidents, etc.  There is something very human and motherly about using this list that way-- requesting the collective nurturing skills of the Lactnet to be directed spiritually to one point in the universe-- it can't hurt, and it keeps the list from being just another automated e-mail service.
That is my thirty cents worth-- not inflation, just feeling this was a weighty post.
Rachel Myr
formerly isolated in Kristiansand, now part of an amazing community of helpers, all interested in what I hold most dear, namely, the connections between mothers and children

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