Severing the Ties that Bind

[Bjerg]

Greetings Citizens,

This is a post I just finished posting on our yahoo group, it is in reference to the website and some of the changes we are making during the last and final stages of our transition. You need do nothing at all, just continue to post here without having to worry about sending a link to the yahoo group. Please read this- and if there any questions at all feel free to post them here as a reply.
~Sav

It is with the greatest pleasure and utmost satisfaction that I come to all of you finally able to make this announcement. As you know by now we have a new website which is thriving and growing everyday. It was my original intention to create this venue, our very own place on the world wide web where we are able to come together with like minds and creative efforts to share our common interests.

Yahoo has been a consistent thorn in our sides for some time and it has been a strident effort to continue with the vision of Havenstead while trying to wade through hip deep restrictions that yahoo has attempted to place on us. Unstable servers, lost messages, wiped accounts or address books, disregard for privacy, tracking software and 'beacons', the list goes on. Needless to say, yahoo's policies clash with our best interest and has become a major source of contention which is the primary reason I've been so dedicated to building our new home. It's finally done, has been for about three months now.

About six weeks ago I posted some polls here to get a feel for your opinions in regards to how we should make the transition; either delete the group or make a slow change. Though many did not vote, I stayed in regular contact with quite a few of you through the process of waiting and found that the general consensus and overall wish of this community was to make a slow transition and keep the group open as a filter for new members.

Through the course of our time here, I left behind a few bread crumbs with some other sites which share a common interest and some BDSM directories so the chance is good we will most likely have a few new registrations here and there.

The group will stay open to act as a filter and forwarding mechanism to bring new members to the website. A system was put into place to bring the group's members to the site and giving everyone a sense of familiarity with how the website functioned and some time of 'hands on' with posting and so on before we made the shift complete. You've probably noticed by now that the recent posts have not  been complete stories and have had only the first paragraph and then a link to the rest of the story which takes you to the site.

I think by this time everyone here has been to the site and has a good working knowledge of how things finction. The time has finally come- we will continue to accept posts as they are sent to the group, however, the group will remain on moderation status and we will continue to post links, but they will look like the one that was just sent by Soleil entitled, "Choices Cause Consequences."

There is no need to continue sending messages to this group. Simply post your messages on the website as you normally would, and the Moderators are already in place to send the link to this group. This is functional for a couple of good reasons. One, it makes things so much easier for you, two, it doesn't give yahoo a reason to delete this group for inactivity (which states in their policy they will after 6 months of inactivity) and it continues to lead potential members to our website.

Finally, we are mostly free from yahoo. There's so much I could say about the server...however I'll hold my tongue for the sake of propriety and prudent judgment. Some of you already know my feelings on the subject.

I am going to be removing my character e-mails from the membership list except for my decadentwonder account which is the owner name on the group. If you like you are more than welcome to remove yours as well, but please be certain you are registered on the website. Unfortunately, I also need to remove some other names who have not posted their ages in their profiles, this only ensures that yahoo does not delete the group for non compliance. I've already checked though to make certain the ones to be removed are already registered on the website, and be assured they all are so there is no danger of anyone losing their place.

Thank you so much- to each and every one of you for making this dream possible. Together we are Havenstead.

Regards,
Saviogn