I decided I didn't want to excise the adoption program so I've instead come up with what I feel is a revised program that we can sustain. The reason for considering removing the program was that we've grown to a point where we have so many new users joining each day that it's difficult to accommodate the number of people making adoption requests. Also, a number of users express interest in the adoption program, thus getting the ball rolling, but then disappear. In light of all of that we will be introducing the following reforms:

1. Users requesting to be adopted must be members here for no less than 2 weeks. This provides the new user time to get a feel for the board and decide whether he or she would like to further pursue a place in our community.

2. Users who meet requirement #1 must decide, on their own, who they would like to be adopted by. There are a couple reasons that have lead me to this requirement: first off, the Dream Guides have lots of work to do as it is, and it's difficult for them to also actively seek out potential adopters for waiting adoptees; secondly, a number of new users express interest in being adopted in the Adoptions forum, but alas no users volunteer to adopt them. The latter reason is the real driving force behind this reform because I don't like to see new users getting overlooked like that since they can perhaps feel rejected. This change should also help ensure that potential adoptees are more serious about this program and aren't simply going to express interest and then disappear.

I believe Alaurast78 was (perhaps?) the first adoptee who listed members who she would have liked to be adopted by.

3. Once a potential adoptee has found a user (or users) who he or she would like to be adopted by, then he or she can contact a Dream Guide and the Dream Guide will take care of contacting the potential adopter to see if this arrangement can be made. If the adopter agrees, then the Dream Guide can post a message in the Adoptions forum declaring the new adoption.

4. Adopters do not need to have a certain number of posts, nor do they have to be here for a certain amount of time. We're going to trust that those who agree to become adopters are confident enough that they have some ability and experience to pass on to others.


I will be making new posts in the Newbie Zone and Adoptions programs so that new users are aware of the new Adoption Program.

'k bye.