.006 Δ ["Anonymous" Text]
Mar. 19th, 2016 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ratherbelocky[Or, well, actually, this text isn't anonymous. It's simply that the ID number it displays doesn't match anything in anyone's previous contacts--as if someone's perhaps got his meddlesome paws on a brand new 'Gear.]
So there's a thing I've noticed, in the months I've been here. These anonymous posts, the ones asking for advice? They get a lot of answers. Seems we've got a lot of folks willing to help out around here, or at least to talk and commiserate, but it always seems to be a one-off deal; the person who's anonymous, most of us don't get to hear from them again, see how they're doing, and if we're anonymous ourselves, they can't contact us, either. It's like dancing some kind of intimate foxtrot and then never seeing your partner again.
But I found out something interesting. If you go to any Pokémon Center or PokéMart and tell them your Gear's broken or missing, they'll just hand you a new one free of charge. And if you happened to be lying, well. Then you've got an extra Gear unconnected to your main one.
What I'm saying is, there's an easy way to maintain privacy and anonymity on both ends while still checking in with someone you've spoken with before. Obviously, this is great to know for prank calls - and you're all welcome in advance for the April Fools idea - but I'd like to pose another option to those guys who want to help:
What if there were some kind of system in place for people to just talk about what's eating them multiple times with the same person, without ever having to know who's on the other line?
Now, I'm by no means a professional - not in this field, anyway. I'm not qualified to be a therapist and I haven't yet heard of anyone here who is. That's not what I'm suggesting we do here. But there are people willing to just listen, and to share their own experiences without judging, and that can be real useful to people who are working through tough things.
Here's how I'm imagining it'll work.
1. Folks who are interested in doing the listening contact me here by filling out the form at the bottom of this post. I vet them, and if it seems like it'll work out, then they grab an extra Gear, send me the number, and come up with their own codename.
2. I make a list of who's available and their numbers.
3. People looking to be listened to without exposing themselves, they contact me anonymously, and I'll redirect them to one of the folks on the list. After that first contact, they can just get to their listener directly without going through me as a middleman.
4. Conversation happens, everybody profits.
"But, mysterious and probably handsome anon," I hear you ask, "why do the people interested in helping have to out themselves to you? Who are YOU, even, to ask that and put yourself in charge of this whole thing?" And my answer is, there's got to be some accountability here when things this heavy and private are on the table, and I'm willing to be that guy. I'm also happy to reveal my identity privately to anyone who asks; I'm only maintaining anonymity here for those who don't want to know who they're talking to, for whom talking is easier like that.
Anyway. If listening to other people's problems sounds like your calling, I'd like you to fill out the following little survey:
If there's enough interest, I'll set something up within the week. In the meantime, let me know what you guys think.
And I guess you can call me Nathaniel.
So there's a thing I've noticed, in the months I've been here. These anonymous posts, the ones asking for advice? They get a lot of answers. Seems we've got a lot of folks willing to help out around here, or at least to talk and commiserate, but it always seems to be a one-off deal; the person who's anonymous, most of us don't get to hear from them again, see how they're doing, and if we're anonymous ourselves, they can't contact us, either. It's like dancing some kind of intimate foxtrot and then never seeing your partner again.
But I found out something interesting. If you go to any Pokémon Center or PokéMart and tell them your Gear's broken or missing, they'll just hand you a new one free of charge. And if you happened to be lying, well. Then you've got an extra Gear unconnected to your main one.
What I'm saying is, there's an easy way to maintain privacy and anonymity on both ends while still checking in with someone you've spoken with before. Obviously, this is great to know for prank calls - and you're all welcome in advance for the April Fools idea - but I'd like to pose another option to those guys who want to help:
What if there were some kind of system in place for people to just talk about what's eating them multiple times with the same person, without ever having to know who's on the other line?
Now, I'm by no means a professional - not in this field, anyway. I'm not qualified to be a therapist and I haven't yet heard of anyone here who is. That's not what I'm suggesting we do here. But there are people willing to just listen, and to share their own experiences without judging, and that can be real useful to people who are working through tough things.
Here's how I'm imagining it'll work.
1. Folks who are interested in doing the listening contact me here by filling out the form at the bottom of this post. I vet them, and if it seems like it'll work out, then they grab an extra Gear, send me the number, and come up with their own codename.
2. I make a list of who's available and their numbers.
3. People looking to be listened to without exposing themselves, they contact me anonymously, and I'll redirect them to one of the folks on the list. After that first contact, they can just get to their listener directly without going through me as a middleman.
4. Conversation happens, everybody profits.
"But, mysterious and probably handsome anon," I hear you ask, "why do the people interested in helping have to out themselves to you? Who are YOU, even, to ask that and put yourself in charge of this whole thing?" And my answer is, there's got to be some accountability here when things this heavy and private are on the table, and I'm willing to be that guy. I'm also happy to reveal my identity privately to anyone who asks; I'm only maintaining anonymity here for those who don't want to know who they're talking to, for whom talking is easier like that.
Anyway. If listening to other people's problems sounds like your calling, I'd like you to fill out the following little survey:
If there's enough interest, I'll set something up within the week. In the meantime, let me know what you guys think.
And I guess you can call me Nathaniel.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 01:59 am (UTC)Is this supposed to be a regular thing or what?
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:03 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:12 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:34 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:37 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:40 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 02:46 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 03:13 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 03:20 am (UTC)I probably shouldn't say anymore because... privacy. But you're right, the people are nuts here.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 03:49 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-20 04:01 am (UTC)... Sorry, my family has a heavy business background. Logistics and big projects were a part of my school's curriculum, too.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-21 12:27 am (UTC)1. Yeah, the idea's that people will call into this Gear first and then I'll forward them to someone, based on:
2. A couple quick questions I'll provide regarding where they're coming from and what they want to talk about. It's up to them how much they want to answer, of course.
3. I think all the volunteer listeners ought to have their own anonymous Gear. Makes things easier in the long run. Folks calling in don't need to, though.
4. Uh, I guess I'm the system for handling complaints. For now, anyway. Might get one or two people I know in on that for checks and balances and to keep me from taking on too much in one sitting.
5. I'm gonna check in with them regularly and make sure no one person gets too many callers, despite match-ups. That's also why I'm stressing with each of them that it's important they've got their own support network in place. If this thing ends up bigger than I thought it would, I'll see if I can't set up a more official group thing for the listeners to support one another, too.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-21 01:06 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-21 01:13 am (UTC)That and I'm a big proponent of a team effort. You can do a lot with a good team.
[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-21 01:47 am (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-21 01:40 pm (UTC)[Anonymous]
Date: 2016-03-21 06:27 pm (UTC)We'll see.