The August Newsletter send got aborted somehow and I couldn't recover it. So instead of resending it to 8000 people I am going to post it here for those who did not receive it.

Susan's Place Transgender Resources: August Newsletter

We are sending this out as monthly forum private message, to keep you up to date on the web site and all the goings on. In this edition we will be covering:

• Welcome
  
• Follow us on Social Networks
  
• We need your Support & Subscriber Drive
  
• Problems accessing the server
  
• Chat
  
• Forums
  
• Links
  
• Minecraft
  
• News
  
• Wiki
  

Welcome!

We are up for traffic for the month; in July 251,236 people visited the site, accounting for 7,600,551 page views. That's not counting 6,860,509 page views that were not discarded from the statistics as likely resulting from search engine spiders and other web bots.

Our news articles have been viewed over 104,963 times; and I expect our growth in that area to continue to be exponential.

Our top 10 articles so far this year are:

Views - Title

---

3,289 - Was that Will Smith's son Jaden wearing a dress
2,716 - 'Assigned Male': Humor and Insight While Growing Up Trans
2,379 - Transsexual Liu Ting captivates China
1,638 - Another Transgender Model Makes it Big
1,636 - South Carolina Male-to-Female TranssexualTeen to be allowed to express Gender Identity in Drivers License Photo after Lawsuit
1,608 - Ninth Trans Woman Murdered in US in 2015
1,574 - Transgender Male Appears on Ellen
1,540 - Idaho's First Transgender Police Officer Tells Her Story
1,518 - Transgender Model Andreja Pejic to be featured in Vogue Magazine
1,514 - "Christian" Game Developer Makes Anti-GLBT First person shoote

Our top 4 stories for July were:

Views - Title

---

1,112 - Anti-LGBT So-Called "First Amendment Defense Act" Would Have Dangerous and Far-Reaching Consequences
1,052 - BREAKING: Comprehensive New LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation To Be Introduced This Week
1,035 - Should We Forgive Jon Stewart?
892 - Major Corporations Announce Support for Landmark Federal LGBT Non-Discrimination Legislation

We have added translate options all of the major pages of the website. We have also added an international area on the forums with sub forums for each of the major langauges which allows non-English speaking transgender individuals to receive support directly in their native languages.

Follow us on Social Networks

Susan's Place has accounts on facebook and twitter. We would love to see you follow us there! Be the first to find out about new stories, the reason for downtime, and general links of interest from our social networking and admin teams.

Secure Server

To help protect our members, and to enhance your privacy when you browse the site; I have added SSL encryption to Susan's Place. All communications between you and the server are now encrypted with 256 bit security. This means your ISP, your employer, or other parties cannot see what you are browsing when you are on Susan's Place. You will receive a warning, if anyone attempts to intercept your connection to the server.

We need your Support

The redesign of Susan's Place was made possible by the generous support of members like yourself.

Everyone who has donated or subscribed since January deserves a big round of applause.

We are 7 days into a 31 day month. So far we have received $154.93 of the $2,500 we need to meet the expenses for the month. Leaving us $2,345.07 short of what is needed for this month.

A reminder, for three months we have had a $500 increase in the monthly goal, to reimburse me for $1,500 I spent on software purchases and licensing during the redesign of the site.  So after August we will be dropping back to our $2,000 per month goal.

If you are able to step up and donate or subscribe please consider doing so. Since the 1st of January I have been able to give my 24x7 attention to the site. Something only possible with your continued support.

I would like to establish a decent buffer to ensure that we don't get to the point that the bills won't be paid if we have a month were we receive lower than expected donations.

We are up 11 subscribers from the previous newsletter. So we currently have 81 active subscribers. I would like to see number that increase to 250. We have 16,633 members, so surely that's not asking too much.

To help make subscribing a more affordable for those who are on tight incomes we have added a Bronze subscription for $5.00 a month. For those who want to do more, we have added a Platinum $50.00 a month option.  If you can afford to do so please consider committing $5.00, $10.00, $20.00, or $50.00 a month to help support Susan's Place. Your subscriptions are budgetable, and that helps me to know where the site stands financially.

If you can't donate or subscribe, I understand fully! However, if you can even small amounts makes a big difference, when you add them all up!

Together we make the difference. Please Donate or subscribe!

Problems accessing the server

Some people using the Tapatalk app have reported issues accessing the site, if that occurs simply remove the forum, and  then re-add it by searching for https://www.susans.org/forums/.

If you are having issues but are not using Tapatalk, make sure you are using a SSL capable web browser, and/or clear your cookies and browser history. If you still have problems after doing so, email me at susan@susans.org.

Chat

Editor's Note: Today is Helens Birthday!

They say August brings the dog days of summer, but I hear the dogs are rarely impressed. 

Our July in the chat rooms has been fairly smooth and uneventful. We have our cadre of regular users who come and visit every day or so. I find it interesting we can get to know each other as well as we do without actually meeting in person. Over time, true personalities emerge and the plain text on the screen comes to represent more than just the words people are using.

What stands out for me in the past month is one person who came into the chat room, a new user whose nick I will not mention for confidentiality's sake. They asked if they could chat with me in private because what they were dealing with was quite personal. I was happy to oblige them. It turned out that she was a trans woman who had been sexually assaulted by a boyfriend. She tried to forget about it, to sweep it under the rug and pretend it wasn't a big deal and while that worked for a short while, she had started to have nightmares about the incident. She told me she was still too traumatized to even talk to her therapist about the incident.

I guess she was able to tell me about it, after awhile, because of the semi-anonymous nature of the medium. You're writing on a screen to a human being but you can't see them. I suppose that can make sharing personal and painful experience a little easier for some people. I am trained in communicating with traumatized people and have asked the chat staff to get the same kind of training. It's free online from more than one source. Trauma is a big problem for many trans people and it's our wish to be able to help people deal with the pain of it. At the very least I hope we can avoid re-traumatizing people. That's why our priority remains keeping the space in our chat rooms as safe and supportive as we can so we can provide a haven for those who need one.

I suggested a few different ways the traumatized user might be able to begin to tell her story to her therapist. Some people have no trouble telling the whole story to people's faces. Some find it easier to express the event in pieces, over time. Others find using art or music to express their pain is helpful. One strategy some people find works is to write about it, maybe even in a fictional format so they can separate themselves from the person who was traumatized in the story they write. I suggested to her that she could even copy/paste our conversation, print it out and mail it to her therapist.

Ultimately, the user chose to begin writing her story and sharing it with her therapist in that format. It was very clear at the end of the conversation that a load had been lifted, that she saw a path toward recovering from her ordeal, that there was hope for a solution. That's what peer support is all about.  Giving people hope, showing them that transition can be navigated and that the recovery of a full and useful life is within the realm of possibility. I'm very grateful and pleased to be able to do this for people, as others did for me when I started out.

Please let again me invite you all to come visit us, maybe start a conversation or two? It's fun, informative and you'll get some great typing practice in!   And every now and then, when something serious comes up, maybe we can give you some advice that works for you!

BCNU all there soon! (I hope!)

Hugs & Smiles
HelenW

Forums

August already! My Northern Hemisphere friends are in the end months of summer while I come out of the coldest July in South Australia for some 20 years. Time to get the bod ready for the bikini!

The Forum has been busy as usual, with a phase when several people posted about depression, bad thoughts and struggle. Remember you are not alone, we are here and will try and help. But also remember to call for Help on the helplines if you are feeling bad.

You can overcome these feelings with help and support and you deserve a happy healthy life.

Staff wise, we said goodbye to Sam as he deals with some issues and to Cindy16 while she deals with family issues. I love them both and wish them well in their lives.

This means that I have positions for GM's, this is a hard job, harder than most ever think, but if you are of a mature outlook, have dealt with your issues and can make a commitment please pm me to discuss possible positions. You also end up talking to me on Skype! Not sure if that is a plus or a minus!

Funding is still a problem, we need your help in keeping the site going, so please, if you can, donate or subscribe.

Finally, if a post worries or upsets you report it, we will look after it. And finally, finally, if you want to contact me for any reason, for a concern, to change your site name, or just to shoot the breeze (I'm becoming an American!) you can always pm me or email me.

Love you All

Cindy

Links

The Links Directory is a great place to find information on just about anything. We have 1,970 links in 322 categories, and more are being added all the time. The goal is to have the most comprehensive set of links available to the transgender community. We're looking to add some people to the Links Staff to accomplish that.

If you're interested in an entry level Staff position and you enjoy poking around the internet, this is a good opportunity to help the site and the community. Not to mention the free coffee in the Staff lounge! Looking forward to hearing from anyone interested, send me a Private Message, email, or Skype.

Hugs, Devlyn

Minecraft

Another month on the minecraft server and no major updates, mining and building mining and building. If you havent already, connect via susans.org after youve entered your minecraft name in the specific field in your profile.

What are you waiting for?!

News

August is here and the sun has started setting in the Land of the Midnight Sun. The days get shorter and the nights colder. Sadly the days have remained well-above normal highs and the rain well below but, regardless of the weather, our intrepid News Staff continue to find articles and write columns of interest to our growing community. Please thank them for their efforts as they do work hard.

I'm still looking for people interested in joining the News Staff. I've had some fairly new members ask and dive right in so if it sounds like something you want to do please message me and remember: Winter is Coming.

Wiki

V M has recently been appointed the new Wiki Administrator and is still getting situated, so no report from her this month. She can use lots of help so if you love to research and write about a myriad of topics please pm her, or send her an email to vm@susans.org, about joining the wiki staff.

Please note

This newsletter was sent to you via forum pm. If you received an email notification about it, that is because you have the option to receive notifications of new private messages turned on in your profile.

The newsletter is sent monthly to all registered members of the forums.

Regards,
The Susan's Place Transgender Resources Team.

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php