I’ve said WAY too much on CC, so I’m not at all anonymous to anyone who tries to find me out. I regret that, more for my kids’ sake than my own. Luckily, I really don’t have anything to hide (other than the interior of my home), and I’m pretty much the same in real life as on CC (just older and fatter…no, scratch that and substitute “more intimidatingly attractive”). Of course, in real life, I can make some judgment about the person I’m talking to before I spill all. Alas, that is not true here, and I’ve been making online oversharing mistakes for enough decades that I might have learned by now. I wonder whether any Mercersburg parents have found me out and resolved to stay far, far away. 
To the contrary @twinsmama. I hope that some family weekend in the next 2 years we might have a chance to meet and say hi. And if not, surely we’ll both be there in June 2018. 
I love meeting others who love MB as much as I do.
@ChoatieMom Points taken. It’s just that this forum is not “designed” for easy friend making. Not only because it is almost mandatory to be anonymous on here when you post in public but also because the memebership is so fluid and there’s just so so much noise from people of all sorts with different agenda. Furthermore, when a group is formed outside the main forum, the discussions are affected further by biases than they already are naturally so because you are supposed to support your friend “in public” even when you have differences “privately”. I personally don’t think it’s a good idea to look for RL friends on here. Like I said earlier, it is not the best platform for that purpose and it is not good for this platform. My 2c.
Panpacific, there’s no reason you can’t make friends on here by just using the PM feature and taking your conversation off the public forum. I’ve connected with several parents by moving to PMs, and then eventually to using our own email addresses, and then even meeting some IRL at parents weekends. Seems to me that the forum is actually quite well “designed” for using it this way too.
I’m only moderating active on the forum yet there are members I feel connected to and with whom I would welcome the opportunity to grab a beer or a glass of wine. Something about a shared experience, even if experienced through social media, forms connections.
None of the forum members I’ve met IRL appear to be axe murderers. I don’t think. And one in particular I feel so, so blessed to know.
@hellomaisy , I hope we meet sometime too. Maybe we’ll connect at a parents’ weekend. Only two left; is that good or bad?
What are the rules/guidelines for PM-ing on this site? Is there a post or a thread that someone can point out? Thanks!
I believe you simply have to have enough posts to enable the PM feature. After that, I’m unaware of any rules. PM communication is supposed to be private. I assume it is not monitored, but I’m sure it could be if someone reported some kind of egregious behavior. Perhaps @skieurope will enlighten us.
Thanks for replying @ChoatieMom
Getting off topic 
, but PM’s are indeed private, at least moderators have no access to them. I believe that the minimum post requirement to PM went by the wayside when we migrated to the new platform a couple of years ago.
@skieurope thank you! My thinking related to the OP was that IF DC gets accepted somewhere I might be able to reach out to a few ppl here via PM to connect IRL about our DCs’ BS experiences. As a newbie I appreciate the slight stray as I get more used to being here O:-)
Trying to keep CC parents on topic is like herding cats.
Very true.
Sorry… meow
Not feeling like part of a parenting community was, for us, one of the biggest trade-offs in sending our kids to BS. we did do outreach to incoming new families, and did have some people we chatted with the few times a year we visited, but have often lamented the local community we left behind. It was worth it, for sure, but a loss nonetheless. And as others have mentioned, the better friends we’ve made have been here on CC.
We built a network of solid relationships with a number of parents of my son’s friends. And while we lived across the U.S., there was still plenty of emailing and occasional calls. Visits were wonderful and we always enjoyed going out for meals and drinks with our fellow parents. One year, we even spent Thanksgiving in Ojai with another Thacher family; it was one of the best holidays ever. I always felt that the school’s approach of admitting a family, not just a kid, helped promote this sense of warmth and inclusion.
We have felt the same @ThacherParent , and I sometimes wonder if it’s because there are fewer families that live nearby? Compared to schools in New England for example, where a lot of families live within a 2-3 hour drive. You could drive up to see a game for a couple of hours and then turn around and go home. When I visit Cate, although the visits may be less frequent, I spend more time there per visit. So it makes sense to get together with other families that are doing the same.
Hi folks! Thank you for sharing your experiences. I guess I’m more of a friend-maker type of person and was considering the idea that perhaps people send their children to BS to avoid or are too busy for those parent relationships. I’m just trying to adjust my expectations.
Hmmm… That’s a “Why BS” theory we’ve not heard here before…