Missing moderator!

Not trying to be funny, but have you notice that Kizmet has not posted in a while. It is very unlike her to go this long without posting.

 

Hmmmmmm . . . I've also noticed that me again has not posted in a while.

Not to mention (although I did mention it a few weeks ago) that the other Steve Levicoff has not posted to his Facebook page since August 6th (which, coincidentally, is the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing).

Nor that Rich D. has still not posted despite the fact that he still checks on this forum almost every day?

Could there be a connection between all of these, um, thingeys?
:drive:

 

Yeah, I emailed another mod about this. I am very worried, it's not like her. The forum seems to lack a certain flair without her.

 

I did a search and her most recent post was 10-21-17.

She did once say that sometimes she visits the site without posting.

 

Post traumatic stress disorder

Maybe they are all suffering a nervous breakdown, due to the political trauma that was inflicted by Stanslav in the political section of this forum?

 

Kizmet frustrates me sometimes but I like her and the board is a better place with her posting her comments and news items. She puts effort into it and when she's gone, she's missed.

I hope that she's ok.

 

Dude, I survived seeing videos of protesters gunned down a block from where I used to work, by Manafort's client. You'll survive not being able to answer to a few comments.
Oh, BTW, PTSD is a serious condition. Trump called worrying about getting HIV from too much sex "his personal Vietnam"; I understand your rush to stoop to his level, but you're actually not required to. Go try to think of an excuse for Judge Moore.

 

This might end up in the "my favorite conspiracy theory" thread if you're not careful. But surely someone knows Kizmet's real name and can do some sleuthing?

 

As I once posted on another forum, about another "missing person" (who returned, eventually):

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she goes away

Wonder this time where she's gone
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime she goes away..."

(Bill Withers, 1971)

As I was reminded by more than one person at that time, people leave forums all the time, for various reasons, job/school/life commitments etc - or because they're plain tired of the forum's status quo - and I could CERTAINLY identify with that, about now! :shock:
I'm sure of one thing: Kizmet knows what she's doing. She's obviously a very capable person. My take: Let's give her some space and nobody should scour cyberspace for personal details. People generally don't like that. I know I don't like it - and I refrain from doing it, unless the person I'm researching owns a degree mill, or is otherwise up to no good.

She'll let us know what's going on when she's ready, I'm pretty sure. Till then - we miss you, Kizmet. We wish you well and hope to hear from you when you're ready. :smile:

J.

 

When Kizmet 'revealed' herself to be Natalie Portman a few years ago, I was so intrigued for about nine minutes, until sanity set in, and it was pretty clear it couldn't be true. Unless of course it is.

 

That's certainly how I picture her in my head. This is Kizmet:



But Natalie Portman lives in LA I think and Kizmet lives in Boston or nearby. Natalie Portman went to Harvard though, so she has local connections. But Kizmet has said she went to Wentworth where she learned welding (I think that's pretty cool), and Wentworth is far better than Harvard in welding.

http://www.wit.edu

 

Anyway, who ever she is she is not reading. I hope she can just drop in and say she is fine. I feel so stupid worrying about an anonymous person. I should up my anxiety meds.

 

Maybe she is taking a break from the forum to see if it returns to being primarily a distance education forum instead of the primarily politics/current events forum it has morphed into.

 

This is how she wants people to see her:
http://img.costumemodels.com/1/2/a-beautiful-wicked-witch-hat.jpg

This is how she really looks when the mask is pulled off:
https://previews.123rf.com/images/strotter13/strotter131105/strotter13110500121/9602886-A-shy-and-sad-girl-She-looks-a-little-scared--Stock-Photo.jpg

 

Just as Facebook is aging... and kids see Facebook as something that their parents use... maybe forums like this are aging too? Correlatively, there was a time when online education was new and on the cutting edge, but now it's become mainstream. Kids grew up with it -- and the transition from k-12 to online college and university is now the norm for many.

 

I don't have accounts on facebook or any of the social media sites. I do participate in several web discussion boards with formats like this one. Participation on all of them seems to be slowly declining and I believe that most of the participants are older. This format doesn't translate to cell phones very well and kids today aren't interested in anything but their phones.

I first got interested in DL in the 1990's and started out on alt.education.distance. I was in my 40's then and on the lookout for continuing education that didn't require me quitting my job and moving.

Now I find myself in my 60's, looking at retiring and no longer especially interested in doing another university degree. I was following non-degree classes for a while, and still am to some extent, but now find that I'd often rather read books and assign my own readings than please professors.

(Does anyone read books any more? I used to see people reading books in cafes and on the commuter train, but now all people do is stare at cell phones.)

 

Sure. I do - but I'm in my 70s. I'm told another fellow here, Ted Heiks, reads more than I do. He's somewhat younger, I think, so there's hope yet.

J.