Painting the Roses Red

 I first off want to say I am a proud member of the web site Pink Essences and what it stands for; I also have great respect for its creators. But I have to speak out when I think things are getting out of hand. It seems to me that there has been a creation of friction by not listening to its members about how the site and its organization that it represents should grow.

  I’ve have started to see a trend of “if you don’t like then leave” policy come into effect, and it’s not helping Pink Essences at all. Because what most members that I’ve know just do that “leave”, and with them they create a bad reputation for PE as they will not pass the word on to their communities about the benefits of what Pink Essences stands for.  I recently watched as the exit door once again opened and watched the person I fell in love with on this site cancel her membership as she was fed up with nitpicking type rules over what makes a good pic on her personal space on PE, and I also know of many others that feel the same. A rose is a rose no matter its form so why do we have to paint them a different color for approval.

 If it’s a matter of space then dump the things that are not working, the video chat was novel at first but not a great idea for a site like this when it’s members want to be at home in a casual setting and not always want to dress up nice to be seen on a screen. Also not everyone has the computing capacity to use the program needed to use it. The same goes for the IM program as it’s not needed as there is a messaging system already in place. I know that PE needs to grow and grow it shall but it needs to grow with its members not its creators. Pink Essences is too big to be run in someone’s den or living room it’s on the verge of becoming a grander thing and that means letting it grow and become that.

 I’ve watched a similar organization deal with the same issues although it’s a more physical entity and it too is becoming a more than it was once dreamed. And now they’re taking the steps into a national NPO and are now dealing with that transition and what it means. Part of that transition was to create a board of supervisors and transition the program that was run out of someone’s home for years into a NPO LLC and thus creating the structure need to grow into what it’s becoming today.

We talk all the time about transition and becoming more than what we once were, well as I see it PE is doing just that and it’s getting too big to handle as it once was. I see it as not a hindrance but a challenge and to let it grow, and to let it grow with its members not force them out over things such the quality of someone’s pic or how they label themselves. Maybe PE needs to strive to become something more than a forum and chat server but a entity that rivals NPO’s like HRC, LAMBDA and even newer ones like This is H.O.W.

Let’s not paint the roses red and let them stand for all the colors of what they were to begin with and grow on that principle.

Zoe