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Admin:
I suppose the more correct plural of 'forum' is 'fora' - but this title sounded more understandable.

This post represents a change in recent policy and a return to one of the tenets upon which RWD was founded. As some of you know, RWD grew out of the good work of the original Planet-Love site. The founder of Planet-Love was Patrick, who was both forward-thinking and a pioneer in the internet forum arena. He is married to a lady from South America, and based on his interest in the 80's and 90's, he founded Planet-Love.com, GoodWife.com, and at least one other site that was home to his Latin American agency. Planet-Love was a rough and tumble site, and not for the faint of heart. After having participated at Planet-Love since the late 1990's, I decided to create a site dedicated to international relationships with partners from the FSU - nominally referenced as "Russian Women." Patrick learned of the creation of RWD, and true to form, his reaction was to make an announcement at PL about the new site, and creating a permanent link to RWD from PL. The guy was, and is, a class act.

A lot has changed in the internet since the late 1990's. Posters on the internet are now far more likely to have an arrogant sense of entitlement, as opposed to the gratitude and appreciation people felt back then. As a result, it has become commonplace for some to swagger over to RWD having just created some fledgling site someplace, and expect it to be quite OK to scavenge our members.

Standing apart from that behavior, I have long been impressed with SufiPoet, the owner of Russian Meeting Place, who approached me gently and professionally when RWD was in its early days and building activity, and he asked if I would be willing to make reference to a project he was sponsoring at RMP. After some discussion, we mutually decided to not pursue the reference, but his professional demeanor and the courtesy he displayed has remained with me ever since - particularly as it was in such stark contrast to behaviors of several others.

As some of you know, there has been enmity - in some instances, a LOT of it - between other forum owners (or their reps) and RWD over the past several years. Much of it is to be expected as RWD is the biggest forum of its sort on the internet, and we became a target. Sadly, a great deal of the criticisms expressed were fabricated and bore no resemblance to fact - it was merely a smear campaign.

This message is to send the unequivocal signal that the time has come for a change. It is time to return to the model of Patrick and SufiPoet, and in fact, to the original intent of RWD. To that end, the following is a list of the currently known forums that offer information about the subject of cross-cultural relationships and marriage with a partner from the Former Soviet Union:


* Antidate (forum.antidate.org)
* RUAdventures.com
* Russian Bride List (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RussianBrideList/)
* RussianMeetingPlace.com
* RussianWomenAdventure.com
* RussianWomenForums.com
* RussianWomensHome.com
* RWPrimer.com
* RWSource.com
If anyone knows any others, please feel free to post it in this thread.

Please be advised this topic is NOT an invitation to engage in cross-board bashing. As with other sensitive topics here at RWD, it is recognized there is likely to be controversy and passions connected to other internet communities. Those passions are likely to run from one extreme where someone feels unfairly treated by an alternate site - to those who would visit RWD to promote an alternate site. Neither end of that passion spectrum is appropriate. While members are free to share their thoughts and experiences, criticisms and successes - please remember that RWD is focusing on those things we can effectively and successfully manage - and we have no interest in becoming involved in controversies raging or emanating from elsewhere.

Finally, as a result of this new approach, I have created a new membergroup to specifically 'flag' those who are Owners, Administrators, or Moderators of an Alternate Forum. This is done in a similar manner to our Commercial Members, so that our Regular Members are aware of the possibility of motives that are different from the 'norm'.

- Dan

PS - one final comment. I want to make special mention of RWD member 'Manny' who is the owner of RUAdventures. As those few of you who care about such things may be aware, Manny and I have had our share of 'spats' over the years. Very recently that has changed. Giving credit where credit is due - that change came about due to Manny's initiation, not mine. I will have more to write on this topic in the future, but it may be some weeks before I can dedicate the time.

Admin:
Another resource that has been around for such a long time, it remains known by its ORIGINAL name - the St. Johns List. It is now hosted by another site and is a listserv - found here -- http://listserv.icors.org/scripts/wa-icors.exe?A0=RUSSIAN-WOMEN-L.

- Dan

Sculpto:
Dan.. kudos to you for reaching out.  Despite any differences you and I have had.. what you just did wipes the slate clean for me.  It took a big person to reach out that way and I support this effort 100%.

btw.. I think you forgot a rather active forum at fiance.com that goes between being a free for all and being moderated with a heavy hand.

Admin:

--- Quote from: 2012isFiction on June 29, 2010, 10:13:46 AM ---Dan.. kudos to you for reaching out.  Despite any differences you and I have had.. what you just did wipes the slate clean for me.  It took a big person to reach out that way and I support this effort 100%.

btw.. I think you forgot a rather active forum at fiance.com that goes between being a free for all and being moderated with a heavy hand.

--- End quote ---

There are numerous 'forums' that I missed. Some agency sites will include a forum as an ancillary feature for its members, and perhaps to attract new members. I recall hearing about a handful of different Yahoo groups - in fact, I just realized I missed Kevin Hayes' Yahoo Group (that I do not know the URL for because I've never visited).

Y'all are welcome to add other forum sites to this topic.

- Dan

Manny:

--- Quote from: Admin on June 29, 2010, 09:05:26 AM ---PS - one final comment. I want to make special mention of RWD member 'Manny' who is the owner of RUAdventures. As those few of you who care about such things may be aware, Manny and I have had our share of 'spats' over the years. Very recently that has changed. Giving credit where credit is due - that change came about due to Manny's initiation, not mine. I will have more to write on this topic in the future, but it may be some weeks before I can dedicate the time.

--- End quote ---

As Dan has noted, he and I have had our differences over the years across a variety of fora. I recently had cause to contact Dan over something. It must be said that Turboguy was instrumental in facilitating that contact. Our subsequent discussions have allowed us to iron out many of our differences and agree to differ on that which we cannot agree. We have agreed to co-operate with each other, where we can, especially when it might be beneficial to the members of both sites.

It may have been me who made the first contact after several years of "cold war", but it has been Dan who has taken the first steps to remove the barriers that existed between our sites in recent days.

On the subject of other forums, I wanted to give another one a mention that I think deserves a small plug: http://www.realrussia.co.uk/forum/category-view.asp

Real Russia is a UK oriented visa site. I have no connection with them other than that I get my own Russian visas from them (and we carry their links on RUA). They have a small forum there where there are some very knowledgeable guys about the UK visa process, UK citizens' visas in Russia etc. For the minutiae of UK visa rules, these guys are where it is at. They are not a general "Russian Bride forum", but if you are a Brit who wants to know how to get his visa registered in a hurry in Dumpsk, how to get visas for kids/babies, or any of the more UK specific visa related info, these guys can help. 

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