There isn't a person here who would deliberately not take the hand of another pledgling. Pledging is way to stay accountable and at the same time acknowledge others on their journeys. When two people post at the same time, or if, for example I'm writing a pledge response and something calls me away from the computer and I come back and then press the post button, someone else may have gotten in a pledge at the same time holding the person's hand whom I was responding to. In that case two people are holding one person's hand. Someone else might feel jealous about that. And how awful that would be.
The point of the Pledge Page is to promise not to smoke. Period. Who holds whose hand is - to me - not the important factor. Pledging is. People being missed/passed over is common. It happens. The next day they aren't. Everybody it there for the same purpose - to make a personal pledge not to put a cigarette in their mouth. To hold oneself accountable not only to themselves, but in extension because it's visible within the group, to those on the site as well - those who even bother to view the page in the first place.
All our cyber hands are offered to all who pledge. It's not a personal hand-holding pledge page. I go there occasionally even after a 12 year quit, just to really offer support. I mean, sure it's part of my quit maintenance, but really I check in there just to show that an Elder with a 4500 day quit or whatever is still keeping my promise to myself. And hoping that my number of DOF will inspire or encourage or help someone about to give up - to keep on keeping on.
And I think we should also feel free to express whats going on in our quit (in not too lengthy a fashion - not like a blog), but to say a brief sentence about our journeys. Otherwise the Pledge Page just becomes a rote "thanks for your hand X, I promise..., and here's my hand to Y." That's BORING. That surely wouldn't keep my quit alive if I were a newbie, let alone my interest. That's also why I try to put in a photo I've taken when I pledge. To liven it all up. I think if the Pledge Page were expanded to a little self expression of the personal journey, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Part of the journey is in the expression of the joy or angst we're going through. MOO
I'm sorry you felt left out or passed by Trust You are definitely not left out of our support here. We care about your quit. May I make a suggestion? Status updates don't receive as many comments as blogs or discussions. So if you want the most visibility on the site I would suggest the latter two. But trust me - there is no lack of interest in people attempting to overcome this addition. We're all in the same boat.
And PS - right after I posted I saw your last reply. Yours was 11:21 pm. Mine was 12:11. I was in the middle of composing my response when you responded. My response might have been different had I seen yours first. But I didn't. It takes time to digest things in life. Instant communication can upset that digestion.
