The original BrainTalk forums were located on Massachusetts General Hospital property and "validated" by the hospital because of that physical location and because a hospital employee had created and was maintaining the forums. Massachusetts General is one of the top teaching hospitals in the world -- its name speaks volumes.

To have the servers move from there to a hacker's space (http://tinyurl.com/ncnej) -- darn straight I'm concerned. I, personally, am not paranoid -- too much life experience for that.

My concern is that a NON-PROFIT organization that's been receiving funds from some of its members/contributors is stashed in a hacker's space while the creator/overseer of the servers and overseer of the non-profit organization is continually not available and doesn't even work in the state anymore.

Before I retired, I worked in the computer support field for close to 14 years. I do not buy that a server can crash so badly that it's not recoverable in more than 6 weeks. I do not buy that it takes weeks to get new installation disks. I have gone through a similar experience. The server crashed badly because the air conditioning was not working -- something we did not know. The server crashed after my boss went on an extended vacation. I had no experience at all with the new server -- didn't even know how to login yet -- it was that new. I got in touch with peers and with the vendor and had the server back up and running within days -- not weeks. This was a server that was actually damaged by an overheated room.

I'm concerned with the images that I see on the root of the hasty-pastry server. They're not porno; they're just not appropriate for a non-profit organization. I'm concerned with the images on the virtual reality that is tied to hasty-pastry; again not porno -- but not appropriate.

I won't go back to BT1 (the original BrainTalk) unless it gets sold or the management changes. Because the level of commitment that should be demonstrated toward fragile human beings is not there.

An entity such as BrainTalk.org with the number of individuals who rely on it for research or for companionship or for support during horrendously difficult times ... an entity that has the reputation that BrainTalk.org has accrued over the years from medical professionals ALL OVER THE WORLD...deserves better than "I'll fix it when I come back from my trip".

A non-profit organization that has grown to be such a huge part of people's lives needs to have plans in place for emergencies:

- what do you do if the server crashes??
- what do you do if the one person in charge gets injured or dies??
- what do you do if the one person who is in charge is out of the country for a month when problems arise??

There should be back-up individuals in case any of the above circumstances happen (G-d forbid). Obviously, there is not.

That's my humble opinion.

Barb