So, I have been a new member for a little under month, and I would like to be involved in full member discussions. Is anyone else having an issue with the questionnaire? I have answered probably 50 questions, and it continues to throw more at me. Many of which need to be looked up/googled, and many I was unable to find at all. I have spent almost an hour answering all of the questions, and there seems to be no end to them in sight. I simply do not have the energy, nor the time to complete a mid-term-esque test to be able to be a normal member of the conversation. If anyone has any insight on this, I am open ears. Thanks, and blessings.

Most of the full members are contributing to this forum in a productive scientific manner.
What do you have to contribute?
You may need to do more research to familiarize with the subject before completing the questionnaire.
If you cant do that I agree that you shouldn't be able to step to the mic so to speak.

Hey!

The questionnaire incites research from new members, and also it serves to give an idea to others about this member's knowledge on the questions at hand. It is not mandatory, just answer till you feel comfortable. Don't stress over it

I see you've done an introduction essay, which is definitely a plus. But you only have 4 posts and not even a month here. Give a bit more chance for people to get to know you, all full members can vote for your promotion, so just contribute a bit and it's inevitable.

You can post anywhere in the welcome area, as well as in the research subforum. Help others, ask interesting questions, share thoughts, and you'll be promoted soon enough. Don't be inhibited if there is a thread you can't reply to in the rest of the forum, you can always start a thread in the welcome area and title it referencing the original thread.. Later the discussion can be moved if necessary.

Be well!

I know how you feel. I spent many hours answering questions. Then got stuck on a cactus identification question. I set the questionnaire aside and didn't get back to it for a few months. I spent more hours and finally finished it up, then wrote my introduction essay.

But I learned a lot! Things I never would have researched on my own. So put forth a good faith effort. If you can't find the perfect answer, write your best understanding based on what you did discover. And it's okay to say you don't think you got it quite right. The questionnaire is not easy. It is a nice accomplishment to complete it.

Good luck!

I'm wondering if the new member welcome materials aren't mentioning the way promotions work, or if new members are just failing to read them? It seems all too common that new members are not familiar with the promotion process.

A few things everyone should know:

Promotion is democratic! New members are promoted by how many votes for promotion they receive from existing members. The way to get promoted is by actively participating in the community.

The Questionnaire is optional! It is about 100 questions and you don't receive any special commendation for completing it. It's purpose is to familiarize yourself with the subject matter and attitude of the forum, while maybe helping you pick up a few harm reduction gems along the way.

You are not restricted from sharing! While your posting is restricted to the welcome and research sections, you can address any post on the forum and share everything you have to say to your hearts content, it just has to be within these subforums at first.

Senior membership is not a function of time on the forum! It is an honorary status awarded to those who make extraordinary contributions to the forum and community.

To sum it, join the conversation wherever you can, get to know the community, and focus on how you can contribute. You'll find yourself a full member with the fate of the next batch of noobs in your hands in no time.

In many cases those that follow the psychonuatical path are outsiders in our society. It can be difficult for some to fit in, or even know how to get into a circle. The function of promotion is a good one as it requires contribution enable to participate fully. I feel some may choose simply not to enter such circles, to not participate, thus losing some valuable potential members. Just my opinion.

I myself have been an outsider my entire life. I never had friends as my social skills are awkward for some. I can relate to the frustration of those that want to enter and cannot. Many doors have been shut in their faces and this can feel like just another door. I have often tried to fit into groups, because my theory of mind is deficient in some ways, I say things that can be offensive or just plain awkward, I can come across as immature, adolescent, weird, etc, I often do not even realize until later what I had said was any of these things. There are many people who simply do not know how fit in. I am one of those. Some of us were born on the wrong planet. It is extremely isolating. I have wanted to fit in my whole life, and never have.

Don't try to fit in. Speak from the heart. The door will open eventually. I think Dr. Suess said it best when he wrote those who mind do not matter and those that matter do not mind.

I am sorry I didn't realize that you had to be a scientist to enjoy and share your spiritual experiences with like minded folks. I do not need to be lectured to, I was simply asking a question. I thought people would be kind here... This being my first response is....disappointing..

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. Perhaps I need to do some more research

Thanks for breaking it down a little better for me. It just sucks, because there are conversations that I have particular questions about in the regular members area that I cannot ask due to not being able to comment. The one time I tried to ask the question, I got nothing. So I am just frustrated because I can't ask the questions I would like the answers to. Thanks again for being understanding.

This is exactly what I mean. I have an acceptance complex as is. Even around my friends I feel like everyone hates me. It keeps me from putting in effort in relationships that I know are valuable to me. So, having the questionnaire seemingly designed to eliminate or discourage people like me (No scientific background), then the very matter-of-fact first comment, it seems like there is an elitism here. And I am not an Elite..... I have an impostor complex around every day Joe's Which discourages me even more. So now I find myself fighting with the internal, where, do I want to put in the work? (which I am sure I have a perspective that could be valuable, if only to the spiritual) But I do no know if I am going to end up hurt and disappointed, so I probably wont. But I want to. But I'm scared.

The questionnaire was initially introduced as a April fools joke. You would be locked out until you completed the questionnaire. At the time I felt like I finally found a place where I related to people, a safe place, I felt at home for once in my life, it was amazing to me! I had never felt so accepted and heard. When the questionnaire joke appeared on my screen I freaked out. The door was shut.. I got very depressed. I had a breakdown as odd as that may sound to some. This was my outlet, it was my access to the world where I had none in any other aspect of my life, it hit me in the gut. I didn't understand. I see now that I was not thinking rationally at that point in time. I was so desperate to fit in that it ached. It was so important to me I cannot express that enough. I was hit with a fear, anxiety and once again I was removed from the circle. It hurt deeply even if it was irrational. I get why you are scared. I get why you say you won't try. I understand more than you may know. Please do not give up, please participate, what you say has value to someone out there. It took me years to figure that out. I still struggle with this and I feel I always will. Loneliness is very hard. Isolation is very hard. You can connect with people even if it in a limited fashion as a new member. Please connect! Please share! You have value! Introverts have something very worthwhile to share if given the chance.

P.S.
You are in the Welcome area! Welcome means to greet the arrival of (a person, guests, etc.) with pleasure or kindly courtesy. to receive or accept with pleasure; regard as pleasant or good.

Welcome ShamanisticVibes!! I want to hear what you have to say!!

Thank you. I will try to post a little more about me in another thread. As it would certainly be a huge digression from the topic here. I appreciate your perspectives on the matter, and I will do my best to keep my mind from discouraging me.

This is a kinda cool thread. People going right to the deep heart of the matter without hesitation. Talking about insecurities and acceptance.

I am still a new member, and im okay with that, I have learned alot from the questionare, im not finished with it, I wish it had an option to skip questions till later. The search function on the site is kinda weird too, but ask Google a question and you'll see many results that send you to the nexus.

And finally, it makes perfect sense to be expected to be able to contribute somehow. I dont think you need answers to contribute, in fact, someone who asks the right questions would be most valuable to a place like this, it is the question that queries the wealth of collective info. If you're a chemist, and been working with this stuff for a long time, you might be recognized for contributing from your answers, in which case, you would be promoted pretty quickly i imagine. But that isn't how we will be recognized.

So many good points made in this thread so far, and I felt like droppin a couple pennies of my own. I am not interested so much in the science. There is already so much information available and I have been getting everything I need from the extraction side of things that I just don't have any interest in a lot of the technical stuff. I just follow the directions of others and tweak my process as needed. So, I answered certain questions honestly by expressing my lack of interest in those topics. My interest is in psychonautics, the spiritual and exploration side of all of this. At first it was a bit overwhelming, trying to answer all those questions, but I did learn some things, which is part of the point. I have seen some posts that I would have liked to engage, but ultimately, reading has done me more good than writing since I have been a new member here, and the chat always has helpful members so if there was something I needed to talk about right away, that is a good place for it. Absolute free reign in a forum built for such a sensitive and controversial subject is a recipe for disaster, so I appreciate the way the nexus is set-up.

I totally failed physics in high school. It was also my first year at a new school, the class was at 7:30am and my mom just died. Then I spent a few years running around as a slightly unhinged, crystal loving hippie.

Figuring out how to extract was a months-long effort for me. I felt so accomplished when I finally managed to do it, because I was really in over my head. I've always been an arts/language/feelings person. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and that contributes to your unique perspective as a person. Don't ever feel like what you have to offer isn't valuable, here or anywhere in life.

I took a decade off from hyperspace and just recently came back to it. I have come to integrate and appreciate a more science-based approach to life with age. Not getting a degree in chemistry or anything, just defaulting to fact checks, digging through pubmed to satisfy my curiosity on any number of subjects. I think it's an especially valuable practice in a time where misinformation spreads easily through social media, and the consequences of that are ringing out through the sociopolitical sphere and humanity's evolving relationship with technology. The seeds of grounding my thought process like that were definitely planted by my earlier days spent here, though they didn't blossom until later (are there any senior members roaring with laughter at this? )

The other thing I have come to appreciate with age is that this place is a precious resource. We are all connected by our use of psychedelics, and if someone gets hurt, we all get hurt. Anytime someone gets hurt, this fuels the reefer madness mindset and is ammo for the war against consciousness. The best argument you can make for legalization, IMHO, is to be a living example of how the medicine is beneficial. My early voyages were influenced heavily by the Ayahuasca community and the concept of integration - this community/health/life balance of working the medicine as a part of life with ritual and reverence goes a long way for harm reduction.

Reddit, for example, is full of train wrecks waiting to happen, and I am so glad there is a safe place like the Nexus that I can refer people to. I think it's part of human nature to yearn for the sense of oneness that psychedelics offer (I also think it's an inalienable birthright), but western culture suffers so much from a lack of leadership. We have no elders. The culture is full of fear and ignorance. That you can end up in prison for smoking weed is insane. So many young people are going to try psychedelics no matter what - bad set/setting/lack of education about how the medicines work is the difference between someone getting kicked out of their house, thrown in jail, ending up in the hospital or suffering alone from depersonalization, or having a healing, transformational, life-affirming experience. Set, setting, and education is the science and determinant of those outcomes. That much isn't magic.

So beyond just tripping, we can lift each other up, and in turn, lift society up.

I haven't had my second cup of Guayusa yet this morning so that may have been a little stream of consciousness

You don't have to be Bill Nye to post here. We just want to make sure no one gets hurt, and also provide the best knowledge, the best help and best examples.

Someone posed the question to me once, would your post history reflect why psychedelics should be legalized?

Love this!

This is far from the first thread covering this issue. In fact, the topic almost deserves its own sub-forum.

There have been some great, positive responses in this current incarnation of the topic; it would be nice if the answers to this eternally-repeating question could be made perhaps a little more accessible for new members. Not to the point of spoon-feeding, of course

Bear in mind that some of us here on occasion spend a similar amount of time composing an answer to just one question from another forum member. I might do so when rendering a 3-D molecular model, for example, or when following a line of scientific literature research inspired by whatever matter was in hand - something which membership of the nexus has very much helped me to develop.

Then we have some very special members who clearly dedicate their time to developing new extraction methods - something which still continues practically right now.

Nor is it just about science. Your contributions to topics in philosophy, art, spirituality - just take a look at the forum index and you should see that there is room for this. And gardening. Gardening is very important.

I got your message man, thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time. I cannot respond yet due to being a new member. But I wanted you to know that it was received and is very appreciated. Thanks again

Gardening is sort of my forte'. I also feel like I misrepresented myself. I spent about an hour on the questions before I had to go to work. I never finished them, as I thought they would just continue and never end. As well as the chemistry questions being very intimidating. I have a better understanding as to how this system works here in the nexus. I apologize if I cam off whiny. My insecurities are still a rather large demon that I have not slain quite yet. Thanks for the words of encouragement

Thanks for being real! It's hard to let it out.. glad you did as I feel a certain kinship with those that have struggled in life. I see you.. and I like you! Tremendously refreshing and I appreciate it very much!