Hi everyone,

My name is Kate and I am part of the HealthCentral team. I'm the lucky lady who gets to work with incredible folks like Merely Me behind the scenes on our mental health websites. While I rarely post myself, I read everything our members share on this site and consider myself a part of this community, even though I am a very quiet one. However, I understand that there's been some confusion about the new heart functionality on the site and I want to address it. The idea behind the hearts is to give members the ability to express appreciation to others who have made an impact on their life. It is intended to be a positive, affirming thing, a way to thank and support one another. It is NOT a competition. On behalf of the HealthCentral team, I want to apologize for not doing a good job communicating why we introduced the hearts to our communities. We appreciate the feedback from our community members and ask that you keep it coming. With your help we will continue to improve the system until it fits with the spirit of our community. Please be patient with us while we work out the kinks. We won't quit until we get it right!