About MiAna Place

Hello everyone. Mandi here, hope your all doing just great as you read this. MiAna Place has been quite the cyber journey thus far so figured I'd bring you all into the MiAna world just a little bit deeper.

The Past:

MiAna started out as just a small website with a forum added onto it. That forum is now known as the original which sits vacant for the time being. My intent in doing that was for a couple reasons. One being that websites and foums are a great distraction. It kept me busy for a while visiting other ED boards and figuring out what all areas are popular, what is not needed, and how they are arranged. I like ease on forums, so the flow was very important to me. If you can't figure out where things are then it becomes too hard to surf right? I also like a to the point title and description so when you find an area you know what it is. Gathering all that up I went ahead and set up the place, moving things around lots, renaming some areas until I got a combination that just flowed right and worked. One thing I don't like either is sameness, so there was plenty of extra coding needed to make the board have it's own unique look and feel. It took a while, but eventually I had a forum that was ready for some action. As I was doing that I was getting information for the website extension which really didn't take that long. Just matched those colours up to the forum and the whole thing was ready to roll. I really didn't have any set vision at the time for the place, just all I knew was that I seen alot of ED sites and I wanted my own to prove I could do it. Main vision was a blank, but one goal was to break the norms of having a flame war forum many of the big pro-boards of the time were. Pro? Yeah, when MiAna was started it was still in the times when pro was the thing. It was at the peak, and at the climax of it too. Pro sites were being shut down left and right ... yet at the time the not-pro thing wasn't cool. Tough time to start a new one I know, but I wasn't thinking of that. My object was to make one and when I set my mind on someting there is no shifting it. It was slow going though. Had to promote the hell out of it just to get any hits to the site and barely any sign-ups at all to the forum. Without members, nobody would post. Those that did post would get not alot for response so they'd take off. It was interesting seeing it happen though yet depressing at the same time with the lack of activity. I frequented it for about a couple months and figured it wasn't going anywhere so just laid back for a while. That while turned into another couple months and after that I was too curious to see what was going on. I went back and wow, it was amazing. People were there posting away and the overall enviornment was very special. No wars going on, just straight up ED talk with chat about other things as well. There were friendships forming, everyone was getting along, and it was all very real. No praying to "Ana" ... no shaming people for not being medically anorexic stats. It was something I never ever seen before and couldn't explain it. I was advertised on pro-ana sites ... pro-ana forums, yet MiAna was not pro-ana? I don't know how it happened but it did. The word was not even used on there. It was that moment that I seen something ... you know ... different and unique. An ED support forum that was pleasent to be in. That made me have my second vision for what I was doing. I could not explain what was being created, nor did I question it. Something good was going on. I frequented it alot more often then because I just wanted to protect this diamond in the rough.

MiAna's first disaster:

I came online one day to be shocked and horrified. I seen it happen to lots others before and it was happening to MiAna. My website that I had worked so hard to promote and gain the traffic it needed was shut down. Like, OMG what just happened? I was a fool not thinking it could not happen to me. My site at that time was getting not less than 350 unique hits per day (350 visitors). Lots, but I had links everywhere, submitted it to search engines, optimized the keywords so it would be first page when the term pro-ana was searched. It lead to success and lead to failure. What nourishes me also destroys me ... yeah that term fits with ED sites for sure. My head was spinning, my heart broken. Just thinking that all those members who needed the forum now lost the main link to it. To top it off, my email account was deleted too so the forum could not be accessed by me to notify others who did not have the direct forum link. I though it was over, but I wasn't going without a fight. I joined my own forum to post about what happened then it was onto phase two.

MiAna V.2:

MiAna V.2 was made as a back-up forum only. I quickly threw it one together using all the sections / look and feel of the original one (and of course pink colour scheme.) I knew what I was doing so it was real easy. Gave the link out over there so everyone who was still able to access it could move over here ... into a place I could do admin stuff if the case was ever needed. Also it was in case the trying to re-gain control over original didn't work out, this would remain to fall back on. After a week I had got my original board back, but for some reason this place became better than the original. Just had a ... I dunno ... another feel good vibe that was more comfortable than the other. So we all stayed over here and didn't really ever go back to the original anymore, which is why a once active forum now sits vacant. To those who did not know this past history, you now know why there is a V.2 after the name.

MiAna V.3:

MiAna V.3 was made to be the pro-ana version of MiAna to support those with eating disorders, yet have that certain pro like style to it. The colours went to a peachy pink, and was the first MiAna to not have my name (Mandi) in the name. It grew into it's own unique style of place and even though it was dubbed the pro version, it became a very caring welcoming place for eating disorder support and turned out to be not quite pro-ana but rather pro support. It now is extremely active as well and another truely unique community that I'm proud to maintain. And in the MiAna tradition, the members made it so wonderful.

Present:

Present day MiAna has been quite a trip. Some bumps along the way, but for the most part smooth sailing. MiAna is now a term even used by others with ED's. (The term was not used in the past. MiAna was a word I made up to fit both Ana and Mia into it's own cutsey "pro" like name. Remember the site was made in the age of "pro") There is another big change on the net as well. Being not pro is now cool. MiAna was kind of shunned for not being pro back in the day ... not anymore. Present day MiAna has been a ground breaker in the ED site world. The things this place has done, and what it became has set a path all it's own. People now even try to duplicate this forum ... even using the same areas, set-up, and descriptions. Yeah, total copy and paste directly from here. The growth has been phenominal as well. MiAna is already one of the fastest growing ED forums out there. The members here are truely amazing ... I could not of asked for better members if I tried. I always said and maintain that a forum is only as good as it's members. And with the vast differences around here in members, we all seem to co-exisit together quite well. It's plain and simple ED support forum and the most open minded tolorant one at that. Also the forum off this site is one of the only larger ED forums that don't have back-up moderators.

Future:

What the future holds can never be known. However I see a very bright future for MiAna Place. The members are strong, mature individuals who all have leadership abilities. They have taken the forums and made it their own ... and if that trend continues along with the rapid growth ... it will become just as large as the main ED sites that have been around for a few years. Yeah, the foums that inspired me to make the original could very well have competition on their hands right here. Third vision ... to become a major ED forum without the pro stigma attached to it. We'd be the first .. and once again break new ground. Sounds good doesn't it? It can and will happen if we all work together and make this place even better than before. Something can always be better. I know this, and will be trying alot harder from now on as this place once again makes history in the ED site world. We can do this, I have faith in this forum and beleive firmly in what it stands for.

As long as I shall live MiAna will never die.

I want to thank each and every member here for giving me the opportunity to be the admin of your ED forum. What you see before you is the one thing I am proud of in my life. I owe each and every one of you big for making MiAna the success it was, and to developing MiAna into the success it will have in the future.

Thank you all.