About Us
Bluelight's Mission Statement
Reducing Harm by Educating the Individual
Bluelight is an international, online, harm-reduction community committed to reducing the harms associated with drug use.
Bluelight neither condemns nor condones the use of drugs. Rather, we accept that drug use will always exist irrespective of legal status or societal norms. While there is no truly safe way to use drugs, we understand that prohibition and abstinence are not realistic or desirable solutions for everyone, nor have they been adequate in addressing the serious public health concerns associated with drug use.
While there is no universal definition of drug-related harm reduction, Bluelight believes that through frank and open discussion we are able to deliver accurate information, eliminate misinformation and empower individuals to make wiser, more responsible choices. Our approach is that any idea or concern is worth raising, so that all perspectives and experiences can weigh in and help others decide for themselves what to believe, what actions to take.
Bluelight understands that drug use encompasses a broad range of behaviors, some safer than others, and that drug use can progress towards increased risk with some individuals. We encourage our community to be honest and cognizant of their drug use and understand the warning signs of abuse and addiction before they manifest.
Bluelight also hosts a robust recovery community for those seeking a way out of drug abuse and addiction. These forums invite visitors to discuss addiction and sobriety in a non-judgmental setting, share recovery resources and encourage members to seek help. We believe there are various roads to recovery, including 12-step programs such as Narcotics/Alcoholics Anonymous and alternatives such as SMART Recovery.
Bluelight's overarching philosophy is simple
Meet people where they are and encourage open dialogue that empowers the individual to be the primary agent of their own physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
Directors
Tronica: Monica serves as Bluelight's Executive Director. In her role she oversee the Drug Studies forum and works to connect researchers with Bluelight's community of drug users to learn from their habits, techniques, and experiences. She can be reached at [email protected], or general research inquiries can be routed through our Research Portal.
TheLoveBandit serves as Bluelight's Director of Site Operations. In this role, he keeps the community online, manages the server and software as well as coordinating the overall staff and site policies. Any questions or concerns about the site can be directed to him via email at [email protected]
Staff
All staff are volunteers from our community, and have been selected to join our staff as moderators of forums which align with their interest. Over time, some choose to take on more roles with additional responsibility and have been promoted to Senior Moderator or perhaps even Administrator positions. There are times when, upon promotion, such a person retains their forum moderator roles in addition to the new responsibilities. To see a full list of our current staff roster, click here.
Administrators
Work within the site software to affect some site improvements, and oversee all staff by offering advice, shaping public policy (for example the BLUA, Bluelight User Agreement), and mentoring the newer moderators.Senior Moderators
Retain moderator assignments for their respective forums, but have oversight over a collection of forums as well, so that they may mentor and advise newer mods on how to handle their forum in alignment with the site policies.Moderators
Moderators are selected from volunteer members when a forum requires additional staffing. This role has responsibility for determining the forum specific guidelines as well as enforcing the BLUA and forum specific rules. A moderator may take on more than one forum to moderate.Members
Members are found in the following three usergroups
Greenlighters
Upon registering, new members are called 'Greenlighters' until they meet certain criteria based on how many posts and how long they've held their account. The primary reasons for having this n00b group is so we can identify newer members who may need some help learning the ropes and provide them with additional guidance. Additionally, this is where we often identify spam account and trolls or alternate accounts (alts), so this usergroup is restricted in some access and features until we are confident they are legitimate new members of the community.Bluelighters
Once a new member has achieved the required maturity, they are automatically converted to Bluelighters. These are regular members and have full site access and functionality.Bluelight Crew
This is an honorary title to recognize and thank our past staff members. Having volunteered and served on staff, we grant them this title so that others may recognize them for their past contributions and experience. They do not have any staff power and are Bluelighters in most every sense as they have retired and rejoined the community as a member.Additional Assistance
If you need any further assistance please begin with a visit to our Support and Technical Help (STH) forum as your question may already be addressed in a FAQ or one of the other member's threads. If your question doesn't already have an answer, feel free to begin a new thread in that forum so that anyone with knowledge can answer, and all members can benefit from the discussion. If your issue is more private in nature, you can utilize the Contact Us page which will email the administrators directly.
- Published
- Jun 7, 2021
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