Candles in honor of our babies at The Bridge

Good news for our family! :) I did send an email to the "gratefulness" web team, and they very graciously responded. They explained the reasons for needing to revise the candle site and altering the group pages. Unfortunately, there was malicious misuse of the group pages, plus the "architecture" of the site was breaking down so that the group candles were not displaying properly. In addition, though, they sent these suggestions for informally creating a group page for ourselves. I haven't yet tried it, but I am thinking that we can just continue to use "K9C" as our acronym. So what they are suggesting is to embed the acronym in the text of each of our messages, so that we can then search out all candles for our group. Here is what they wrote:

Quote:

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We recognize that part of what is important to many people who appreciated the groups is a sense of community. As such, we offer the following way to informally make a “group” so that you can continue to connect with others through the candles:

Commit to using a word that you all agree to inside the message (best to use an unusual word or an acronym associated with your “group” rather than a commonly used word like “prayer,” “love,” or “grateful”).

When looking for your group's candles, search on the word you have chosen in the search field in the upper right hand side of the page.

All candles with messages containing that word will show. It is then possible to open the candles to read the messages.

After opening a candle within the group, use the back arrow to return to the group rather than clicking on "Back to Candles."
This way you can dip in and out of your "group" and also quickly see how many candles are lit.

We hope that you and others in your group will continue to use the candles and find them a source of great comfort and healing throughout your journeys.

With kindness,

The Gratefulness Webteam

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I told them how much their candles have meant to our family, and thanked them for providing the site to us all. I am anxious to try lighting a candle using their instructions, so I will do so in a little while!

It works!!!! :) :) :)

I just lit two candles (accidentally duplicated myself :o) labelled for "All." One difference is that now the only listing option is by country (not by name or state, etc). So if you want to identify yourself further, you will need to write that part in the body of your message, too, as I did.

To find my candles, just search using "K9C" as the search term (I used caps for the K and C), and then you'll see them displayed together on one page.

http://www.gratefulness.org/light-a-candle/

I am so relieved and grateful to have the candles "returned" to us.

Thanks Marianne for doing this.:p

I like the other page tons better, but this is a at least way for us keep family here together, which is crucial. Did the administrators from the other site mention why they changed it?

That is wonderful, Marianne! Thank you for doing this!

Thanks, guys! Kathy, these were the reasons that prompted the change:

Quote:

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Sadly, the groups were often misused. People wrote offensive messages upsetting those who were sincerely endeavoring to honor a beloved sick person or animal and with more than 10,000 candles lit each day it was impossible for us to monitor them.

In addition, the architecture of the old Light a Candle feature was breaking down. More recently, we and others created groups that did not show up and which did not respond to a Search effort and this was upsetting.

Increasingly the candle group numbers weren't accurate and we were receiving complaints from people who were upset that the number of candles in their group weren't reflected accurately on the entry page.

As a result of these and some additional issues we made the difficult decision not to continue the group element of Light a Candle in our new design.

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uuhhmmmm, however when I searched for K9C this is what I got -

Quote:

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There were no search results found for K9C

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Anyone else find the candles Marianne lit?

Never mind - you have to search from the candle lighting page, not the home page. :o

It works when you do it right. ;)

So glad you found it, Les. And I see the K9C can be lower-case (k9c) and it will still work/search fine. So if that's quicker and easier for folks, you don't have to bother with the caps.

If it's OK with you, Leslie, I am going to edit your threadstarter here and on EE in order to provide the new link and the posting instructions.

You bet! :)

I did find your candles Marianne and it works! ;) Thanks for finding a way to get it to still work for us.

I do understand why felt the need to change their page and obviously that is within their right. :(:o I never was big on changing things that work!:o

We are approaching Buddy's dreaded two year anniversary. I will light one then and see if I can find it when I search K9C.

It works, guys, it works. I've just been there and saw all our shining candles. Did my heart so good to see them!!! I know it's different, but our lights are still shining strong. Thank goodness, and thanks to gratefulness.org.

I lit one for my furry little brother Spot. He was with me from age 3 to 18. I'll be lighting one for Buddy soon. Yes, seeing them all together made me feel warm inside.

It is different, but they remain there together. That'a all that matters. It works!

Thank you so much, ladies. The first year I lost Bo, I made sure his flame on his candle remained lit everyday. During the 2nd year, I did it monthly. It was such a great comfort to have this site going. I will never forget my little Angel Bo and always will remain grateful to this site and all the members here for all you did to help me deal with having a cushpup. Thank you again always!!

I just tried... went to K9C and it said to click on an unlit candle.... trouble was there weren't any unlit. Wondering if that's because it's an American site and I'm in Canada.... not sure.

Judi, that's a glitch in their set-up. To light a new candle, you have to back out from the K9C page by hitting the back button, or by selecting the "View candles" page or the "Light a candle" page if you're on pages where those prompts show up. Or just click on the original link again and start the lighting process from there. I just noticed that glitch myself. But anybody from anywhere in the world can access the site.

Kathy has told us this week that her lighted candles are not showing up when she performs a "k9c" search. Is anybody else having a similar problem? The site is working fine for me, so I am having a hard time sorting out what might be wrong.

Marianne

Mine are showing ok..... just checked it now.

Thanks for the feedback, Judi!

Still doesn't work for me!!!!:(

I have to go back out of the sight and start fresh to view the candles. Try and see if that works. If you stay on the sight after you light the candle and try to view.... k9c won't come up. It's quirky for me, but eventually I can see the lit candles.

Today it says, "cannot establish a data base connection" when you want to light a candle. Don't know if that's temporary or not. It happens with the link here and also when you type (search) the website name. The website comes up when you type it in... but the "light a candle" isn't working. Will try later today.

Thanks for alerting us, Judi. I'm getting the same error message this morning. I'm hoping it's just a temporary issue that will be resolved shortly!

Edited to add: YAY, the candles are back online once again. :)

Yes, the candles are working here too!:)

I forgot to add k9c :(

Lighting the candle did relieve some of my pain. Glad I saw this.

Marie

Just light another one if you want it to appear on our K9C page. ;)

I forgotten myself a time or two. I'm glad it helped.

Kathy

Sure wish there was a "love" or "like" on the candles page. What people have written is so compassionate and considerate.

Today I read a very touching entry in a blog written by a New York Times editor who is being treated for cancer. He writes about the life lessons that are gifted to him by his aging dog. This line, in particular, meant a great deal to me.

Quote:

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Good dogs – and most dogs are good dogs – are canine candles that briefly blaze and shine, illuminating our lives. Bijou has been here with us for the past 12 years, reminding us that simple pleasures are the ones to be treasured...

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"Canine candles that briefly blaze and shine, illuminating our lives."

Oh my, that is just so true, and I think that's why I receive such comfort from lighting my candles here on our site. Each time I light a flame I am instantly reconnected with the life of my baby again, even if for just a fleeting moment.

For anyone who wishes to read the whole article, here it is. I warn you it will make you cry.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/0...line&te=1&_r=0

Bumping up.

Sadly I can no longer find the K9C candles....nothing worked in the search for me but I still lit one for Squirt.

Hey Leslie, there’s no longer a page that’s permanently dedicated to any group. However, if you include “K9C” in the body of your message, then your candle can be viewed alongside all others who have also been posted by a member of our family — just enter K9C into the search query box. Many days there are no K9C candles to be searched out, and you’ll get “no results found” in response to a search query. But any time that a K9C candle has been posted, you can find it. I do light candles fairly often, as do a few other folks. There were several candles lit at various times during the holidays, which was heart-warming.

To give you something to search for, I just now lit a candle, myself. So if you go back and plug in “K9C” as the search query, you should find it. And once again, it doesn’t matter where you put K9C in your own message when you light a candle, just so long as it’s somewhere within the body of what you’ve written.

ahhhh ok! That did work! Thanks!

I just read this and went and lit a candle for Ginger. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Colleen, we’re so glad you’ve joined us as a candle-lighter. I know the “Gratefulness” website has been a source of such comfort for me throughout the years, and I hope it will be for you, too. I’ve lit countless candles there, on good days and bad, on holidays and random times — whenever I’ve felt lost or sad but also when I’ve been filled with sweet memories, too. It almost serves as a diary for me, and a special spot where I can talk to my loved ones at any time I wish. Whenever the spirit strikes me, I can leave a special note for my dear ones. It is a connection that I cherish. And as I say, I hope you will, too.

Many hugs,
Marianne

Marianne, thank you. I will have to say it was a very special moment for me and I will continue to visit and light a candle for my sweet girl Ginger and others I feel a need to.
I am so fortunate to have you all to lean on.