That was a fucking cess pit of a place.

I think I looked at it once when it was going a year or two and noped out very quickly, quite apart from being entirely US centric the denizens (at that stage) seemed to really, and I mean really, not like us younger folk (as I was, back in old gods time)

*looks off to the horizon* Yes, back when we where young trans

unfortunately, as a 20-something, i have. but nice to hear that folks even younger than me may not have. Some of the HRT Map and Andrea James stuff didn't suck. Neither did Laura's Playground, IIRC.

heck, Andrea James was/is pretty dang awesome, tbh.

Stumbling on that site my freshman year in college set my journey back decades. Literal decades.

I’m just barely old enough for it to have been prominent when I first searched for trans stuff online. It played a big role in the 15-year gap between that and me actually starting transition.

It is amazingly enough still running, I feel very sorry for anyone trans who stumbles upon it early on in looking for information.

This warms my frozen, jaded heart, as someone who had the misfortune to experience that site around the same time BW was there.

I clicked on it once, in my early day of looking for support groups. A big nope, even to my naive eyes.

There were a few others that I found at the time but none seemed any better. A lot of the issues were quite common online in the 2000s.

This has nothing to do with your point, but I love your username!

I think the sight I found in the late 00s had a younger crowd and was much better. There was also this weird division between younger (20s) and older (50-60s) transitioners back then.

I do remember a couple sites that I found in the 2000s which were for younger trans people. IIRC 25 was a common cut off, which was my age when the decade started. The only thing I found as a teen was AntiJen.

There was a weird thing that maybe still is about: viewing anyone who is starting HRT, etc., from mid-20s to 50 to be and have the same support needs as 50+. I found myself having to navigate a lot with only support that was based on presumptions that badly failed fit my life.

The one I was on was loosely defined as gen-X/Y which was much better as I had more in common with the younger crowd as I barely survived my 20s.

Like I didn't have a lifetime of being closeted to unpack or multiple relationships I just had dysphoria getting worse and worse through my 20s till everything spectacularly fell apart by about 25. By the time I transitioned I was already heavily gender non-conforming.

Likewise, I just needed a path to a therapist who didn't restrict hormone letters to "you must be at least this high femme"or a DIY hookup so I could get the HRT ball rolling, not ever more "what does transition mean to you? What are your goals?" bullshit.

I get that. Rather wishing that I had found that one.

I remember that place... it was all fear/dread/self-loathing with a side of recommending that one scam site that sold scam herbal estrogens as creams and awful looking fake silicone vaginas. I was on those forums as a 21yo and it added to my depression no end.

I’m baffled that Susan’s Place style femininity policing is still a thing ppl do. I discovered that site literally 20 years ago and it felt like the definition of femininity they mandated was outdated even back then. Seeing those views unironically espoused in 2025? Feels absolutely fossilized.

Yep it definitely felt like it back at the time. The people I was around back then were talking about being transfem and butch, doing everything your own way and not following rules.

It was even outdated a decade before that as well

yeah, this is Trixie Belden being taken girdle shopping by her mother level of femininity policing. i was horrified then & that was over 50 years ago!

I have! It’s that old website that thinks women should act like cartoon 1950s housewives and thinks that’s the only way trans women should ever act, right?

That was my impression