Internet - friend or foe?

Speaking as an American, I love the Internet. I can do so much research without leaving my office ( at home) Plus with little effort ( usually) I can check and recheck just about anything I need to verify. Unfortunately, ( or maybe, for my husband- fortunately) seldom if ever do I shop online. I like to touch and feel what I am buying first- but I will usually research what I am buying before I go out to get it.

Well, since I'm posting on the internet now, it's a good thing, right? ;) I think it definitely has it's place with the adoption process. As a fellow Canadian I get how hard it is to shop online or do anything online, but since I love Google search I use their option button of "Find Canadian websites" all the time, and it does work most of the time. But I'll use your questions as a template here for my answers. Just curious how you all feel about the internet....as far as adoption, shopping, and general info.. Alberta is the first province to have a public arena were partial disclosure on the website, as well as pictures, which have helped increase the amount of older kids and siblings adopted out by a huge number (don't know it off hand, but it's enormous). So yes, it is definitely a good thing for that. However, it does have it's disadvantages in that it overinundates the social workers with people who haven't done their homework on their own, or those looking into it because the kids were cute, basing it solely upon the looks of the child, rather than what is needed for the child, kwim? Shopping - hard to do...if they DO ship to canada you have to worry about extra fees at the border Yes and no, I shop US all the time, but there are quite a few places in Canada that are decent. In the US, to avoid duty, don't buy anything that was 'Imported' as that's when duty is applied (meaning basically, don't buy any clothing from there). Don't have anything shipped by UPS as I swear they assign their own 'duty' fees. General Info - usually based on American laws and such.. Yes, usually, unless you get seriously specific in your search engine to not include US stuff, which is hard to do without eliminating important Canadian based stuff. Adoption - again, mostly about americans...This is very true, as well as for any books. I tried to find something that dealt with Canadian adoptions and found a ton of American based books that had a single chapter that deals with how Canadians can adopt in the US!LOL! But then again, I don't have to pay for medical care, so we're even ;). I don't really mind that most of it is American based, or even UK, I just weed through it, or go local instead.

there's a job for ya Leigh.....get more Canadian businesses, government, organizations etc. to build websites!!! Charge a fee too!;)

I've found it very useful esp when living in an isolated area (which I did until very recently). I was able to access some things I wouldn't have been able to on my own, or at least without great effort. As for it being more about Americans, well, I guess I might be a little more North American minded in that I'm an American living in Canada. I don't see that many differences really. For shopping, I have found that many times it is cheaper to get some things from the Western US than from Toronto, shipping wise. Esp Ebay, etc. I haven't had any trouble. And on things that they won't ship to Canada, I'll order (ie, from Amazon.com, as opposed to Amazon.ca) it, have it shipped FREE to my Mom who regularly sends packages here anyway. And if it is made in the US, then there shouldn't be any duty put on. I for one have found the support I have found via message boards invaluable these last sevl years. I have made life long friends on this journey, people I would not have met had I not found them on support boards when looking for those who could empathize with what I was going to. And adoption, I have found a couple great websites that talk about Canadian adoption. They were very helpful in my decision making process. So I guess, all in all, useful.

This statement is so right, message bb have helped keep me from serious isolation at times, I've met a lot of wonderful people I call close friends online. As for the 'Canadian adoption' sites, wanna share please? :flowergift:

First of all...oh yeah crick...you know how computer savy I am..LOL and I have to admit, you are so right about the message boards. I do find the COMMUNITY very wonderful on the internet. Omg....UPS.....just DON'T. I had BIG issues with people sending via ups. I won't buy if they use them. I've never had a problem with ebay...but i do try to order primarily from western states or preferably provinces.

OMG UPS is so horrible. My mother got charged $65 to ship from the US, and the 'administration fees' for handling the duty stuff was over half that, I've had UPS drop off how many packages and leave them sitting outside for all the world to see (one was a $350 dehydrator!). I will never ship with them again. Ooops, got off on a little rant there :grr: :p