I think horses mouth is an excellent idea, being able to remain anonymous and only reply if you want to and seek advice at your pace.

Male, aged 35.

In real life, people don’t expose their vulnerabilities at all,

But the thing about Horsesmouth is that everybody’s vulnerable.

Because of that, I think you get to build quite genuine friendships, from the heart.

Female, aged 20.

I’ve developed my skills on horsesmouth, in the sense

that I am not restricting myself. I’m thinking more

‘outside of the box’.Female, aged 37.

Someone had actually said “YOU look like a good match for me, would you help me out?”

That’s been quite a lovely exchange.Female, aged 39.

I've been working with social networking sites for over 10 years and you definitely have filled a niche and have a really new take on what it's about with givers gaining.

Male, aged 49.

I felt it was a useful medium to provide mentoring, from a different perspective really, other than somebody directly involved in your life.

Female, aged 53.

It’s been a really positive experience of…being able to contribute, being able to explore my wisdom and just being able to support someone.

Female, aged 39.

On Horsesmouth, you don’t get a load of advertising stuff, you don’t get pictures of your mate on their gap year. It’s great that when you log in, there are no news feeds, and you do what you want.

Male, aged 21.

I think the publishable aspects of the website are

very good ideas… people can find hope and inspiration

from something as simple as a quote or story.

Female, aged 17.

I have had two very positive experiences where I do feel that I made a difference to the person asking for help.

Their thankyou's were quite heart warming!

Female, aged 38.

I went onto it and got hooked basically, and have been posting ever since!Female, aged 59.

I think that the anonymity of horsesmouth is a great strength as it does allow people to be honest about their problems or feelings.

Female, aged 38.

The great thing about Horsesmouth is that people give what they want rather than them being paid to give or overstretching them.

Mutual support, with no particular emphasis on power imbalance.

Male, aged 29.

It’s the fact that I can choose when I

am available.

That kind of thing is important.

Female, aged 39.

I think Horsesmouth is safe, it’s one-to-one, it’s more

grown-up.

Whether you’re 17 or 80, you feel safe on it, and you know it’s being monitored.

Female, aged 41.

Horsesmouth is a more human thing

People are better than machines at thinking “what she wants is actually this, not that.

People are just able to explain the nuances. Female, aged 39.

I think the publishable aspects of the website are good, because I think they can show the calibre and depth of a mentor. The site is about the relationships between people, actually making a connection.

Female, aged 59.

The thing I like about Horsesmouth is that I can log into it, and I can be done

in about 10 minutes. It falls into your day without taking it over.

Male, aged 21.

The way you have physical, practical, emotional and spiritual stuff all within the same site; it’s actually very well run.

Female, aged 59.

I think it’s good that on Horsesmouth, the majority of people that you are asking for advice have experienced it in some way themselves.

Experience is the best teacher, I find.Female, aged 36.

The difference with Horsesmouth is that it enables you to make sometimes negative experiences very positive. There aren’t really words to identify how vital that is.

Female, aged 20.

It’s not going to take over your life, you’re not going to wake up in the morning and think ‘I must check my Horsesmouth!’ … you just dip into it when you want to... It’s nice.

Male, aged 21.

It’s a great way of double-checking that actually I can provide people with information, so I guess you’d call that confidence building.

Female, aged 39.

I was just amazed by the response that I got to responses

that I gave to other people.

Female, aged 59.

I have been using Horsesmouth as therapy, but not as a traditional therapy, more as just a way of looking very positively at life experiences that otherwise wouldn’t be positively looked at.

Female, aged 20.

One of the things that I really like is the look of the site.

I think it’s very friendly and inviting

Female, aged 39.

It’s quite nice to have a library of comfort

so other people can refer to that as well.

I found that very useful.

Female, aged 20.

The stories are really interesting, especially when some people post on

it difficult times they’ve had at work, dealing with difficult situations.

Male, aged 21.

Facebook is fun, whereas Horsemouth is almost a bit of a spiritual thing, or if you don’t believe in spirituality, then a healthy thing, a

mentally healthy thing.

I think that’s where the real major difference is.

Female, aged 20.

It was just the right timing and I realized that my experience in life, and wisdom, was actually of use to other people.

Female, aged 59.

I think horsesmouth is very unique. You can just

turn on your computer when it suits you and you get to reach out to people

Female, aged 37.

I have given advice to someone who was much older than me, and that was the funny thing because I think everyone assumes that wisdom comes with age.

Female, aged 20.

To be able to sit at your desk and be in touch with experts, or people who have ‘done it’ or ‘done something similar’, is really useful.

Male, aged 21.

Horsesmouth is better than real life mentoring, because you can say what you like and they don’t know who you are or what you look like. You’ll get a nice honest response.

Female, aged 41.

Horsesmouth cuts away all the rubbish that can be there when you are talking to someone – all the stereotypes.

Male, aged 29.

There is something about the anonymity of horsesmouth… there is something about being able to share a problem or a question with the wider world that allows you to not feel foolish.

Female, aged 39.

Horsesmouth is like having access to lots of good friends. Good friends who will listen and try to help in any way they can.

Female, aged 17.

All I wanted was support. Sometimes you can’t turn to friends and family for that. Horsesmouth is there for immediate support.

Female, aged 20.

If you have Facebook up on your screen at work, you’re not really doing work are you, you’re just time wasting, whereas if you’ve got horsesmouth up, it’s useful.

Male, aged 21.

I think it’s just so lovely that people are prepared to put themselves out there and donate their own time to helping people.

Female, aged 36.

I think it just shows how much kindness there is out there.

Female, aged 20.

There are a lot of people out there that are really isolated from society and from life in general. Horsesmouth is a way of bringing people together, to help them solve their problems or just to talk.

Female, aged 26.

You can get advice from people of different ages and backgrounds, not just from one person that might not have experienced what you are going through.

Female, aged 17.

I have learnt so much from this site, particularly the younger

mentors; they have a fresh perspective on life and

challenge me.

Age is not necessarily wisdom.

Male, aged 59.

There are loads of people out there wanting a bit of help, and not everyone’s very confident about speaking to people that they don’t know. But over email, and having a secure place to do that, is a lot nicer, it’s a different approach.

Female, aged 26.

I think one of the good things about it is that you’re talking

to people from all walks of life, so you do get a plethora of

information that you wouldn’t necessarily

normally get.

Female, aged 36.

In terms of the groups that I

started, a lot of people of various ages have joined,

and it’s been really nice to see that

flourish!

Female, aged 20.

Actually looking at what someone has

written and really looking, not just

seeing what I want to see, and trying my

best to support them in any way that I can has actually helped

develop my listening skills.

Female, aged 37.

I have enjoyed mentoring people on the site and find it very rewarding helping people.

It's a great website! Male, aged 42.

I think it’s quite professional as well as being friendly. It’s

professional, but not intimidating. I wouldn’t feel

uncomfortable with asking for advice on there.

Female, aged 36.

Once you take the ego away, sometimes it really helps. That’s the big difference – Facebook is all about ego whereas on Horsesmouth, ego doesn’t exist really.

Female, aged 20.

Really it’s getting young individuals to think

about what they want from their job because

currently at schools, they don’t get that

support. They’re told what to do rather than

helped to decide themselves.

Female, aged 26.

It encourages you to be a lot more honest. I actually feel that I am more

open than I was before.

Female, aged 36.

It’s very strange to be able to sit at your desk, being able to be in touch with all these people. There would be no other way that I could find them, outside of horsesmouth.

Male, aged 21.

A lot of the information out there is free and I wouldn’t have known that had it not been for Horsesmouth.

Female, aged 36.

It been really nice, I have spoken to lovely people on Horsesmouth that are just

really grateful, always giving good responses. And that’s

what encourages you to continue to mentor people.

Female, aged 26.

My groups on horsesmouth made me realise that all people really need is somebody else to talk to who has been through the same experience.

Female, 20

I went on as a mentor to help everybody else, but in a very bizarre way, it’s actually helped me as well.

Female, aged 36.

It’s not nice to know that someone else has also gone through what you have, but comforting to know that you’re not alone. I think the website is fantastic for that. I’ve never come across anything like that before.

Male, aged 52.

I think Horsesmouth is better than real life mentoring, because even though it is a complete stranger that you’re speaking to, you can see what they have experienced, you can choose who you have to advise you.

Female, aged 36.

Most of the people that have sent me emails and things, I don’t think I would meet them on a day-to-day basis. It’s a nice variety.

Female, aged 23.

It’s a big community and when at some point there is something that I need support on, there are people who could help me. I think that is something that I see as very positive about horsesmouth.

Female, aged 37.

It’s brilliant because I could quite easily have spent a huge amount of money trying to find out the information I actually got from this man on horsesmouth for free. Female, aged 36.

Relationships are the same the world over. It

didn’t seem to matter whether she was two generations or three

generations below me. People are still going

through the same ups and downs.

Male, aged 69.

It’s nice when other people answer you because you know

somebody’s listening. There’s somebody

out there, you don’t know who they are or

what they look like, but they’re still there.

Female, aged 41.

It isn’t just your friend telling you things that you needed to hear, it was people who didn’t know you from Adam but were still willing to give you their time and input.Female, 29

Not only are you supporting and reaching out to others, you can

also get the support back yourself.

It works both ways. Female, aged 37.

Social services really frighten me. But to be able to talk on the internet and be honest and be truthful and know that somebody is going to reply to you without judging you, not knowing who you are, is the whole point of mentoring I think.

Female, aged 41.

I have found help myself as well as mentoring

others, thank you.

Male, aged 37.

It feels wonderful to know there are so many good-hearted people out there, willing to spare their time

and energy helping others like me. 

A sincere thank-you to everyone involved in making HorsesMouth such a unique and positive innovation

on the Internet.

Female, 64.

I only joined a few days ago, but I think this site is great. I wish I had seen it 10 years ago. I’ve already told a few friends about it. I’d love to help out in any way I could.

Female, 27.

All images are by the following flickr users:

Slide 1: Hotshoe!

Slide 2: seeks2dream

Slide 3: cyancey

Slide 4: Todd Huffman

Slide 5: Laogooli

Slide 6: ?

Slide 7: ?

Slide 8: macrophile

Slide 9: josef stuefer

Slide 10: Pink Dispatcher

Slide 11: theogeo

Slide 12: Scott Everingham

Slide 13: notsogoodphotography

Slide 14: jpctalbot

Slide 15: Rosa y Dani

Slide 16: ?

Slide 17: stephentrepreneur

Slide 18: rbrwr

Slide 19: hamron

Slide 20 kruggg6

Slide 21: Tom (hmm a rosa tint)

Slide 22: chaps1

Slide 23: JP Puerta

Slide 24: ?

Slide 25: ckaroli

(Slide 26: from the site)

(Slide 27: clipart)

Slide 28: shereen M

Slide 29: seeks2dream

Slide 30: kiranc

Slide 31: lumkness

Slide 32: morisius cosmonaut

Slide 33: DeaPeaJay

Slide 34: Torley

(Slide 35: from wired.com)

Slide 36: vox Efx

(Slide 37: from focusforfuture.com)

Slide 38: wisemandarine

Slide 39: usefullinks

Slide 40: Brymo

Slide 41: zenera

Slide 42: milena mihaylova

Slide 43: jared

Slide 44: Hiironniemi

Slide 45: gitsul

Slide 46: John-Morgan

Slide 47: jenny downing

Slide 48: SoundzFX

Slide 49: Sparkwash

Slide 50: sean

Slide 51: HooliganC

Slide 52: JasonRogers

Slide 53: tree fingers

Slide 54: Dead Air

Slide 55: prakhar

Slide 56: Porcelaingirl

Slide 57: Steve ag

Slide 58: Valerie Everett

Slide 59: Bo Teo

Slide 60: .curt.

Slide 61: ?

Slide 62: nutmeg

Slide 63: Tom (hmm rosa tint)

Slide 64: tanakawho

Slide 65: keela 84

Slide 66: saital

Slide 67: superbomba

Slide 68: wit

Slide 69: tanjilaSlide 70: yananineSlide 71: kevindooley