The Forum's future - your ideas/feelings needed!

[Northerner]

Over the course of this year we are hoping to make improvements to the forum and expand its influence. I think that, even if you have only been a member fr a short while, it will be clear what benefits the support of our peers can bring in helping people affected by diabetes, to learn about the condition and how to control it well. We need to bring this to the attention of as many people as we can, so I'm asking for your help in finding ways we can improve awareness of the forum, and also improve its usefulness to the members 🙂

• How can we spread the word?
• What improvements could be made?
• What do you find good about the forum?
• What annoys you/do you find difficult to use, when using the forum?
• What benefits do you think the forum brings to people?
• How can we get people to engage more with the forum?
• How does it compare to other social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, twitter) when seeking/giving support?

Any and all thoughts would be very welcome 🙂 There are thousands of people out there who I know would benefit from using the forum, but they may not even be aware we exist! Whatever ideas you have, please post away and let me know, thank you 🙂

 

[Andy HB]

Hello Alan, here's my halfpenny's worth. 🙂

--> How can we spread the word?
It does seem to me that the link with Diabetes UK is not as strong as it should be. They seem a little reluctant to advertise and promote our existence. Also, they no longer seem to have a personal presence on here either. I think strengthening that link could be good.

--> What improvements could be made?
I think the layout of the forum is fine. Maybe some of the sections are a bit under-utilised now though and are in need of some re-invigoration.

--> What do you find good about the forum?
Frankly, you Alan! Also, more often than not, someone always gets a reply to their question or post pretty quickly. I don't recall the last time that someone got no responses at all (except where it didn't matter!).

--> What annoys you/do you find difficult to use when using the forum?
I honestly cannot think of anything! 😱

--> What benefits do you think the forum brings to people?
The clear benefits are that people can tap into a very wide range of knowledge. Hopefully, the downside to that (i.e. how to apply such knowledge to yourself because we are often very different) is frequently mitigated because, mostly, that advice is well moderated (we don't have the know-it-all 'gurus' that often frequent other sites).

--> How can we get people to engage more with the forum?
This is a tricky one. I do wonder because we have pretty well established members here, whether that can sometimes be a deterrant to new members (they can feel like outsiders). I have seen, in the past, new members almost 'hounded out' when their opinions were in conflict with others. There can be a bit of a 'pack mentality' at times.

Another thing which I notice happens a lot is the single poster on the Newbies forum who then never posts again despite getting lots of responses. I don't know why this happens and if we can understand/find out why, perhaps that will help the forum grow its active member list?

--> How does it compare to other social media?
Sorry, no opinion on this because I hate other social media!!

Andy 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Thanks Andy, very constructive and echos many of my own thoughts 🙂

 

[Robin]

What Andy says! regarding his point about people joining and then never posting, as a new member myself, I lurked for ages before joining because what I wanted from the forum was to keep up with advice and new ideas. occasionally there was a thread where I thought I might have been able to add something, so I joined. But since then, I have tended to think, there are so many of you with huge experience, who post excellent and thoughtful answers, that why would you need to read anything I could add? I don't mean I'm intimidated, I just mean, I imagine people reading my post and thinking, who' she?
I have mentioned this forum to my diabetic nurse ( by which I mean the general practice nurse who has been lumbered with dealing with us lot) but I got the feeling that she tended to steer well clear of the places. I stressed the link to Diabetes UK, but I agree with Andy, if there was a stronger DUK presence here, she might feel more confident about using it.

 

[stephknits]

I think the forum can and should be a great asset for Diabetes UK. Agree the kink should be stronger, a regular slot in balance? Need not be big, but just a here's what they have been posting about, or something. It would also be great if info about it could be put in welcome letter/pack if it isn't already. I think this is a vital service, which compliments the helpline and should be promoted as such.
Can't thi.k of any useful suggestions with regard to getting more active members, perhaps we could have a say hello section and a new to the forum section or something, maybe add a link from just posting you are new to the forum and diving in to everything else.
You know how great I think the forum is Alan, so will spare you the blushes again! Keep up the wonderful work

 

[Northerner]

Thanks Robin 🙂 All input is welcome, so whilst you may not feel qualifed to offer advice or explanations for people, your own personal experiences will always add to the 'bank' that people can relate to. Diabetes is such a varied condition in how it manifests itself, so the more we know of an individual's experiences, the broader our collective knowledge becomes 🙂

I think that maybe fewer people post as often as they did in the early days of the forum because we have now built up a searchable repository of topics that people can refer to instead of perhaps asking a question that has already been covered. But fresh input and perspectives are always welcome as things can change so quickly in the world of diabetes! 🙂

Certainly, we are hoping to build closer ties with Diabetes UK over the coming months (whilst retaining our independent voice and freedom to air our views!), so ideas of the kind of things that would be good in this respect would be very useful 🙂

 

[Northerner]

I think the forum can and should be a great asset for Diabetes UK. Agree the kink should be stronger, a regular slot in balance? Need not be big, but just a here's what they have been posting about, or something. It would also be great if info about it could be put in welcome letter/pack if it isn't already. I think this is a vital service, which compliments the helpline and should be promoted as such.
Can't thi.k of any useful suggestions with regard to getting more active members, perhaps we could have a say hello section and a new to the forum section or something, maybe add a link from just posting you are new to the forum and diving in to everything else.
You know how great I think the forum is Alan, so will spare you the blushes again! Keep up the wonderful work

Thanks Stephknits 🙂 There should be an upcoming article in Balance about the value of social media for support that I did an interview for recently, so watch out for that 🙂 I have also mooted the idea in the past of something like 'A View from the Forum' as a potential regular feature 🙂

 

[BobbieH]

> How can we get people to engage more with the forum?
This is a tricky one. I do wonder because we have pretty well established members here, whether that can sometimes be a deterrant to new members (they can feel like outsiders). I have seen, in the past, new members almost 'hounded out' when their opinions were in conflict with others. There can be a bit of a 'pack mentality' at times.


You have hit the nail bang on there Andy.

As a newish member it is very hard to get past the established members who in my opinion really only chat to each other. Maybe I do not have anything of use to say.
I have learnt a lot just by reading other posts without taking part.

i think every doctors surgery should have this webpage displayed. I only came across it by accident

 

[Northerner]

> How can we get people to engage more with the forum?
This is a tricky one. I do wonder because we have pretty well established members here, whether that can sometimes be a deterrant to new members (they can feel like outsiders). I have seen, in the past, new members almost 'hounded out' when their opinions were in conflict with others. There can be a bit of a 'pack mentality' at times.


You have hit the nail bang on there Andy.

As a newish member it is very hard to get past the established members who in my opinion really only chat to each other. Maybe I do not have anything of use to say.
I have learnt a lot just by reading other posts without taking part.

i think every doctors surgery should have this webpage displayed. I only came across it by accident

I am sorry to read this, I must admit I haven't been aware of people being 'hounded out' here, I thought we were a friendly and welcoming bunch on the whole. There have been the occasional misunderstandings, but I did thinmk we were much more tolerant than some forums in not preaching or denigrating the views of others.

Regarding established members chatting to each other - this is something that is difficult to get around really. It is the regular posters who are most likely to respond to new members and threads, so their presence is bound to be prevalent, but I would hope that we are inclusive of everyone. Inevitably, friendships will be built over the years in which case higher levels of familiarity between those members, but I would have hoped that newcomers would still feel welcome to join any discussions. It's obviously hard for me to judge because I am clearly so close to everything, so I welcome people's perceptions of this 🙂

 

[BobbieH]

Perhaps I put that badly. I certainly don't feel hounded out nor do I feel that what I have to say contributes very much as it is often ignored. I love David's quizzes though.

 

[Copepod]

I'd like to see more emphasis on the fact that this forum is supported by a diabetes charity, rather than a company that sells diabetes products.

 

[Northerner]

Perhaps I put that badly. I certainly don't feel hounded out nor do I feel that what I have to say contributes very much as it is often ignored. I love David's quizzes though.

That's good to hear BobbieH 🙂 David is a legend, we are lucky to have him here 🙂

 

[Lindarose]

I've been reading these posts and as often happens my thoughts/ideas have been pretty well covered already When I finish work ile spend a little time sending my views 🙂

 

[Robin]

going back to what Bobbie was saying, as a newbie, whether it's joining an evening class, an exercise class, or a forum, I think you have to hang in there feeling a bit new until one day you suddenly find you're regarded as one of the old hands. i have enjoyed doing David's puzzle pages (when I can do them!) as a good way of getting used to chipping in regularly until I feel I have something to say on the diabetic topics.
I should have said earlier, of course, what makes the forum start feeling like home is Northrner!

 

[KateR]

I've just one tiny niggle. When I get to the bottom of a long page I have to scroll right back to the top. I know I'm lazy but a 'back to the top' button would be helpful. Otherwise I love the forum as it is.

 

[BobbieH]

I should have said earlier, of course, what makes the forum start feeling like home is Northrner!

Tried to add thumbs up but failed miserably. lol.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Not sure if this can be done but can a report button be put on/in the members profile page? This would then make it so much easier for mods to be able to remove spammers.

 

[Michael7]

One thing I have found is that this is not like a lot of other forums, the information given to a diabetic is very important, and so is the ability of the user to take it on board with the correct perspective.
This is an area I am struggling with!
I think I would like to see some form of nationwide consistency with the medical profession, so that if I have a query the answer should be the same throughout the country.
Is this something the forum should strive for?

Michael

 

[Andy HB]

... I haven't been aware of people being 'hounded out' here...

Sorry, that phrase was started by me! 😱

One person I felt who was not made fully welcome when first posting here was Alan S. To a certain extent I also think that he bowed out from the forum because he felt his time was better spent elsewhere. He was (and probably still is) a prolific poster/blogger and posting here as well meant additional work for him.

There were others, but I feel that most of them contributed to their departure by being a little too 'abrasive' themselves!

But I don't want to give the impression that this is a common problem because it isn't. I think most people are given a really warm and supportive welcome. Especially those in need of help.

 

[Andy HB]

Not sure if this can be done but can a report button be put on/in the members profile page? This would then make it so much easier for mods to be able to remove spammers.

I think this is covered by the Report button on posts, really. That is where most spammers reveal themselves anyway.

Andy 🙂