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Do you use other diabetes support forums?

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Thanks Ellie, I hadn't considered some of those things. Out of our membership of 6237 we currently have 882 who are permanently banned. The overwhelming majority of these are spammers, mostly from India, Pakistan and China with the occasional US one thrown in for good measure. As many of these appear to be organisations charged with optimising client's search engine impact, hopefully a swift ban has made many of them cross us off their list as not worth the effort. 🙂

I'm fairly certain we don't have any sock puppets(lovely name! 🙂), although we have had the occasional one or two in the past. One thing that is a great help to the moderation team is the fact that many of our members smell a rat fairly quickly and we can act on it, which I think is another way which shows how much people care about the place. 🙂
 
I found this site first but it took some time doing so, would like to see DUK support and give us more publicity as we all know really it's not about quantity it's quality that matters 😉
 
I think I found this forum from a post made by a member here on DUK's Facebook page (I thought when I registered on DUK's site I would have access to a forum) I couldn't find it therefore thought Facebook was the main place although I soon found out it was a scary page to post on after reading some of the comments. Thankfully I read the comment which helped me find this forum which is the only one I have joined.

I have checked the diabetes uk one when a link was given for their recipe section. I felt lost even looking and only looked in that bit as it seemed so big I would have felt totally lost.

I love this forum even if I only read and learn plus it's the only one I would recommend. I used to be admin in a tech forum and know how much work this involves with watching posts/people and still trying to keep a friendly atmosphere. People forget that being involved with forums costs time and to me all staff up here are more then dedicated to looking after the members and members contribute with words of support etc

I definitely wouldn't have found this forum from any of the literature DUK sent to us. It wasn't on my membership page as it was the first thing I looked for. I hardly even sign in there now. I only look at the Facebook page occasionally but am grateful to the member from here who mentioned this forum as I'm not too sure if I would have found it and I normally can find most things online.
If I had depended on DUK on Facebook it woouldhave swallowed me up by now as there is no way I would have gained so much advice with the way that page works.
 
novorapidboi26 said:
I use the DAFNE website on a daily basis, mainly for its online diary facility
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It was novorapidboi26 who introduced me to this forum. I also go on the DAFNE website mainly for its diary facility.
I've strayed onto a couple of other forums but never stay on them i always come back here, easy to understand, everyone seems to be very friendly, help each other out and especially for you Northerner a really good admin!

This is a fabulous forum! ***
 
I think I might be one of the lucky ones, I have only used one other Diabetes forum, and that was an American site on the old MSN network before MSN closed down the system. It was there that the lady who first set up this forum, left a message for the UK members about this place opening, I joined there and then , although excepted as a member, the forum wasn't officially open for a few days, and I've been here since. This place is my home, where I meet up with my family of friends. The help and support is second to none, the friendship is something that I've never experienced anywhere else, and as I've said before, you get back what you are prepared to put in.

John.
 
I thought that D.Co.UK was the official DUK site, so joined and was the ultimate thread killer. I introduced myself and got zero reply.:D (and that was before they knew me).

There is a members area on DUK, but no one uses it so I searched for Diabetes forums and found here, and you said "hello" so I stayed.🙂

The other site sends emails every week with some links to what is happening on their forum, which could be useful, except if you use the forum, you would already know. It does have a lot of information on there too, which I have read, but never actually explored the forum.

I think there should be a direct link to here from DUK, if there already isn't, and maybe a banner on our heading saying we are the recognised support forum for DUK (aren't we?)

I have been on many forums, Music and for ME, and it is down to the members what the general tone of the forum is like. If it is depressing, no one would feel comfortable, but here, if anyone is feeling a bit down, the responses are always positive.
 
My DN advised me at my first appoinement not to google about diabetes but to join this forum - she too is a member.
 
ukjohn said:
I think I might be one of the lucky ones, I have only used one other Diabetes forum, and that was an American site on the old MSN network before MSN closed down the system. It was there that the lady who first set up this forum, left a message for the UK members about this place opening, I joined there and then , although excepted as a member, the forum wasn't officially open for a few days, and I've been here since. This place is my home, where I meet up with my family of friends. The help and support is second to none, the friendship is something that I've never experienced anywhere else, and as I've said before, you get back what you are prepared to put in.

John.
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Lovely sentiment - ditto xx
 
I've only ever used this forum and I love it I would never use another x
 
i only use this forum, i dont need any others because i get all the support and advice i need on here and have made some great friends along the way 🙂
 
Northerner said:
I'm hoping to get much more promotion of our forum from DUK, so that people try us first! 🙂
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If you look at the American Diabetes Association ( ADA), the equivalent of DiABETES uk, they have a link straight from their home page to the Message Boards ( useful and busy support groups associated with ADA). That is to say the Boards are an integral part of the ADA website/experience.
DiABETES Uk does not seem to have a link on their homepage to us.

Check out ADA homepage ....top menu bar in red ...
http://www.diabetes.org/
 
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mcdonagh47 said:
If you look at the American Diabetes Association ( ADA), the equivalent of DiABETES uk, they have a link straight from their home page to the Message Boards ( useful and busy support groups associated with ADA). That is to say the Boards are an integral part of the ADA website.
DiABATES Uk does not seem to have a link on their homepage to us.

Check out ADA homepage ....top menu bar...
http://www.diabetes.org/
Click to expand...

That's certainly at the top of the agenda! 🙂 They did have us there once and it resulted in quite a few new members finding us, but then it disappeared a couple of days later. There are many ways that promotion could be improved via online means and publications.
 
I used to be a member of a Yahoo group many moons ago, but there weren't that many people posting on there, plus it was US-centric, plus most of the people on there were type 2 and not interested in type 1 stuff much/at all. There was 1 admin/mod who "owned" the group, she went off line and it all kind of trickled to a stop.

I actually got an email from her the other week, saying that she was closing the group, but I haven't looked at it for a long time.

I got pointed to this forum by someone on the Babycentre.co.uk diabetes board - we mostly talk about GD over there but there are a few of us type 1s knocking around too :D

I've shared this forum with quite a few people now - on the parenting forums I use, and on FB too. And possibly twitter. Verbose, me :D
 
I can't honestly remember how I found here. I must have seen a link somewhere I love it here and have never tried another forum for diabetes. I belong to two hobby-related ones and they are as friendly as here. I must be very lucky. *smug* :D
 
I found DSF, this site and shootuporputup within a few weeks of each other and still visit all three. I still occasionally pop by the DUK FB page too (made even more chaotic and hard to follow by the recent 'pages' update) and try to point people here as many there seem to be struggling and getting little in the way of the support that is so abundant here.

Hope DUK agrees to promote the forum more. The 'how has the forum helped' thread shows clearly that this is a valued and valuable resource.
 
I found this place two days after dx while trawling through the DUK website and signed up right away. I did the same via Google with a few others but this is the only one I've stuck with because I like the atmosphere and inclusivity. Plus, I got a great welcome at a time when I was especially fragile. Not that others weren't good, it's just that this place is a bit special and quite unique in in its outlook.
 
Northerner said:
Or did you try any others before coming here. and if so what put you off using the others?

I compile some basic statistics about our site and comparisons with other major diabetes support sites each month, and one particular thing that always strikes me is that one of the other big diabetes support forums in the uk, at diabetes.co.uk, generally gains many more new members per month than we do, yet they lag far behind us in terms of member participation (new threads, posts). For example, last month we gained 189 new members, but in comparison they gained 902. Yet new posts were roughly similar, and we tend to post many more each month, despite a large disparity in membership numbers. I suspect that many people are attracted to this other site because they mistake it for the home site of Diabetes UK - I did exactly that myself after diagnosis.

What worries me is that this probably means that there are many people looking for support but are not finding what they were hoping for, yet maybe we could offer them what they need. This isn't a criticism of that site, I'm just worried that people might be giving up on forums if they don't find what they want there.

I'm hoping to get much more promotion of our forum from DUK, so that people try us first! 🙂
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When you are diagnosed and looking for support, a lot depends on what you actually google. Diabetes forums brings up DCUK and diabetes support brings this one close to the top.
DCUK seems to be mainly about how many carbs you eat and is a very emotive subject there. That does not seem to be supportive IMHO but seems to lead to lots of arguments and divisions.
The difference here as it does what is says on the tin, offers support. Isn't that what it should be all about? We can make suggestions when people ask for help on what to eat but we are individuals in our responses to food items.
The support you get here for diabetes, personal problems and everyday dilemmas is second to none. The friendly atmosphere is something that other forums seem to lack.
I love this forum and long may it continue.
How to get the message out there needs help from DUK IMHO and how about a poster designed for G.P. Surgeries and the like from DUK signposting this forum?
 
I found this place when I visited Diabetes UK's website it had a link to here and I've been here ever since, I haven't ever felt the need to go onto any other support forum mainly because everyone is so helpful/ friendly here.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I found DSF.
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Diabetes Support Forum is like the Curate's Egg, "good in parts" but mainly unappealing because it is dominated by Cholesterol-deniers who tend to rant interminably about statins.
There also seems to be a low carb agenda running there as well
One of the Mods on DSF posts extensively on here so DSF can't be all that engaging !
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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