Members responding to newcomers - PLEASE remember!!

[Northerner]

Guidelines
Try to stick to the original topic and tone of a thread as a courtesy to the original poster and for clarity. If a new topic of discussion arises from within a thread, please aim to open a new thread with a relevant title or ask the moderators to split a thread if a digression becomes clear after several further responses.

Posters vary hugely in experience, knowledge and confidence. Especially in the introductions or general discussion sections, long and/or technical responses covering research or detailed medical matters, even if relevant, may interrupt the flow of support and seem daunting to the original poster.

Where you feel such a post would be useful, please consider responding with a brief summary of the main point (eg: "some researchers have found that x helps with y.") and create a new thread in the General Messageboard or News sections where you can make the point in full detail - You can note the link to the greater detail in the original thread. This also allows other members to respond to/debate the issues you have raised without dominating the original thread.

Readers should assume that no poster has any appropriate medical qualifications to issue advice and they certainly can't carry out a proper medical assessment of your condition, so any changes to treatment should be carried out in discussion with, and with the approval of, your own diabetes medical team.

Posters should remember that individuals vary in their diabetes and its management. It is possible to share your personal experience or opinion, but not to provide an absolute truth for someone else.

Debate and differing opinions are healthy, but must always be conducted with respect and tolerance for others.

Without face-to-face contact, smilies are the way to convey less seriousness and avoid levity being misinterpreted. Feel free to use them as necessary. Appropriate humour, incidentally, is definitely welcome!

 

[Northerner]

It takes all sorts to make a forum!

Many people who come here may be using a forum for the first time, and often that can leave them unprepared if they encounter responses to their posts that they may find jarring or unsympathetic.

Like any group of people anywhere, members are very diverse in character, and it's often not easy to spot nuances in language and presentation through text-only messages - there are no visual clues, or aural ones, so you just have to go on content and any prior experience of a particular person's writing style to determine if they are 'joking' or not. It's an age-old problem, and the chances of misinterpreting things are generally higher the greater emotional state the person reading may be.

Because of this I would like to ask that members bear these facts in mind, in posting, reading and responding:

• Try always to put yourself in the other person's shoes, and if it conjures up any doubts about what you want to say, and how, then try and think of how you might reword things.
• Remember always that this is a support forum and by that very fact people posting may be nervous, frightened, confused - or of course, confident, no-nonsense and brash. As I said, it takes all sorts, but try always to be first and foremost supportive 🙂
• Above all, no personal insults or inflammatory statements - nothing wrong with rational, passionate debate, but not directed at individuals, such posts will be removed by the moderators.
• If you find that you don't like a particular member's style then I would urge you to use the 'People I ignore' option on your profile settings: you can input member names and then no longer see content from that member.

Hope this helps! 🙂