Stickies for Newbies

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Peter C

Peter C

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi mods ( if there is anyone in )

Would it be a good idea to have a couple of stickies for newly dxed T1s and T2s ?

basic concepts, what to expect, what to do, useful links etc
A kind of Welcome Pack.
It seems that newbies are coming on in a steady flow and we have to repeat ourselves to some extent.
 
Peter C said:
Hi mods ( if there is anyone in )

Would it be a good idea to have a couple of stickies for newly dxed T1s and T2s ?

basic concepts, what to expect, what to do, useful links etc
A kind of Welcome Pack.
It seems that newbies are coming on in a steady flow and we have to repeat ourselves to some extent.
Click to expand...

Peter,

I get what you are saying but isn't there enough reading material out there already. People come here wanting their personal questions answered and the support of others.

Well that's my twopennyworth 🙂
 
newbies

Old Holborn said:
Peter,

I get what you are saying but isn't there enough reading material out there already. People come here wanting their personal questions answered and the support of others.

Well that's my twopennyworth 🙂
Click to expand...

I totally agree Old Hoburn that's what I come here for personal information as only been diagnosed 1 week ago 2 day.

thanks
Lanzlady
 
Old Holborn said:
.............People come here wanting their personal questions answered and the support of others.................
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That's my view also! However, if very, very simple basic messages could be developed and positioned almost so that newbies couldn't possibly miss them then that could be very helpful too. I do agree with Peter that the more obvious that the forum makes the basic messages for newbies the more effective the outcome is likely to be.

The unfortunate thing as far as I am concerned is that I suspect that these forums have loads of visitors who only look the once and, if they don't find something that makes a big and immediate impact on them, then they disappear again and maybe don't ever come back again. In fact, I think that is what I did initially but came back some years later. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish that I stuck around longer the first time.

In addition, there do seem to be quite a lot who go as far as make just the one post and then disappear - almost as though they don't even look for the replies.
 
I think that Peter's and whally's ideas deserve some merit - after all if people come here with personal issues they don't have to read whatever it is we decide to post!

Regards Dodger
 
Hi, I haven't been ignoring this- I have been thinking about it🙂 I think that, rather than using stickies here, it would be better to use the 'Links' section, otherwise we run the danger of having several stickies for all the different categories of member, which then tends to clutter up the section. I know that Kati/Admin is against stickies in general, and having visited other sites that use them extensively, I have to agree. I'll move this discussion to the General Messageboard, so if anyone else has any ideas on the subject, what we might include etc. I'd be glad to know!🙂
 
I have seen another website where there are so many stickies because someone thinks they are important that you have to wade through the stickies just like a normal message board that we have here !! Bizarre 😉
 
I understand that Northerner and also that it isn't easy to get the balance right.

My view is that any such initial message ought to be very simple - e.g. test, reduce sugar and starchy carbohydrate, watch certain drinks etc - i.e. the things that give a quick improvement. As far as I'm concerned the NHS make the mistake of concentrating on weight-loss and that always seems to far down the line for the newbie before they see any benefit - i.e. any improvement seems a mile away - impossible almost! That's the same for the exercise approach too. After all the thing that gives most improvement and very quickly is diet - again in my opinion only.

Also not to use loads of links as are often used elsewhere because, in my opinion, the newbie can quite easily get lost in the internet and be overwhelmed by the information available.

I think that the newbie needs something simple to whet their appetite and then, when they can see things working, can come back and ask their specific questions.
 
Has anyone approached DUK about this? Certainly many years ago when I was diagnosed with your introductory pack was a book on how to treat/what it is/what to expect etc on Type 1 diabetes and another on Type 2.

Do they still publish this? If so, is there anyway in getting it as a PDF and then publishing links to them?

It really was a good publication, despite what I might thing of DUK today, this document was really informative and didn't sensationalise diabetes as seems to be their way today.

I agree with Northerner about Stickies and think if the link section was used more, then it will clear things up. Otherwise we end up loosing so many posts off the main topic areas.

On this matter, I think encouraging people to use the search function more will enable older threads to be used as on-going reference and provide answers to people in a more efficient manner, rather than so many questions being repeated over time and in my opinion with moderate regularity.
 
Hi Einstein,

Personally, I'm not a fan of the DUK information - or the NHS for that matter.

As a non-insulin dependendent Type 2 who was continually told "do not test" and "eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate" - a lot of that type of info' - especially the dietary advice still coming through DUK then my condition just slowly deteriorated for eight years. Once I came to understand that I need to test and started doing that, I then found that it was the starchy carbohydrate that was responsible for my deterioration - i.e. the inevitable progression as they call it. Once I cut back on that food type my situation has reversed - i.e. improved - quite dramatically.

The advice that DUK give out to Type 1s may be just fine as you say but - in my opinion - it certainly isn't for non-insulin dependent Type 2s - especially the "eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate" message.

As a forum, please let's not become involved in adding links to such poor DUK information.

Best wishes - John
 
David, I agree with you about the DUK introductory books - I was given one to read whilst in hospital and learned an awful lot of the basics in the short time that the DSN was off treating some other poor soul, that when she returned I felt much better about the whole insulin/diabetes business. I was given the book to take home, along with a big box of goodies from Accu Chek 'for the newly-diagnosed'. I will ask Kati if access to these can be made available. Of course, DUK will probably argue that we should just direct people to their site, as they have sections covering this very topic of basic info for newbies - the only problem that I find with it personally is that it is very fragmented.

Opinion is divided on this kind of thing. I know that in some other forums, newbies are not really encouraged to just jump right in with their questions, because many of them will already have been answered somewhere in the forum already. Moreover, it is often frowned on if all and sundry (and I have heard this opinion voiced) respond with 'empty' welcomes that provide nothing other than 'hi, welcome, nice to meet you'.

Personally, I think that here, by jumping in with their fears and questions and getting welcomes and short answers - even if it is repeating ourselves - people feel that they are being welcomed as an individual. This sets the friendly tone of the place in the new members mind and they do not feel as though they are just novices in a room full of experts, but fellow members with valued contributions.

Obviously, if people join but don't post then we can't know their reasons for joining or what they find good or bad about the place. But we are a pretty high traffic forum, with approaching 100,000 posts in 14 months, and with a regular 300+ contributors, so I think that suggests we have a pretty good formula (not to say that it can't be improved - it wasn't here 18 months ago, so is still developing).

Discussions do crop up in one form or another, but as they do we generally have some new people around for whom the topics are fresh and that they can make new contributions to. There are so many areas that we could distill the 'information' out of and make into a link, document or stickie, but then that discussion loses the very important element of support and shared experience, which, for me, is the forum's primary purpose. As for the search option, it's not very useful really - it will either overwhelm you with posts matching your search terms, or tell you your search terms were too short!

Of course, this is just me speaking, but I believe I am pretty much in line with Kati's original concept for the forum, and which gives us our distinct 'flavour' amongst the myriad other diabetes forums available.
 
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Yes - I agree Northerner. The forum has quite a lot of good things going for it as it is. It's always difficult and not without risks to start making changes.

If the forum starts posting too many messages or advice as to the best way to deal with a particular problem then that will inevitably - I suppose - lead to battles regarding the messages being adopted. Perhaps that is where some of the other forums have gone wrong.

On reflection, it might be best just to let people come here and read or - better still - ask questions and receive a variety of answers. After all, I suppose that is the true meaning of the word forum - i.e. as The New Oxford Dictionary of English states: "a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged". When you think about it that is just about exactly what this forum does and, in my opinion, I don't think that we should ever lose sight of that.

By the way, I hadn't realised how young this forum was. I thought that it must have been here for years. It certainly gets plenty of traffic. Is that because of it's link from the DUK website do you think?

You are doing a great job!

Best wishes - John
 
wallycorker said:
...By the way, I hadn't realised how young this forum was. I thought that it must have been here for years. It certainly gets plenty of traffic. Is that because of it's link from the DUK website do you think?

You are doing a great job!

Best wishes - John
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Cheers John! I think you make a very valid point about the need to avoid just putting one point of view - better to discuss and debate the pros and cons so people can make informed choices for themselves - and also to realise that there are no simple answers that can be applied to everyone, human beings are incredibly complex beings!

Yes, founded 'officially' on November 14th, 2008 (World Diabetes Day, Fred Banting's birthday), now approching 2,000 members. Althoug a lot of people find us via DUK, it's often more by chance than something that stands out on their website. A mpre obvious and consistent mention in Balance wouldn't go amiss either! I think Kati/Admin is planning an interview in Balance about the success of the forum, although I don't know when that will be appearing.
 
I think the personal approach to newbies is great...even if its just a hi and a hug...the number of newbies who come back with a post remarking on how quickly they were welcomed is important .....becauses they feel like they've been noticed and thus are valid at a time that is often traumatic and confusing and lonely xx In my opinion.... anyway as for repeating information ...that promotes discussion and could put a new slant on things that have got lost in previous threads....as for the search engine that doesnt really work I have tried using it but was given so many matches that seemed irrelevant i gave up and scan the message boards instead x

have we got a poster advertising the site that we could print off, then distrubute to clincs librarys and surgeries?
 
Northerner said:
Yes - click on 'Downloads' at the top of the screen! 🙂
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Something else that I'd never found before - I'll make use of those!

I'll hand some of those out at the local Diabetes UK Support Groups that I go to in Wath-upon-Dearne and also Rotherham.

I'll even risk handing a few out at meetings with healthcare professionals that I attend at Barnsley and District General Hospital. However, I'm not certain what success I'll have there because those sort of people always seem very worried about the threat to their situations that diabetics learning from diabetics poses to their employment situation. Quite amazing really!
 
A valid set of points raised by all.

First, with initial fears on the diagnosis and the 'what does it mean to me' question, only the individual can relay their fears and it is right for them to do so, clearly the NHS isn't catered to looking after the non-medical effects of diabetes and indeed there could be questions raised in some areas about the medical care or advice to diabetics, especially type 2's. Worse still if they are diet and exercise controlled. Reading between the lines of some posts you can almost see some medics with the opinion of 'it's self inflicted by your previous lifestyle' not that I'm opening that up to categoric debate, as I said my opinion, reading between the lines from the other side.

My comment about using the search facility was more aimed at some run of the mill questions about care, medication side effects, diet, exercise etc where old threads can be read, new questions asked, new contributions made and as such enabling a thread to have new life put into it and perhaps updates from original contributors as well.

I feel the depth of information posted in this forum from its early days goes so untapped, the experiences and expertise of people who are no longer active members can be drawn upon by a simple search.

Regarding DUK and the information they produce, well, doing a bit of searching will uncover the fact I am not the greatest fan of DUK, balance or their website. I agree with comments made by various people on this thread, however, their book was very constructive for type 1's, I can't comment on the type 2 book, I do however think that having it as a single source for people to head to would in the main be a valuable resource to begin with, to learn what diabetes is about and to then make their own decisions on the right way of managing their condition.

There are people on the forum with strong views on one way of managing their diabetes and in truth it's a condition for which one treatment doesn't fit all and we do need to be careful of individuals gaining too strong a voice with newly diagnosed diabetics and perhaps pushing them down a regime that works for them, but may well make another person feel worse.

The article in Balance will be interesting, let's hope it's soon and it increases our numbers. 300 regulars out of 2.7m UK diabetics isn't a very high market share!
 
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