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Forum posts on facebook

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[QUOTE="tim2000s, post: 744703, member: 30007"
One question that constantly comes to mind is that of why this one seems to have a much larger population than many other diabetic forums, and whether this topic is in someway linked to that.[/USER][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=#808080]Probably because unlike other sites [SIZE=5]I've[/SIZE] visited, the members on here actually care. They take the time to read your opening post which for some newbies is a very difficult thing to write. They then reply to that post with as much information as they can, reassuring the newbie member and welcoming them on to this site with open arms. I can still remember hesitating about what questions to ask first as I didn't have a clue about the condition I had just been diagnosed with, and thinking to myself I hope they don't think I'm stupid asking that. I couldn't have been further from the truth, I was taken onboard like a long lost son and shown the right way to go with my diabetes control. I can only speak for myself but I'm sure there are a lot of other members would say the same. On top of that there is the less serious side to this site where we can forget our problems for a while and have a laugh and joke about things not related to Diabetes like just recently "songs", "pets" and "what are you doing today"............. That is why we stay and that is why in my opinion this site is more populated than others. WE CARE!![/COLOR]
 
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I have just been talking to someone who frequently posts photos on FB of her family and she told me they are secure on her page and unless she has accepted you as a 'friend' you can't view them. I can understand how people think that when they become a member of a community forum it is just members using that forum and you would have to sign up in order to view the content
 

It strikes me that there is a very real case for having a closed forum - even if we have to start one ourselves - where we can all support, share, encourage and inspire each other in safety and with privacy
 
There's a very simple solution to this. Instead of an open Facebook page, a closed group is created. In a closed group, you need to apply for membership. The content is not visible to the Facebook population at large. It would be possible to register access to this from the page, but the membership would be under the control of the admin team, and known troublemakers could be excluded. If someone was a group member they needn't be a forum member, and there would be far less issue with cross linking forum posts to Facebook as they wouldn't be public.

That retains the Facebook presence while hopefully alleviating some of the forum members concerns.

Just a suggestion though...
 
I have been sitting here thinking and a thought just popped into my head, considering the foot fall through the forum and the average time a member stays active on the forum, could there be other threads like this one, raising the same concerns, lurking forgotten hidden away in some dusty corner of the archives, or if there have been similar threads have they been allowed to drop of the end of the page before being deleted, and admin hoping they would not resurface, it is a possibility considering the amount of members who have come and gone since I joined last year, or then maybe I'm just a cynical suspicious old bird.
 
I'm a member of 4 of these closed Facebook groups @tim2000s (all are unconnected to diabetes) and I manage 2 of them. They would not give DCUK the exposure and self-promotion they are seeking so I don't see how they would work unless we splintered off and created our own....which is looking very attractive to me personally just now...
 

A closed forum sounds good in theory, but definitely not on FB.
 
As the admin of a totally unrelated forum, my view is that closed forums are fine for those who know about them. Until you are a member, you can't see the content, and seeing the content is generally what encourages membership. My experience of sharing links to threads on Facebook is that it encourages forum membership.

If you close it up it ceases to attract people and they migrate, but with the correct trigger people will also migrate. I'd be very surprised if admin were not taking this topic seriously and considering the best approach given the company's mission.
 
I can't help myself I just have to ask, which part of "Some of us do not want to be a part of FB" is it you do not understand.
 

"A known troublemaker" is not a known troublemaker till they make trouble by then its too late.
 
I note there has been some discussion about having a closed forum. I doubt that would be my preference. In my view, part of the special nature and wonder of this place is how much “new blood” (pun intended) we have, on an almost daily basis. How do we achieve that volume, if the door is locked. I learned so much before I made my first post, and indeed, my initial post was, like so many, to ask a question and have a bit of a sound off. But, it’s only after this that people’s voices and characters are heard.

Closed communities tend to attract people who are very much of a kind, and whilst this sounds all very nice, that tends not to be the best learning or sharing environment. In fact it can become competitive (dare I say clique-ish?), with those who don’t quite fit tending to be either driven out or they choose to leave because their differences aren’t appreciated.

We need new blood to add variety and to freshen the place up. We need the forum to be asked about testing for the 200,000th time. We need those fresh reiterations of information. It’s how new people learn and how more established members pay back the kindness and education they received when they joined. I’ve been here just over a year, and I’m still learning. Sometimes those thought provoking gems come from complete newbies whose thinking is completely left field to the well worn path.

We must ensure in all of this that we don’t end up throwing out the baby with the bath water. “The management” have done a great job building this forum. Building a forum (the IT infrastructure) is super-simple and almost any one of us could go and do that – probably for free. Where it’s tricky is attracting new members and keeping those members coming through the doors. By the very nature of the kind of support this place offers, the active membership list will be extremely transient. Many folks come in, join in, learn lots, then push off and get on with their lives. That’s absolutely fine. Indeed, that could be considered a success of they are managing their condition better than when they arrived.

I know that’s been a big, big ramble, but it feels like “we” are thinking of this in a purely “today” basis, which I don’t believe helps us longer term.

I don’t know how the infrastructure of this forum has been built, but would it be possible to have a handful of boards where sharing (with Facebook etc.,) could be allowable, with the other boards not shared? Perhaps Greetings and Introductions, Newly Diagnosed and Ask a Question being “sharable”, with the balance not?

I think we have to tolerate the Google search aspect, because that’s all how we get the new blood. The little poll I started perhaps demonstrated that?

To be honest, I’m looking forward to the forum settling again into the positive supportive environment where it functions best.
 
I've been thinking about this thread, I have been involved in a different forum where this forum has been quoted, I have also taken part in the ridicule, so everything I've said on this thread is ridiculous and I should be ignored, I shamefully am leaving the thread and have learnt a valuable lesson
 

Fair points, well made @AndBreathe . I don't think any of us has a problem with the forum as a forum. That is why its so active and successful. The problem is what happens to the content in the hands of "management" and how we are deliberately being exposed to unmoderated abuse once the content goes onto Facebook.

The limited sharing of certain boards as you suggest is one solution, but these boards should have a very clear notice to anyone posting to them, especially innocent newcomers, that these topics may be shared on social media by "management"..

We need more transparency from management, and protection from abuse and ridicule once they have made the decision to share on social media
 

Being devil's advocate here Totty, I would suggest "we are deliberately being exposed to unmoderated abuse once the content goes onto Facebook" might not be completely fair. Management have stated they moderate the Facebook content. Unfortunately Heathenlass found an instance where the moderation failed to pick up a completely unsuitable post. Sadly, that can happen anywhere - even on here, and even on a private forum. Where people are involved in reviewing posts (I don't know if bots are used to pick up on profanity or potential pornography/grooming) there is room for human error. It's most unfortunate there is such an example, but, thus far, to my knowledge there's just been the one such post spotted. I'm assuming Heathenlass reported the date/time/poster to Admin in the usual way over here so that it can be dealt with.

Perhaps in the forum description, a sharing note could be added. But, my experience of managing IT areas, with active online content, is that people may be just as unlikely to read those statements to the end as they are to read the T&Cs. People are by and large lazy, and don't read static text. They want to get into the bit that interests them.

As an aside, a few years ago, I did a piece of work to prove that people don't read web pages carefully. Within a multi-page dynamic form, "we" changed some of the wording, on pretty routine pages, which required those completing the forms to change the responses they made. Circa 80% just didn't read them properly and we had some howlers of evidence. And these people were informed a new version was being opened to them, so they should have been alert to differences. It just goes to show, people read what they expect to see.

I'm not challenging your feelings or saying anyone is wrong in any of this, just trying to make counter points so that whatever discussion takes place, we try to be open minded to various options, and the likely outcomes.
 
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