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Profiles

bangkokdiabetic

Well-Known Member
Messages
409
Location
Thailand
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
TO all Members especially new Members. Please Please fill in your profiles I for one find it helpful to know your age your type of Diabetes and where applicable your medication and perhaps most Importantly your country of residence. ( this last one stops me answering you as if you were in the U.K. ) I ask this so that when you ask a question I can try and tailor my reply to your circumstances.

To Site Management perhaps peoples countries flag could show alongside their Avatar or name it would it may encourage people to join and it may make UK Citizen more aware of the Global side of the forum Incidentally I am English but reside in Thailand. Your profile questions is not open to this situation.).
 
Just a remark about the age. It looks like if you make your age visible ("Show day and month of birth" and "Show year of birth" both checked), your full date of birth will appear in your profile as well (the Information tab), visible to anyone. This is kind of a security risk (hopefully I'll not have to explain why).

I'd like an option to show just my age, but without my full date of birth. Is there any?
 
No Need to have D.O.B. Age will do
 
I get type of diabetes but can you clarify why age is so important to the responses?
I am not comfortable sharing mine.
 

I NEVER put by correct age into websites like this, I choose a fake date of birth that is within one or two years, but not the correct month or day.
 
helensaramay said:
I get type of diabetes but can you clarify why age is so important to the responses?
Click to expand...

Would you respond in the same way to a 14 year old than a 40 year old?

With Type2, age makes a big difference, as for exmaple a BG that is a little high at 80 can be ignored as the complications are unlikely to be an issue within someone's lifetime. (Type2 in people under about 40 is also much more likely to be due to a very bad diet, or they having Type1.)
 
I do think that some age parameters could be useful. Say under 20, 20-50 and 50 and over?
That should be vague enough to keep everyone's real age secret but give a little more info.
Also I do support the idea of a flag so we can see where people are from which would explain some odd readings when people in the US for example are using different units of measurement. @DCUKMod any idea if these have been thought of before? And how likely are they to ever be done. Obviously there should be opt out if people really don't want us to know which country they are from or maybe have a generic "earth" flag so at least we know they aren't from outer space.
 
One of the things I love about this forum is that we break down stereotypes.
One of the things I dislike about society is we are expected to behave, respond, suffer, ... in a certain way because of our age.

Perhaps the suggestion from @bulkbiker is the way forward ... and I guess we don't have to be 100% honest - if I was, say 60 (which I am not), I may feel like a 45 year old. Or I may be a 30 year old having a tough time and feeling like a 50 year old ... which I am not
 

I've updated my profile. I keep forgetting to do it. Thanks for the reminder.
 
This has been brought up before on other threads. Personally I look at profiles of new comers or members I haven't had any or much interaction with, mainly to see which country they live in and which medications they are taking. There is nothing more frustrating than zero information. It creates the necessity to ask for this information, not once, but on every thread they start or ask questions on. Signatures are good, but I believe they are not visible to everyone depending how we access the forum. Also the status under the avatar is misleading to some people (me included) because some of us do not see Type 2 insulin dependent, we just see Type 2. (This is a glitch in the website that is known to the techies but they are very slow to do something about it)
 
When you click on my avatar it shows where I live, and my age.

This is automatic if you fill your profile in properly.
 
Whilst it is extremely helpful when members complete their profiles and include all their details, some members don't want to do that for a plethora of reasons.

As a website, DCUK want to be inclusive in welcoming our members, and as such we only have a modest amount of mandatory information required to sign up. Some people are very private and just don't want to disclose much. DCUK respect their view.

I myself haven't added much to my profile, and don't intend to change it, but I am quite happy to disclose some information where I consider it pertinent and in context with any discussion. I have also, on a number of occasions enjoyed meeting a number of members of this website, face-to-face, at conferences or functions. I just choose not to publish too much data on the internet.

We also have to bear in mind that as well as people actually diagnosed with diabetes, we have parents, offspring, carers, friends and HCPs here too - the ages of those individuals tends to be irrelevant. Obviously, that's just an example

In concept, this has been discussed in the past, at Admin level, and I will ensure it is discussed again at our next meeting.
 
My intention was to try and improve the forum not to get people to disclose information they don't ant to. I also respect peoples right to privacy but Most of the names are fake the national flag of their location or name of country Type of Diabetes would all be helpful to those answering questions I understand peoples reluctance .but cannot see why. It would take some sort of computer wizard and take a lot of effort to find out who we are and why would anyone bother. Perhaps I am being Naïve I am not suggesting you force people but that you explain why it would be helpful, and have a box or something for them to opt out. I think most newcomers do so because they don't have to and don't understand why.
Thanks for Taking this matter up Please keep us informed
 

If I recall, there is a step through on the joining up form which passively encourages profile completion. On joining some newly diagnosed folks hardly know which way is up, never mind what type they are, or what medication they're taking, and of course those things can change quite a bit in the early days.

You would be surprised at the number of people who already find the minimal information we require to be intrusive.
 
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