Forums evaluation

[CherryBomb]

Hi All,

Can you believe the forums have been open for almost 4 months now? I can’t decide if the time has flown, or has gone slow!?

In order to continue the great run we've had & to build on what we started with, we will be running an evaluation on how things are travelling for the forums. This will take a few months – from now until March next year. Within the evaluation you will have your opportunity to tell us how you think the forums are going. What you have loved, not so loved, if they helped & how we can improve. We will be sending this survey out to you all towards the end of year (it’s anonymous & optional 🙂 )  We will also be looking at common themes in the forums by looking at some of the discussions & posts you have all contributed to, and finding out what topics are important to the community and how we continue to make the forums relevant and useful for you and future members. Please us know if you have any feedback/questions by either responding to this post or sending us an email: team@saneforums.org

CB

[Loopy]

Good idea cb, at least you will get, hopefully, an honest appraisal

[CherryBomb]

Thanks @Loopy!

I'm also hoping for some honest appraisals. It'll help us know how to improve the forums. 

[CherryBomb]

Have you got any thoughts about how the forums are going? Tell us in 300 words or less by completing this questionnaire, and go into a draw to win one of four $50 Coles/Myer vouchers. The information that you provide will not be linked to your Forums user profile so you can stay completely anonymous. Follow the link provided for more details.

Thanks for your input!

[kristin]

Hi CB,

I've just posted a note to @NikNik about the "bad" words list's persistent invisibility - until you trip over some absurdity which dwells therein.

I think the forum is brilliant. It has its shortcomings, but most of them are just minor annoyances.

I am stunned at the number of people who must be on the forum now - I recently had cause to check out my "Liked" posts' details, and was astounded to see how many views there had been. I realise this doesn't necessarily equate to the number of different people who've read it (does a view get registered only once for a post for a username, or every time they view that page?) but even so there might be a couple of hundred views, and only one or two "likes".

It makes me wonder if there are many people viewing (and hopefully encouraged) who are not confident yet to join the "conversation", or even to click "like" for fear of exposure. Sadly such is the stigma of MI. The page about the financial implications of MI had about 1200 views! No prizes for guessing what one of the most profound impacts of MI is.

Regarding things on the forum that need looking at. When there are frustrating issues; like the bad words, or the inability to post a review on doctors (positive, negative or neutral) - @NikNik it would make a really big difference if there was a SANE forum "good ideas folder", which you guys could post links into from post suggestions around the place. The worst part about grappling with these things & making suggestions is feeling like they have been ignored (I've known @ mentioned suggestion posts to go unacknowledged for weeks). Most of us with a MI are used to being ignored or dismissed. I know it is not the mods' intention to feed into this feeling in any way, in fact the reverse (and I agree with Kato - you do a huge job), but that is sometimes the inadvertent result.

End of gripe! 

Kind regards,

Kristin

[CherryBomb]

Hi @kristin,

Thanks so so much for you feedback. It's really helpful. I am concerned about the issues that you've pointed out, such as the '@' mention feature and bad word list remaining unattended to for some time, and inadvertently feeding into feelings of dismal. These are certainly issues that we do not want to feed in to, and it saddens me to hear that this has happened. We will At the same time, I acknowledge that things can always do with improving and it's through converstations like these, which help us to become more aware of our shortcomings, that help us to continually improve. Us mods are very keen to learn through the experiences that we share together.

The Forums have grown a lot in the few months since it started. I'm continually amazed at its growth, not only in its numbers but also in hearing about the personal growth of the community members too. I think we passed over 500 registered members a few months back! Truley amazing, and it's really thanks to members like yourself who generously contribute their experiences, thoughts and ideas.

Thanks for your continual input and support. We will try our very best to keep you updated about the issues that you have raised with us. Though this may take some time as some things (particularly I.T. bugs) are not easily resolved quickly.

Happy posting!

CB

[Neb]

I am very happy with the forum, it has been a very positive thing for me. I don't have anyone I can dump on so to speak , so this is good for me. If I do dump I get really unwell, but via the ether, it is okay....weird eh!

No negatives really, but the prohibited word list can be surprising and amusing trying to find euphemisms in place of them. I have " trigger" words so I respect the need for a wide net for different users.

I am proud to have been on the forum since its inception!

[CherryBomb]

Thanks @Neb! Be sure to provide your feeback in this questionnaire if you want to be placed in the draw to win a Coles/Myer voucher valued at $50.

P.S. So nice having you on here since the Forums' inception.

[NikNik]

Hi @kristin 

Could you tell me a bit more about the 'good ideas folder'  Sounds interesting!

I do apologise for not seeing the most recent update about doctors/professionals issue and also bad words. I thought I had seen the most recent posts, but it seems I haven't. I have just done an update on the @ mention stuff and bad words (here) and I will update the thread about mentioning professionals after I finish this post.

It is exciting to see so many people view threads. They aren't 'unique' individual views, but they are still significantly high regardless. There is a theory about online communities (regardless of topic) that 90% of people are 'lurkers' and just look at content, while 9% contribute once off - semi regular, while 1% of a community are frequent contributors. You can read more about it here It's pretty interesting. While I think even just reading threads would be helpful, our job is to convert 'lurkers' into contributors. Creating a community is a big part of the moderators role 🙂 You may see us test & trial things here & there - sometimes things work.. sometimes they don't - but either way.. it's good to keep trying new things.

Which brings me to the purpose of this evaluation - it's to assist in a lot of different things, but will play a big role in determining an ongoing strategy to grow the community too.

If you haven't clicked the link above already - you should do so..... now 🙂

[kristin]

Hi @NikNik 

The good ideas folder. Well I thought you might start a new thread in each/both forums that we can post to, or that you can post links into when good ideas are suggested elsewhere - like Kato's one for charging "advertisers". So that they are all in one place on the forum. The more the forum(s) grow the harder it is to know where these good ideas are lurking if they are just left all over. Does that make sense?

Yes I agree, it is best if we can encourage readers into engaging. Sofly softly. Thanks for answering my question, I did suspect it was # of views rather than viewers.

Having made one false start on the "questionnaire" I'm not about to do it again now. I don't feel that it was wasted, as I posted it on both forums instead. Kind of a cumulative musing about the forums.

In all honesty I think it isn't really a questionnaire, it is more like an essay topic in format. I hope you get responses, but I wonder if it wouldn't help people answer if you asked at least a few specific questions about things you need/want to know? Otherwise it feels like "where to begin?" and having begun you get to 300 words later and "was that answering the question?" Oops  

Kind regards,

Kristin