How can we improve the forums? Your suggestions and comments please

[Chris_B]

Hi all, this thread is a running commentary for all members on things for improvements to the forums. This can be anything from how it looks, the categories, to moderation, community rules etc.

While we might not be able to implement everything straightaway, or keep everyone happy all of the time, we'd like to hear about what you think we can do better.

This is not a thread for discussing the moderation or editing of individual posts - if you have questions about this please contact the team offline via email modsupport@beyondblue.org.au

To avoid repeating suggestions already received, below are some results from our last user survey giving an indication of which new features people would like to see on the forums. This survey was answered by 1,597 users:

44% - Email notification when I have a reply on the forum
39% - Access to the forums via an app
27% - Ability to block seeing posts by specific users
25% - Ability to contact users privately
25% - Ability to use emoticons
25% - Ability to follow posts by specific users
24% - Ability to share links
23% - Forum posts visible only to registered users
22% - A profile, viewable by others users, where I can introduce myself
21% - Ability to quickly access all posts by a particular user
15% - Ability to tag users in a conversation
10% - Ability to share images
6% - Ability to share videos
17% - None of these

Update July 2022 - This discussion has now been closed. Please go to the updated version below to share feedback and follow our updates:

How can we improve the Forums?

[Guest_1643]

i guess i think there's a space where content isn't offensive or rude - it's just different to us or challenges our perceptions or ways of doing things. That space can be hard, especially on sensitive topics.
I would just encourage ppl to keep trying and addressing these difficult topics, in whatever way they know how.
The discussions here keep teaching me and surprising me. Thanks for all who contribute.

[ecomama]

Hey Sleepy and everyone, waves to quirky🖐🖐! lol

Sleepy, you and Croix were 2 of the people who warmly welcomed me and I will ALWAYS admire you both and be sooooooo grateful for you both lol. 💖💖

You REMEMBER the first people who warmly welcomed you, when embarking on this new journey into a new forum.

Because of YOU and Croix (then meeting Mara and many others), I felt like I belonged.
I've learnt alot more about belonging since then! All good.

I've learnt so much from you alone Sleepy.

Respect is the basis of "allowing" others to disagree with us.

It's not like we know EVERYTHING about anything really, only our OWN lives. We especially don't know about other people's lives and experiences.

So if someone disagrees, that's OKAY! It can even be GREAT!

Sharing their POV may help another person, maybe not us, but it's still valuable and valued.
It may just help THEM get it off their chest and that's great too.
It's impossible for us to all think the same way, we are unique individuals.

With the "triggering" threads, I've now limited myself.
I select ONE thread to support in Family Law / separation / divorce and
ONE thread (if I can cope lol) about child SA or similar...

sometimes reading these does effect my emotions, but it's also good "exposure therapy" too.
It can be challenging to "self-regulate" during and after reading / posting BUT it's great practice to strengthen my own techniques.

I've become stronger by doing this ie limiting and practising.

I don't think the forums can be practically improved but I'm happy to accept that others feel this way.

I'm grateful the Moderators stepped in on a thread when a person appeared to be harassing.
I didn't even realise I could have reported it.

EMxxx

[geoff]

Hi, I wish we could be told when the forums are under maintenance early the next morning, then some of us could sleep in.

Geoff.

[Matchy69]

Geoff they use to give us notice but they don't seem to anymore.

[geoff]

Hello Matchy, thanks and yes it used to happen and wonder why we aren't told any more.

On another mental site as soon as someone replies to your comment, you are notified straight away by email, that's what we've been trying to get BB to do exactly the same for many years.

It once notified us but then suddenly stopped, it's what some of us have been aiming for, for a long time.

Geoff.

[Summer Rose]

Hi Geoff

You are a legend.

Your commitment to supporting others on the forum is so admirable. Thank you for your wonderful insights and constant presence, you are appreciated.

Kind thoughts to you

[Sophie_M]

Hi Geoff,
Thank you for your feedback today, it is really important to us that all the forum users feel comfortable expressing themselves on this site.

We are sorry that we didn’t post on the forums about our site outage, and we have taken this feedback on board and will ensure such information is posted in future. The maintenance undertaken was about improving the user experience of the entire BeyondBlue site which is why the forums were temporarily unavailable. There was information regarding the scheduled maintenance on our social channels however we appreciate not everyone uses those platforms.

There will be more updates and improvements to the forums in the future and we will ensure that the community is updated on when access to the forums and other BeyondBlue sites will be unavailable.

Thank you again Geoff for your consistent and engaged membership of the forums.

Kind regards,

Sophie M
 

[Guest_1643]

thanks Geoff for watching out for the ppl here 🙂

i was also confused

I agree a heads up could make some who are already anxious feel a little better

Is there a thread for important announcements? cheers

[Matchy69]

Hi Geoff that's a great point about getting a notification when you get a response.I think when you are struggling mentally and you a new member specially it would be nice that you get a notification of a reply.I see a lot make one post and never see again not sure if it's not getting a response straight away or what.I try to respond to new members when I come on so they know people are here for them.

[Guest_1643]

HI Mark and Geoff you both are so kind helping new members

I was also wandering if we could have that option. That could have benefits

I've seen on other forums u can subsribe or unscubscribe to a thread and then u get email notifications for that thread

if it gets too much u can then unsubscribe as well

i personally think this system would make more sense but perhaps there are difficulties setting that up here

i like when "new" pops up on the forum to help ppl see their thread has responses.