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?

[demonblaster]

Hiyaz ☺

Hearing youse re...

" We’re sorry to hear the email received if mentioning a word like “suicide” can be frustrating or distressing for a few of you.

We really like Demonblaster’s suggestion of displaying it on the page, rather than emailing each time, but it’s a tricky thing to implement as it’s important that we share some options for immediate support as quickly and directly as we can. "

Re... " it’s important that we share some options for immediate support as quickly and directly as we can. "...

Maybe instead of an email could a link be put on a following post to the info.

I know in my hard times it's near impossible to post let alone when in anything to do with suicide times.

In that Black headspace any activity is a tremendous effort.

A link would be the quickest easiest access to help.

And wondering unless you're obliged to send the emails if a check box could be viable for people to choose to receive the them maybe after the first one.

Cheers ☺

[Guest_1643]

I totally agree with deebi

I do feel the hurdles and stresses to talk about suicide and sh sometimes mean ill just keep quiet and not share

I think this is more dangerous than posting the word

Sharing the feelings openly in some way beats stigma

[geoff]

Hi Everyone, what frustrates me and this may have been said before, but nothing has improved it, is that you spend half an hour typing out a reply and when you want to post it, 'SYSTEM ERROR' appears, so the half hour you have spent has been wasted.

I know notepad can remember what you have said, but it's too slow, and I could 'copy and paste' the reply, but again, it's too much extra work.

How can this be overcome.

Geoff.

[Matchy69]

Geoff that why I try not to do long replys anymore.It is so frustrating when that happens.

[mmMekitty]

I've been aware that after writing a long post, it takes longer to upload, the longer the post, the longer I sit here wondering if what I posted will get through.

Sometimes I will copy & paste from a document, theen I have to go through it & add the little extra space between paragraphs. I just think that looks nicer, & makes reading a bit easier.

Sometimes I don't know I'm going to end up writing as much as I do, & I'm entering directly into the box here.

If I write way too much, it tends to be easier to copy from here, paste into a word doc, & edit there, then return here... it takes considerably longer when I have to edit my own LONG posts! Think that would teach me to write less? Maybe a little, but not guaranteed.

So long as I have a reasonable internet signal, the long post will eventually get through. I just have to wait while the little hourglass spins.

mmMekitty

[Sophie_M]

Hi Geoff and Matchy69,

Thank you for sharing this feedback. We just want to flag that this is a technical issue which we can follow up best by email. If anyone else is experiencing issues with a “system error” message, please take a screenshot and email us at modsupport@beyondblue.org.au so that we can investigate it promptly.

We do always recommend composing longer replies in notepad or word in case your forum session ends, whether due to local issues like an internet dropout, or because your session has expired after you’ve been on a page for a while.

We know it's really irritating to lose a post when you've put a lot of effort into it, and so the forums update will include an auto-save feature for posts and post replies. You'll be able to type replies straight onto the page, knowing that they'll be saved. 🙂

Kind regards, 

Sophie M

[Sophie_M]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to share one of the ProjectTeam’s updates on the Forum Changes thread as we think it’s relevant to something a few of you have mentioned:

"Yes, you will be able to both subscribe and un-subscribe to threads. You can also subscribe / unsubscribe to entire boards - though I suspect doing this for threads is more useful?
We're still in the throws of working out just how to manage this on the platform.

I'm at risk of getting a bit complex here, but there is a 'my threads' type feature on the new platform, which does act a little different to the 'subscribed' threads feature. We're working through how to set those up, so that what you're viewing continues to stay relevant, and so that you (hopefully) have more control over what you're seeing."

It's also great to see this discussion about how our email referrals for posts mentioning could be done differently. There are some really good examples of how other services handle this issue. We can hear that, depending how the person posting might be feeling, a link or some “hover-to-display” text might be a preference. This feedback is so appreciated, thank you.

Sleepy21 – we just want to thank you for sharing this:

"Sharing the feelings openly in some way beats stigma"

We think that’s so well said. 👏 

Kind regards, 

Sophie M

[Guest_1643]

Thank you so much.

Well done for the team.

[quirkywords]

Sleep thanks for your input a d your honesty.

Everyone who has posted thanks very much for you great ideas.

Sophie auto save will help me and many others. Thanks

[mmMekitty]

Thank you, Sophie_M/Team,

These new features would be very useful & much appreciated. 😺

mmMekitty