How can we improve the Forums?

[Sophie_M]

Hi all,

 

This discussion is a space for all members to share suggestions and ideas to improve the Forums. This can be anything. Navigation, notifications, topics and themes, moderation, community rules, or something else!

 

We'd love to hear about what you think we can do better. We are really grateful to everyone who has contributed their ideas already, and we're always keen to hear more. 

 

Kind regards, 

 

Sophie M

 

Please note: 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 

[Hanna3]

Yes it's nice and clear and easy to use quirky - I guess they designed it knowing some older folk may not be very good with computers, but others are excellent - you can upload your own photos etc, as long as they don't show people but places and things - I found the previous BB forums pretty user-friendly, but these new ones are a maze. 

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the lovely words!  It keeps me going 😊

This community is lovely and I'm really glad everyone is helping one another.  It's the biggest change since day one so I'm feeling very grateful that people are being honest, supportive and friendly.

Geoff- you don't need to apologise, I understand.  I can say that we had a co-design team of the forums, which included some members of the forums and some champions (including myself) meet with developers and the BB team.  Unfortunately there were many decisions that I wasn't part of and not aware of. You would be amazed at the first draft of the forums- the whole thing was blue!  

rt

[Sophie_M]

Hey Moonstruck, 

We’re sorry you’re feeling confronted by these changes, thank you for letting us know about this experience. We can hear the incredible community here on the Forums is important to you, and so the adjustment is a big one. 

We hear your concerns with your past posts being viewable by other members on your profile. We are sorry that this is causing you distress, thank you for sharing this with us and letting us know how we can improve. If you’d like to chat to us about editing any of your previous posts, or share any other concerns about privacy, please contact modsupport@beyondblue.org.au

We take this incredibly seriously, as we do all your feedback. We are working to find a solution to this for the whole community.

Thanks again for sharing your concerns about these changes with us, Moonstruck. We really appreciate you letting us know what we need to look into more closely.

Kind regards,

Sophie M

[Sophie_M]

Hey everyone, 

Thank you for sharing your support, concerns, and suggestions here. We hope you know it’s really appreciated. 

transzcrybe -  Thank you for the support. We love your ideas for how we could make it easier to navigate new discussions, recent replies and pinned discussions, as well as how we can support newbies and longer members to use the innovations in the way that works for them.

We do have a ‘How to use the Beyond Blue Forums’ video, which you can see here. We’re having a look into making this more visible, as well as building in a few more video tutorials, and improving our FAQs so that Community Members can find what they’re looking for more easily. 

Hanna3 & quirkywords - We’re having a look into the ways we can improve navigation, so we really appreciate your awesome suggestions. Thank you for sharing them. 

On The Road - All discussions will show you discussions (aka threads) from every section. On the right-hand side, check that the results are sorted by Most recent. This will show you all the discussions which have recently been posted to. From the list view, you can see a preview of the original post alongside the date the discussion was started.

Thanks everyone for keeping us up with what’s going on as you adjust to the new space, and letting us know where we need to look into making improvements and changes. We really appreciate you keeping us in the loop and making this thread into the valuable space it is. 

Kind regards,

Sophie M

[quirkywords]

Moon

i see Sophie has replied to you. 
i have trouble with change but I try. I really relied on new threads and my threads and they helped me help others . 
I am do sorry you are thinking of leaving as I have always like reading your posts and feel we go back awhile and have both been through life changes in past few years.

I hope you can stay on as I hope there will be changes for those of struggling with the new forum. 
I appreciate your honest feedback.

I know beyond blue is listening to the feedback and trying to help those who are finding it difficult to cope with changes.

Privacy is a real issue which I know will be investigated. 

[Croix]

Dear Moon~

I can well understand the feeling of shock when you discovered that all your old posts are available, however I'd be more than unhappy if you were to disappear. You have been a mainstay for so many years and have given me and others the comfort of stability, wisdom and humor.

I also think you would feel the lack of what has been such a large part of your life -the ability to pop on, talk or joke as the fancy takes you, and be met by friends and understanding people - not isolation..

Now whatever Beyond Blue decides to do there are things to bear in mind.

I've been reading your posts for many years and have not found a single instance where you have given your anonymity away. Yes one can form a picture of your character -which is a pretty good one - and a bit about your interests and humor - but that is about all

Absolutely nothing comes to mind that you might have said in the past that you would even feel embarrassed about if it was recalled.

To try to build any sort of picture out of your posting history it would take an enormous amount of work anyway, and the chances are as I said above is that one would end up with nothing realy significant.

By all means discuss the matter with Modsupport and see what happens  - please do not do anything hasty.

You can email:

modsupport@beyondblue.org.au

Remember in your case “I have nothing to declare except my genius.”

Croix

[geoff]

Hello rt, many thanks.

Geoff.

Life Member.

[geoff]

Hello Moon, these new forums have changed and certainly not everyone is happy about this, that includes me, I know their heart and soul were intended but all I see is 9 negative comments compared to one positive out of a score of 10.

I, too don't want to see you go, so please stay and wait for any new updates that we hope will happen.

I also have so many questions and queries regarding this new forum and wonder why a person of volunteering for 20 years was not asked to be involved.

I sense your bewilderment but if you could please wait as these 9/10 issues need to be addressed.

Your friend.

Geoff.

Life Member.

[tranzcrybe]

There is some merit to viewing posts of members as it is a way to follow individuals that members may relate to (yes, or just have sticky beak; but it's no different to running a search) - but perhaps limit this to the 10 most recent (or recently responded), with access to more restricted to authorised user login.

[Summer Rose]

Hi Tranzcrybe

Really appreciate your comment. I’m guessing that may be one of the reasons the change was introduced, I mean some people obviously saw a benefit or we wouldn’t now have public profiles.

I guess I would ask, what happens if someone wants to follow you for more nefarious reasons? Or, what if you’re in a new conversation and someone brings up something from a long ago post that you’d rather leave in the past? What if you’re just meeting someone and you just don’t want them—or aren’t ready—for them to know your whole story? What if you just don’t want to be followed by anyone and just want to pop in and out, have a chat and hopefully do some good in the world?

Sure, people could always do searches in the past, but now it’s so much easier and much quicker to do.
I know these issues won’t resonate with everyone, and some people will surely like their public profile.

But others won’t. Our community is very vulnerable. People who have experienced stalking, or who may be experiencing domestic violence could be really sensitive to this new level of accessibility to information. Online security is likely a trigger for some people experiencing OCD, anxiety or paranoia, to cite a few examples. Others may just want the highest possible amount of privacy available on a public, yet anonymous, forum given we are often discussing some of the most painful and distressing issues in our lives.

We are encouraged to share our stories to help others, knowing the content can be used by bb to help even more people via their reports, etc. Collectively we place a great deal of trust in bb.

I don’t think it’s too much to ask at a minimum that people be given choice over whether or not to have a public profile. 

Kind thoughts to you