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 

[geoff]

Hello Hanna and mmMekitty, as much as we wanted changes to be made with the former forums, the set up was much more convenient with a list of 20 or so threads in 'New Posts' and then we could navigate to 'My Threads'.

I don't particularly want to see old threads made by a moderator some 10 or more years ago and to browse through from page 1 through to page 5 (example) for unanswered threads is too time consuming, I'm sorry to say.

Geoff.

Life Member.

[Hanna3]

Hi Geoff

Yes it's taking ages to scroll through pages of old posts trying to find the latest ones - I find it hard to find the next-but-last post on threads I follow - I will see the most recent post but I can't find what it's replying to - if I hit the left pointing arrow you'd think that it would take me back one page but it takes me back weeks and I have to scroll through page after page searching for what I am looking for. 

[Croix]

Dear Hanna3~

Under normal circumstances hitting the left bracket "<" will take you back one page, the same as if you hit the next lowest number on the page count buttons at the bottom of each page -as we are on page 21 that would mean hitting "20".

When you do you are brought to the very top of the page you wanted, and this is where it can get a bit misleading, becuse at the top of EVERY page is a copy of the very first post that started the topic off. That of course will have the date on it the topic started -in this case Sophie_M's post of 5-7-2022. If you ignore that and look to the next posts under it you may find what you are looking for.

My apologies if you already know this and are talking about something else

Croix

[geoff]

Hello Hanna, it can be quite confusing, but if you know the name of the thread you can click the 'magnify glass' next to your username at the top, there you can type in the thread you're after and a list will appear, then click on the one you're after, then you can find your way around.

Geoff.

Life Member.

[Hanna3]

Thanks Croix and Geoff - it's just that when I hit that left arrow it is taking me back weeks - I understand about the original post at the top, but the posts underneath are weeks old and I have to scroll through pages to find the next-but-last post...

Thanks Geoff, I often don't know the name of the thread I am after - I have kind of given up trying to find most of them now, and I just stick with a very few that I know well.  I have reduced the amount of time I'm here by a significant amount as I find it just too tedious to wade through all the pages etc....  !!!!

[blondguy]

Hey moderators and forum management

I really love the fresh and clean interface...Excellent!

Since 2016 the bulk of my posts have been providing the best support possible to new posters. I understand that there are various headers that discuss different types of health issues yet I cant access the new community members that require support

Note: There are more moderators answering new posts than when I started on the forums...Nice one!

Thankyou again for the new & fresh platform 😊 The email notifications are excellent

Paul

[quirkywords]

Geoff I am hopeless at remembering thread titles . Thanks for your tireless support on the forum and helping people cope with change. 

[Sophie_M]

Hi everyone,

We’ve heard your concerns about the public profiles feature allowing other users to view a community member’s posts and replies altogether on public profile. Thank you for letting us know about this.

We’re going to wind that feature back so that it can only only be accessed by the Forums staff and Volunteers who need to able to view the extra context in order to ensure we’re supporting members as best as we can. This includes Moderators, Community Champions, Administrators and Clinicians.

We’ve checked in with some of you about this, and we can hear that it would make a lot of people feel better when using the Forums. We really appreciate all the feedback we’ve received, and we hope this change is helpful.

Thanks everyone!

Kind regards, 

Sophie M

[Summer Rose]

Hi Sophie

A big thank you to you and the team for listening, considering, thinking, consulting, acting and communicating in a short timeframe.

I think this is a good case study and testament to the power of genuine community consultation.

Kind thoughts to you

[blondguy]

Hey Summer Rose

you made a good point about forum management being proactive as they are super responsive. I havent been on the forums as much as I used to. I was unaware of any issues pertaining to the members 'profiles'

Can I ask what the problem was about members profiles? Was it privacy?

my kindest always

Paul