Challenges and opportunities for improving member experiences on TuDiabetes

Yes–that was the worst thing about the old site. Half the time you couldn’t tell who was replying to whom because the particular comment and reply might be pages apart. I prefer the new format vastly over the old one.

As regards dropoffs, I think the login frustrations that persisted for quite a while after roll-out did a lot of damage. I continue to find answers to questions and things I want to respond to here, though, and I continue to find it a friendly environment, so I expect to keep dropping in.

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A number of active members didn’t make the move. I think many just gave up due to the site being unusable for so long. This changed the character of the site immediately.

I miss the fact that you can only use your login names and people lost their preferred nicknames. I can understand why Zoe didn’t want to be zoe16 or whatever her login was. It’s not quite as welcoming in an odd way.

I think the fact that members had a page to extensively customize, post photos, videos, manifestos, bios etc. helped build community, you could look at a members page and get more of an idea of who they were and something of their life beyond diabetes.

Lots to like about the new site, but the topics discussed have changed and like @still_young_at_heart I find less of interest. By the way I understand that referring to Maurie as @still_young_at_heart makes the site work better but it is more impersonal.

A site like this is always evolving as some drop out and others with different interests take their places. Change is the only constant.

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It’s a shame that we have lost members. I have a manufacturing background and I’m always looking for the “root cause” of the problem and a PCA (permanent corrective action). Yes, we have gone through a lot of growing pains. Unfortunately, they were necessary. I’d like to suggest a membership drive/campaign. Maybe we could brainstorm with a group of TuD members and come up with several ways to reach out to new potential members.

Sarah :four_leaf_clover:

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This was a big point that Zoe complained about. Early on after the transition I was trying to learn some of the “new ways” and addressed Zoe as @Zoe and she was offended. I still hesitate to use that format to this day but Zoe has dropped out. She was a very active participant up until the transition and I enjoyed her comments, as many did.

Sue - you’re right that many people fell away at the transition. My point was not to argue that reality.

Maybe our continued engagement can bring back a few of those if they check back in and find that the login woes are gone while the content is still TuD friendly and useful. My main point still holds. Change happens; if we don’t adjust then some places in the world will go on without us.

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But how many is many, out of like 33K members, now we have 20 some-oddK members now but how many of the casualties were, like @Zoe members who hung out vs. members who’s ID’s were churned off by getting rid of folks who were not active, had insightbb.com emails or whatever. I miss Zoe too, a lot, I liked her perspectives and thought that she was a good voice for diversity in the community but, if she wants to go hang out somewhere else, well, it’s a free country. If she wants to come back and pops up in a thread, I will still try to talk about what she says the same way I always do, uh, half-baked? I like to use the @ as it seems to notify me so I figure that other people want the notifications. Perhaps it has an element of cheese but I’ve also been occasionally distracted by twitter lately and can deal with that too.

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I am so glad that this conversation is happening! Thank you guys for participating in it. We at Diabetes Hands Foundation have, of course, also noticed the loss of some previously very active members since the site migration, and how their absence affects the community as a whole. We miss them, too!

I’m going to start an offshoot from this conversation so we can keep it going, and I would LOVE any ideas you guys have about ways in which we can encourage our old friends whom we haven’t seen in a while to come back and visit, and also generally how we can create a cozier, more connected feeling here on the new site.

On this thread please do continue to think about the last time you had a really frustrating experience, not because of what somebody said, but because of some difficulties you experienced finding information, or reading and understanding a discussion, and answer the questions:

What was the context? What were you trying to accomplish? What were the challenges? How typical was that experience (something you encounter often, or was it unusual?)

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When I scan my computer it causes me to get logged out from all my sites, including TuD.
I find I can’t log back in, I have several tries and eventually give up and look through the site for interesting conversations, then I go back and try to log in. Bingo, it works. I know I am using the correct login and password.

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Hi all. I haven’t checked on here for awhile, but got an e-mail notification as my name was mentioned. I found myself smiling when I saw familiar names and heard I was missed. I haven’t “Left” technically, just . as Maurie and Sue described when I sign on, nothing seems to grab my interest. I can’t say as I had/have specific technical problems and was able to sign on pretty early after the transition. I just don’t find the new site appealing or inviting. I don’t know how to explain it, it just looks like a list of subjects not an actual (cyber) place. It feels like information not connection. Like all of you are saying, maybe things just have their own time and place and for me that time has passed. It does make me sad as this site has meant so much to me over the years. But if I have to remind myself to sign on then it obviously isn’t meeting a need anymore. As those of you who know me have heard me say many times I strive to keep my life such that my D is well controlled but it doesn’t dominate. Perhaps not spending as much time on here is, for me, part of that. But I’ll sign on now and then and if anyone wants to chat about something do e-mail me. I assume you get notices for that, or I’ll just check it now and then. You used to not be able to type your regular e-mail but I’ll try it anyway: zoelula2@gmail. I left out the dotcom at the end. I wish you all well.Zoe

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The gray top banners on the Home page should look exactly like the one on the top of the one on the forum page (and anywhere else). Yesterday I was chatting with someone on the home page, and it was clear she didn’t know how to access the forums. I tried to explain, “click the little symbol that looks like 2 cartoon clouds” - I was not successful. I wanted to be able to say “click on ‘forum’ on the top gray banner”

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First they disappeared then reappeared with no words, the interface needs to be understandable to non techies and folks who are brand new to the site. It needs to be easily understandable that there is more to tuD than Chat.

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I have missed you and Zoe a great deal. Glad to see you are still around.

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So glad to hear from you.

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I think it’s a matter of perspective. Just this morning, we had a new member in the chat room praising the site. She was so impressed with the site, information and sense of family.

Sarah :four_leaf_clover:

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I think, too, we can’t complain there are no interesting topics to read unless we actually post topics that people will find interesting.

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@BadMoonT2 and this morning is another completely different banner on the home page. it’s bare except for a large hamburger and the word “TuDiabetes” - someone would have to have the luck to think to mouse over it and click to see the choices of “my page, discussions, videos,etc” sigh :disappointed:

Yikes! That should not be happening. @MarieB and @BadMoonT2, are you seeing these top navigation changes on laptops? Do you remember what page of the sit you were on when you saw this stuff? (e.g. forum vs. not forum). The navigation looks a little different on iPads and on mobile phones, just because of the size differences, but everyone should always see the SAME menu when they’re using the same machine. Please clarify so I can alert our developers if there’s a glitch they need to fix. Thanks!

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I agree, @curlysarah. The wonderful community is still here! It just looks different, and has lost some features and feelings that long-time members really treasured. I think that, together, we can regain the homey feeling that some folks feel we’ve lost (although this will never be a carbon copy of the old site), while also using the new, more modern platform capabilities to their fullest.

since my iPhone BLEW UP, I am only on Tu on my laptop

Windows 7 in FireFox

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And do you know if you were in the forum area or not? I’m asking because I need to talk to a different developer depending on where you were on the site (forum vs. home page/events/videos…)