What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? Was starting to join other online communities (new mother and craft sites) and was about to go on Pump so wanted some support and advice
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? Just this one so far
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What year did you join the on-line community? 1996 at Uni
I am in the computer field. I have succumbed to my wifeās comments about old equipment and no longer really have any active stuff more than five years old. I am impressed with your everyday computer. For many years, I had Heathkit H-19 terminal I built:
What year did you join the on-line community? About 1990, when I went to several bulletin boards, and then later, in 1994, to IRC. I still do IRC, to this day (Undernet, though I started in Efnet). My favorite system at that time was a simple VT100 terminal.
My #8 - 1996 wow, bsc - the 70sā¦the changes you have seen! I joined AOL the month they went āunlimited accessā (monthly fee, not paying by use time).and grew by leaps and bounds so fast they almost crashed, but managed to hang inā¦I had a friend who bought AOL stock right before thatā¦needless to say, heās well-off! People in chat rooms used to have ācompetitionsā for who had had the highest monthly bills before the unlimited access - hate to think what my bill would be if I was paying for computer use time ā¦more than my income Iām sure!
Heathkit brings back fond memories. My father was an electrical engineer. When I was a kid, my dad & I built many Heathkit projects. I was the only 8 year old girl I knew who had her own soldering iron & knew how to solder circuit boards.
What year did you join the DOC? Sometime around 1993/1994, back in the days of modems, green screens, and ASCII text messages.
What Type of Diabetes do you have? Type 1
How long have you had Diabetes? 17 years, 7 months, 16 days
What age were you diagnosed? 26 years old
How old were you when you joined the DOC? 26 or 27. Canāt remember exactly, but it was soon after my dx.
What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? I did not get much support from my family and I knew no one else with diabetes.
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? Meaning??? I follow 17 blogs (well, more if you look at all the Blog-o-betes blogs as different blogs), read through several forums/bbs/community groups, but only actively participate in 2. Otherwise, participation can eat far too much time.
Question Eight was added 11/7/2010. Thanks bsc.
8. What year did you join the on-line community? The general on-line community? Late 80s early 90s.
What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? Support. Did not know anyone that was Diabetic. Now I have met several.
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? Honestly, only this one
What year did you join the on-line community? 1990s
WHAT motivated me to join TuDiabetes and get involved? To help others with what they may be going through and give advice and SEEK advice from others. I just got on the Omnipod pump and I donāt think I would have made it through the new adventure without this online support group. It helped me SO much more than the doctors visits.
How long have you had Diabetes? Diagnosed 1 year 4 months (Iām with you Gerri months ARE important to us newbies) probably had it 8 to 10 yrs pre diagnosis
What age were you diagnosed? 59
How old were you when you joined the DOC? started lurking at dx but actually joined a DOC only a few months ago.
What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? If you count my lurking it was because I quickly figured out diabetes is a do it yourself disease and the advice I was given wasnāt cutting it. A forum such as this one is the quickest way to speed the learning curve and decide on a course forward. This used to be called the āWisdom of the Webā although I havenāt heard that term in a while.
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? I only belong to 1, TuDiabetes, but I lurk on about 6. I especially enjoy the UK forums because they give insight into another health care system as well as everyday life in another country.
What year did you join the on-line community? Around 2000 initially technical websites related to my job (IT)
While the alt-support-diabetes.org is one of the oldest diabetes-related group from the general internet, the actual first group dealing with diabetes was located on CompuServeās Diabetes & Hypoglycemia Forum. If you check HERE, youāll read the reaction a CompuServe executive had to the initial porposal for a diabetes forum, which was posted to the Diabetes Forum library on 1/9/90 ā making it older than misc.health.diabetes, which had its earliest posting on 5/6/1993, or alt.health.diabetes, which had its earliest posting on 1/8/1997. The group of diabetics on what used to be CompuServe (now NetScape) really were pioneers.
IMO, ALL members of the current DOC owe a debt of gratitude to David G. Groves, who founded the CompuServe group. Sadly, he died February 28, 2004 after a 50 year battle with type 1 dm. FWIW, he founded the forum while he was recovering from a devastating car accident caused by a severely low blood sugar. He had the idea of having a place for diabetics to connect, to educate us about diabetes, motivate us to take care of our diabetes, and activate us to work for a cure for diabetes. He started with a private section on the Atari Forum, where he was a Wizop, showed CompuServe that it could work, and got his own forum, which, despite Daveās constant complaining, was extremely active. He set a tone of independence, critical thinking, spirited (and sometimes highly confrontational) discussions, and collaboration between patients that I think still permeates the DOC today.
Youāre welcome, Danny. I think it is important that participants in the current DOC realize that, in fact, the DOC has a past, one that stretches back further than most any other disease and patient oriented group out there. I wish there had been more advances toward a cure since that time, but between the complexity of the disease and its profitability, perhaps I ought to be grateful for what little āprogressā has been made.
Something a tad ironic: Daveās birthday was November 13th (and his dx day was sometime around Halloween, but he couldnāt remember exactly when, as he was in a coma at that time). I think he would have found it mildly humourous and aggravating that āWorld Diabetes Dayā is the day after his birthday!
What Type of Diabetes do you have? Type 1 - (I think)
How long have you had Diabetes? less than 1 years
What age were you diagnosed? 33 years old
How old were you when you joined the DOC? 33
What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? I had just been diagnosed, was scared to death, and I needed answers. I live in a french area, and was not enjoying getting my training in french.
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? 3, but I really only visit TuDuabetes.
What year did you join the on-line community? 1989, back when modems were what you put your phone headset into, with my Color Computer 3 by Tandy. LOL. Does that date me?
What Type of Diabetes do you have? Type 1 (my daughter, age 10)
How long has she had Diabetes? 3 years
What age was she diagnosed? 7 years old
How old were you when you joined the DOC? 40 (me), 8 (daughter)
What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? We live in a small and fairly remote community where my daughter is the only child with diabetes and I was looking for more information (any information!) that was outside of what we received from my daughterās diabetes team.
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? Around 7.
What year did you join the on-line community? 1995.
What Type of Diabetes do you have? Type 2 (so far)
How long have you had Diabetes? 4 months
What age were you diagnosed? 53
How old were you when you joined the DOC? 53
What was your main reason for Joining the DOC? First wanted to learn about LADA, now staying on cuz I learn a ton of stuff youāll never get at the doctorās.
How many Diabetic related online communities are you currently a member of? 2 but thereās a third on heart stuff and diabetes comes up sometimes.
5.How old were you when you joined DOC? 55 years old.
6.What was your main reason for joining DOC? Lots of different reasons. First I am always trying to find out how other s live with this disease. And by live, I mean, the physical, emotional , and other challenges we face. From figuring how to regulate dosages for a Sprint tri-atholon to not despairing when a low makes you see colors.
7.How many Diabetic related communities are you a member? 3, but Tu Diabetes seems to have the most info I need.
