Judith:
I agree. The “WE” is us … the whole community that chooses (or not) to offer up advice or experiences.
Lois
I think many people post (and definitely) respond, in more than one forum. I for one, have “All discussions” up on my page and read most of them assuming the first couple sentences shown is something I’m interested in, or have knowledge about. If somebody posts a question in, say “General Diabetes” and doesn’t mention Type, I will usually go to their page to see the Type if it has a direct impact on the question which it often does. I understand that some people have serious privacy issues, but when they ask a question and then I see their page is “set to private” I can’t give much of an answer. Age, type, date of diagnosis, type of treatment, even where the person lives all can have bearing on the question.
I absolutely like the idea that we have an attitude of acceptance and equality to all types, but that doesn’t change that their are notable differences in the management of each.
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REPHRASE: I don’t like “Who referred you? / How can TuDiabetes help you?”. Many people, myself included, come here simply out of curiosity - not knowing what to expect. A better way to phrase it might be “How did you find out about TuDiabetes? / How much do you already know about us?”. That gives an insight into why the new member is here while reinforcing the community aspect.
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REPHRASE: I’d also rephrase the “I have…” question to “I have, or my loved one, has…”. There are lots of parents of children with diabetes, and this should refer to the PWD, not the actual user. I find it confusing in the current format. I’m sure there’s a better way to phrase it though, I just can’t think of it now. I also agree with removing the 1.5 identifier with LADA.
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REMOVE: I’d remove the Facebook question. That, in my mind, is for “real” friends, not online friends, and it also can reveal a full name that the user may wish to keep private. Twitter can stay (although I don’t use it) as it serves a different purpose.
*ADD: I would add a separate question for a Blog. Many PWDs now have blogs, and it would be convenient to have it listed prominently on their profile. Since bloggers like to drive traffic to their sites anyway, I don’t think it would be an intrusion.
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KEEP/REPHRASE: Many have discussed occupations. Rather than get too intrusive, I think it may be wise to ask the simple question: “Do you have a job or career that involves diabetes?”
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KEEP/REPHRASE: I really like the Hometown field and would be upset to see it removed. I think rephrasing it “Where do you live? Be as vague or specific as you like” would be better. Personally, I state my county, state, and country, but not my hometown. Others may be more or less willing to say where they live.
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REMOVE: I’d remove the most-recent A1C value question. It gets stale… A1Cs change, but the registration answers rarely do. It also may cause newer users to be intimidated and have them try to rate themselves against others.
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REPHRASE: Treatment and pump questions to “What medication (insulin, pills, etc) do you use?” and “What devices (pump, syringes, CGM, meter, etc) do you use?” Phrasing can be improved, perhaps,
I second Scott E. in everything he suggested, though I don’t mind the occupation question; one can always leave it blank.
I don’t know what you would do with the answer to: How can TuDiabetes help you?. What is the point of collecting it? I did not know how TuD could help me and had no idea how to answer that. You will find out when people start posting!
Certain demographic info can help identify a person in rural, small, or medium towns. Age is one. City is another. I would prefer an age range. For example: under 21; 21 to 39; 41 to 69; 70+. For location, I would prefer region and country. A person could choose to put state or city (especially places like Chicago or NYC or LA). For another example, states like NC, where I live, don’t have many large cities. But NC has three distinct geographic regions. Which is why I prefer to use WNC or western NC. Other regions are piedmont and eastern.
If I am asked my age online, I usually lie but stay somewhere in the neighborhood. I especially hate requests for DOB which is what some newspapers ask at registration. I have many different birth years for those!!
I do like the devices information and type of diabetes, and date of diagnosis, if known. I will try not to get into the type 1.5 debate but it would be interesting to know how many endos use that diagnosis. I don’t know what you need the last A1c for. Trying to categorize our management?!
Basically, I think it is good to think: What is needed for a discussion profile? Why is it needed? (the latter helps to weed out unnecessary items)
Thanks for allowing me to chime in.
I look at peoples type all the time it, puts their answers into context
Location, occupation, date diagnosed and type help flesh out who people are. Perhaps if you made clear certain questions were optional it would help with peoples privacy issues.
re: removing the question your hometown, where do you come from? That is confusing, does it mean where where you were born or where do you live now? But I really like to know where people live, i.e in the USA or another country, what state are they in? This could be an optional (don’t tell if you don’t want to) question, as it actually already is because a person can now answer “None of your beeswax.”
If no info about the poster shows at each post, why collect anything? I do not like to have to click to the profile to find out if the person pumps or whatever. Why not show on the post: MDI or pump type or oral agents and db type? Before anyone jumps on it, this has nothing to do with labeling. It has everything to do with diabetes life context when responding to questions or comments.
Well, it would be nice to be able to hover the mouse over a profile picture and get some general profile info pop up (like LinkedIn does in their groups), but I think that would be asking a lot of Manny and the folks at Ning. For now, I generally will right-click on a photo and view the profile in a separate tab if I want to “look up” info on somebody. Or, if they are rather active on TuD, I may “know” them well already!
But I disagree with putting the info in a caption. I’d rather people remember me as “Scott E” than “that 37-year-old Type-1 from New Jersey”
Scott, I presume you are on this forum because you have diabetes. So it can’t be ignored. But it doesn’t mean that knowing your particular type would not help in the discussions. I would not assume that someone is labeling me “type 1” before anything else. I wish we could separate the “label” issue from needed information when exchanging comments. If we were in the same room having a conversation about diabetes, I am guessing you would have no problem indicating that you are a t1d during our discussion. ?
Take a look at posts on diabetesdaily.com and on insulinpumpforums.com. I actually prefer the format on the latter. Again, we don’t have to be specific about location if we choose not to, but the option is there for some type of basic profile and it is visible at each post.
This forum’s software may not allow this approach but that is another story. This is all just MY 2 cents and that is about what it is worth.
Hey thanks for the tip about right-clicking, Scott! That saves the trouble of going back and forth, especially if I’m in the middle of typing a response and want to check something on the profile!
Nell, I don’t disagree that the information should be out there and easily obtainable (as I suggested earlier). I just think that the trend of attaching a label to every name, every time we see the name, might have the tendency to do just that – make us identifiable by label rather than personality. I kind of like knowing people by a name and a face (or a grandchild’s face, or a pet’s face), not a label. It makes it a bit more personable.
And I thought we were only here for diabetes-related tips! 
I like locations I have found several old friends that way. Rest ok. Reed
I don’t think the job description should be restricted to diabetes related. Your answers to questions would be different if say, the person were a truck driver, a mail carrier or a full-day computer user. Not to mention scuba divers!
I restricted it because I thought it would address the “why are you here” and “what do you plan to gain/contribute” type of concerns. It could be opened up entirely, but then I’d take the “I have: Type 1, Type 2, etc…” question and add one other choice: “I don’t have diabetes, but I work in a diabetes-related field”.
Why not just say something like “The following questions are optional”? I really miss the where do you live, and occupation fields.
Just had another thought: what about an optional place where you could put your private e-mail address just for friends? I wanted to send the pdf files of the powerpoint presentations at AADE to the CDEs I know on here, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. Maybe there’s a way I don’t know about?