Out of all the sites out there I know yours the best.I love the way it’s design and the way you can design your profile.I’ve bn to other sites and I can’t even find how I can make friends,but yours is so easy thats the main thing that made me fall in love with your site.I don’t own a computer I got to my Library and I look forward coming to tudiabetes it’s the only reason I come to the Lirary.I DON"T THINK IT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED !!! Thank You For Your Site It’s the Diabetic Site OutThere. Thank You Cory Brumbalow/45
A forum is not a forum without the threads. Many sites have ways for the user to adjust the interface to their liking. THREADS ARE CRUCIAL IN A FORUM, HOWEVER. Without the threads, there is no forum. Just individual opinion. That’s pointless.
The only thing I think would make this site better would be to add some kind of notification when you get new comments on your page. At the top where it tells you if you have a new message or friend request would be a good place for something to tell you if you had new comments too. I just think it would be helpful because sometimes I forget to check my own page and don’t answer people’s comments for a few days.
You asked – so here goes!
- Do you feel the site promotes a favorable member experience? Why? Why not?
Being very new here, I have noticed the attitude for most is very positive and helpful - a must for a site to succeed… The organization is very confusing for me. Hard to locate topics or discussions that I am interested in or to find old related discussions on the same subject. Not good grades here. - What specific areas of the site do you feel are successful? Why are they successful?
The blog area has been the most interesting as the comments immediate follow, and the people are helpful and even though some participants poke some ire, it is for good reason most of the time. - What shortcomings exist with the current site and what three things would you change on the site today, if you could?
There is no organization. Example - Under Forum I expected when I read introduction that this was a place to introduce myself - no way. Under Type 2 I was expecting to find several areas for meds discussions, problems, possibly special areas for men and women, types of equipment being used, an area for low carb people, and an area for those of us doing carb calculating, and maybe a section for glycemic index users and another for those using the exchange system - but could not find - just discussions all over the place and no ease way to discern what was relevant to me and what I may not be interested in. And in posting this I was attempting to give examples - but when I went to get a reference - everything here disappeared. Doesn’t help me at all. I am now having to go back to my word processor and do this and then copy and past back here. I do this elsewhere - but it isn’t the most efficient. Another thing that I did not like was when I went looking in one of the groups to see if a friend from another country was posting there or active even, I went too far and was considered joined when that was not my intention. Need to find a way to unjoin now.
The above is my change one. Change 2 would be the color of the typed words – these as we are typing them are a light gray and difficult to read. Make them at least black. And the third change would be what Marie B said about having links to old discussion so that us “newbies” would not miss them. Especially if they are about a subject you have an interest in. And I have to agree with Karen Doering – we need an adjustable font size as my change four. - What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next?
I normally check My Page and then to blogs as of now. If time allows, I am continuing to find my way around the site. I have enjoyed a couple of the videos and this is a positive for this site. - Use a few adjectives to describe how you perceive the site today.
Forum is a jumbled haphazard thing. The people are great and I am looking forward getting to know many of them. Videos are educational and positive. - List any URLs of sites you find compelling. What specifically do you like about these sites?
I don’t know the origins of this format of this - TuDiabetes, but if you are aware of the following site, I would like you opinion of why it may have been rejected - http://www.invisionpower.com/community/board/index.html . I very much like the forum format in dLife - http://www.dlife.com/ and it has adjustable fonts. I have access to other forums for examples, but will only discuss them in an email if there is an interest. - Additional comments.
In my short experience on forums, discussion groups, and boards, I have found that the chat section has been the downfall for many – people just don’t use common courtesy.
I don’t know if you can do this, but when I’m sending a private message to a friend. or contacting the admin team about an issue, I’d like to be able to embed a link to another page.
I agree with this one! Would be very useful!
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Do you feel the site promotes a favorable member experience? Why? Why not?
Yes. The groups promote tribal membership and I can belong to more than one tribe.
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What specific areas of the site do you feel are successful? Why are they successful?
The discussion areas. Conversations are what community is all about.
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What shortcomings exist with the current site and what three things would you change on the site today, if you could?
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What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next?
First thing I do is look for interesting conversations. Then I visit my page to see if I have any comments.
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Use a few adjectives to describe how you perceive the site today.
Fast. Simple.
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List any URLs of sites you find compelling. What specifically do you like about these sites?
Juvenation.org
I think this site is great and check in here throughout the day. I always check the Forum Discussions first.
My wish list for a re-design would be an easier to scan discussion list. Also, sometimes responses get buried, and they are hard to locate.
Thanks to everyone for making this site really terrific!
Peter
I second that, I’d like to see it a bit more streamlined when searching for threads. Also this may prevent the “double” threads of the same topic.
- arranging “My Friends” pics on profile page. Default is “Recently Added”…minor issue, probably a Ning thing.
- I enjoy coming here and sharing experiences and meeting people who know exactly what I am going thru without being judged
- Leaving comments on other peoples pages and creating new discussions are a very cool feature to this site.Blogging and commenting and replying on other peoples blogs is also a very cool feature.
- I say if it aint broke don’t fix it. I am enjoying they way I can set up my page add pictures and music. Only thing that I would change so far is to have an optional SPELL CHECKER when writing a comment or leaving a message for someone. Something you have to manually click to check it. Not something that is automatically there. Just if need be. I usually will just go to Yahoo and write the word in question best I can and it will suggest the correct way to spell it. Might be nice to incorporate it in the box before you ADD REPLY , somehow.
Oh and somehow add a java script for a LIVE chat that does not lag us all out. We all can take on the spammers. It is the Lag that killed it. (although I never had lag and I would be on the live chat that you had quite a bit) Bring it back if you can! - I open My Page and respond to any comments then I will go to the home page and see what is active and comment on anything in discussions that I think might be helpful to anyone.Or just leave a comment because I am frustrated and just sick of this stupid disease for the day. It’s a nice outlet specially when you get comments back and feel the support.
5)Easy, awesome,SWEET!, - http://www.dlife.com/ http://diabeticlivingonline.com/
- Thank you for this site and thank all of “us” who contribute and make it what it is and worth coming to atleast… 6 or 7 times a day… heheh sometimes more, I am addicted… I have been to other forums that “go down” alot… I have never come here so find an empty url.
Kudos who manage and keep this site up and running!!
Keep up the great work!
7 ) additional comments, because I don’t know , where these would fit in , due to not being computer
savvy :
I have started a " reply " to someone’s discussion , decided to look up something related , return to my reply and voila , it disappeared. I do know , what to do now …have learned a bit from my errors ( and got fustrated ) in the mean time …press " add reply " and edit …for a newbee , maybe helpful to ad the word " save " as a reminder ??
Another topic , where I have difficulty : what process do I follow to invite members as my friends ?
It’s probably is simple as putting one step in front of the other ; going back 68 years ago, it was not .
do you have Vista, or Windows XP. this doesn’t happen in XP.
Follow up : the " student " at work …I do know, how to invite …just did it !!
Marie, we have Windows , so now I am really confused , why this was happening to me…thanks for your question …
- Yes it does promote a favorable member experience. And like Renee said, we do feel like family.
- Discussions and videos. Also the ability to maintain and design your own page. It sort of feels like your own little website.
- I’m not sure about the problem with having a chat room, but I believe that would be a MAJOR bonus.
What three things would I change? I would add more color and Pazazz to the home page. Make it more attractive to the eye. Design it so that when people first log on to tudiabetes they go, “WOW” Don’t over do it, just enough to make it jump out at you.
How can we get people to post a photo of themselves on their page without making it a requirement. It just feels more like family when you can see their face. To me it makes it more personal, and I feel like I know them better. - I go to the home page and look at the latest activity. See if there is anything I might want to respond to. I then look at the videos. I sort of give the home page the once over. Then I check my inbox and see if I have any friend requests. Then I go to my page.
- Accepting, Family, Inclusive, Knowledgeable, Informative, Diverse, No Barriers, Helpful, Loving,
- Check out the layout of some of these websites. I’m not saying Tudiabetes doesn’t have a nice homepage, but look at the art and the color that is on some of these sites. They are very appealing, and they just kind of make you go, Wow! That’s what Tudiabetes needs is something that makes people go Wow!
http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/galleries/25-incredibly-artistic-websites/ - I would like to be able to post things in the borders of my page. It just seems like a lot of wasted space.
Now ya’ll asked. I love this site. Been here for a while now. It’s my home page on my desktop. I’m not trying to pick it apart either. Ya’ll wanted to know what would make it better, and these are just my thoughts, but then, I’m only one man.
Peace,
Bobby
Well, Manny… it’s taken me over a year to get used to it. I’m beginning to find my way around pretty well. What would I change?.. I like being able to edit in links in the forums, but can’t in emails. Maybe you coul fix that.
In answer to your questions:
- Yes, once they become accustomed to the various sections. It’s very friendly and favorable.
- I particularly like the idea of the welcoming committee. Very good idea.
- It was a bit cumbersome in the beginning. Perhaps a more comprehensive help section.
- I usually just check the forums and see if I have any new messages that I might have missed in the email notification.
- Very friendly and warm. I like the fact that the moderators insure that things don’t get out of hand.
- I think Mendosa’s site has to rate as one of the most helpful. The glycemic index list has helped me tremendously in my quest to get off medication dependency.
- See above. Now that I’m pretty familiar with the site, I would just ask that you incorporate linking ability in emails so that I don’t have to ask people to copy and paste.
I agree with iStone on this one.
Ditto
This suggestion seems to be popping up a lot in one form or another. How about having the option of an email notification when one of our friends posts a new topic? Sorta like Yahoo! Answers does.