HealingWell's New Chaper

Agree with Poopydoop & CC: please don't turn HP into a Google/Facebook subsidiary!!!!!! They are invaders of personal privacy who profit from sharing our info with advertisers plus most everybody else, too. I will definitely quit HP if that happens. Besides, I prefer valid science over lengthy quack alternative postings. Thanks to Peter Waite and all the moderators for giving us forum members a quality Website over many years, superior to any so-called "social media", IMO!!!!!! I don't need a Website that flashes and sparkles in multiple colors to share info/empathy on health care issues. / Old Hat (40+ yrs with left-sided UC; in remission taking Colazal)

Ditto.

The site is easy to maneuver around in--which is very important when you aren't feeling well.

Not having our personal information harvested or shared is also very important.

A chat feature might be nice... I didn't use the old one so am unsure.

Knowing our group and being able to touch base has been a life saver for me.
Peter, moderators, and participants.. Thank you all.

Clo

Private messaging would be great!

Interesting point from Old Mike regarding forums versus SM. Essentially the SM site algorithms are designed to raise things to the top for 24 hours at most then rapidly fall out of view into the great abyss (defaults to sort by Hot topics). It's a rapid sink or swim for posters to get their question seen and answered. It's the attention deficit disorder of SM. Never see a hot debate sit at the top of the post list for many days like here (here default sort brings any new post commented to top, regardless of initial post creation date), or reappear again later on when others add insight to old topics.

Post Edited (iPoop) : 8/15/2023 5:29:07 AM (GMT-8)

PM would be great. Back when chat was available mods in many of the forums had a group chat schedule. At first it worked good, but then new people came in & things got nasty & vulgar. These were agitators that did not participate in the forums unless it was to cause problems. As the site grew the soft ware couldn't handle it, so Peter disabled it for these reasons. It truly became a disaster.

We will have to see what happens, I don't expect major changes, but we will see.

Don't know what SM is. I have never, nor ever will sign in to any site through FB or Google unless it is either of those only. I keep everything separate. As long as there is the option for isolated sign in, I will stay. Re pics...hope it's not like that. Description is good enough, no need for showing a perfect poop, a bloody one etc.

It would be nice if signatures are automatically attached...Peter's attitude toward that was irritating.

Also...the mobile option could be improved to show who last posted and last post seen, etc
q

I think EHS has an interesting line to walk, not change too much to turn off the established long-term posters here, but also change enough to draw in new traffic. Advertising helps some, drawing in traffic from however they can manage would make the forums more active for certain.

I know UC is a young person's illness, hitting a lot of people in their teens and 20's. Ask your average kid of that age and the thought of an old-school forum might make them snicker a bit and have never used one before. I'm 45 and well, grew up with forums and prior to that local peer-to-peer dial up BBS systems haha. I believe most of us long time posters at HW are around my age as well. Don't think there's many, if any, young posters at least on the regular.

I'd guess your average teens or twenties new patient likely won't use Facebook Groups for IBD, as your mom and grandmother uses Facebook (making it instantly uncool).

Reddit broadly on the Internet is known for it's joking memes and lot's of stupid stuff and trends a younger demographic. It can be a mean place at times (with posts downvoted into an oblivion and poor decorum) and nsfw stuff. I find the chronic disease areas to be civil and nice, a bit unlike the rest of that site. Very different than here, I don't know many posters well despite being on there 6 years now. So the sense of community's a lot different than here.

Oh CC is right.

I just tried to Google online support for UC.. like I did in 2013. HW didn't even. Pop up on my first 3 pages.

How can they change that...

So I Googled again... Instead of online support I Google online support forums and then it came in at the top. Number two.

Amazing how adding or leaving out a word can impact searches so much. Thanks Straydog for the help!

I wonder if it's my phone search history that impacted it?

I don't know how it all works I just know there was a difference.... But if your phone search history impacts the way your new searches are launched maybe that's what did it?

IDK... I'm just grateful I found it when I did and hope that others find us and benefit from the site.

You can always make a fake Facebook account. Easy enough.

I think there should be rules to follow. I am unsure on prohibition of specific topics..some of the things that I advocate for don't have "scientific" studies... And some of them have studies for and against. I think you need a bit of individualism. People have to feel safe enough to bring up a topic and not ridiculed. It's a fine line. If you limit subjects you may limit people. Plus if someone comes up with a crazy thought you all question it enough that others realized "this may not be safe".

As for the heated discussions...Two warnings right in the middle of the conversation indicating that if the group does not cool down the rabble rousers will be banned for a week and the thread may be locked down for a period of time....and contact the sh2t stirrer directly. Let them know one more time and you will be placed in time out for a week...then two weeks the next time they act up. There was recently a thread on here that a moderator addressed it directly which I found refreshing. They called out the rabble rousers and indicated the thread could be locked. I could look at what was being said and know what was acceptable and what wasn't. Locking the thread though.... I don't know. Too bad they can't put it in a time out status so we can come back to it later.

And I'll be honest... Those heated discussions did and still do make me check back in to see what's going on. It's that little bit of spice that keeps it interesting.

I wonder if reddit banns people or subject matter? Because when I looked at it - there seemed to a lot of activity.

Clo

“alternatives claims must be backed by links to scientific studies, etc etc.”

I don't understand. I thought if someone found an effective alternative that worked for themselves, such as a gluten-free diet, that they could share it here. Maybe that is why there are so few members here who feel welcome sharing their alternative experiences. I miss imagardener2.