Let’s give potential newbies a bit more credit

This forum has been going around eight weeks, some of the members I talk to on the phone are happy with the way it has started. We agree, and members have stated here, we need to attract more newly diagnosed or long term diabetics in trouble looking for help. Some have said they feel some potential new members could have been put off by the threads and comments made about the other forum and some of it’s members. That may be the case, but I feel that is maybe selling a newbie short. I grant you they may know little about diabetes and good control, but that does not make them shrinking violets or nervous wrecks. The other forum has had more bun fights, bannings, thread deletion etc. than any other forum I have ever read, but newbies are still joining every day.

OK, I accept I don’t get the balance right all the time and my style is abrasive, but I believe free speech is a basic fundamental in every aspect of life, especially so on a forum. The Oxford dictionary says this regarding a forum “A meeting or medium where ideas and views can be exchanged” if you don’t have free speech it is not a forum, when people are afraid to say what they believe and feel, because they will be banned, or some may find their words disagreeable, what are you left with ?

Only one person has been banned from this forum on several occasions, a very well known internet troll with absolutely nothing of any interest to say to anyone here. A complete muppet who will no doubt be back again, thems the breaks. I hope this forum will find a balance and work is in hand to raise the forum profile in the rankings. We need to be patient, it will take time to become established and well known. But we must never become a cakes and commiserations club or a Gulag where people are banned or thread locked at the behest of a small group of long time members, or on the whim of a moderator or administrator, or because the forum is going in a direction that does not fit in with the long term commercial aims of it’s owners.

Regards Eddie

eddie1 wrote:This forum has been going around eight weeks, some of the members I talk to on the phone are happy with the way it has started. We agree, and members have stated here, we need to attract more newly diagnosed or long term diabetics in trouble looking for help. Some have said they feel some potential new members could have been put off by the threads and comments made about the other forum and some of it’s members. That may be the case, but I feel that is maybe selling a newbie short. I grant you they may know little about diabetes and good control, but that does not make them shrinking violets or nervous wrecks. The other forum has had more bun fights, bannings, thread deletion etc. than any other forum I have ever read, but newbies are still joining every day.

OK, I accept I don’t get the balance right all the time and my style is abrasive, but I believe free speech is a basic fundamental in every aspect of life, especially so on a forum. The Oxford dictionary says this regarding a forum “A meeting or medium where ideas and views can be exchanged” if you don’t have free speech it is not a forum, when people are afraid to say what they believe and feel, because they will be banned, or some may find their words disagreeable, what are you left with ?

Only one person has been banned from this forum on several occasions, a very well known internet troll with absolutely nothing of any interest to say to anyone here. A complete muppet who will no doubt be back again, thems the breaks. I hope this forum will find a balance and work is in hand to raise the forum profile in the rankings. We need to be patient, it will take time to become established and well known. But we must never become a cakes and commiserations club or a Gulag where people are banned or thread locked at the behest of a small group of long time members, or on the whim of a moderator or administrator, or because the forum is going in a direction that does not fit in with the long term commercial aims of it’s owners.

Regards Eddie

Where's a LIKE button when you need it!
Just to add to this,I feel with the diversity of the members we currently have here,along with their wealth of knowledge and anecdotes combined with our moderation style and simple rules that offers members a proper 'Soapbox' I firmly believe we can offer so much to newbies and given time-we CAN be a winner...We're called 'The Low Carb Diabetic' for a bloody important reason.

Best Regards

Paul

Nice post Eddie. I sometimes get frustrated and impatient expecting lots of new members but I understand now it's a slow process. For a newish forum, our member base is great and the important this is, we're an active forum. Pretty sure we will break 5K posts tonight.
I am not sure how we can get into the Google search because for some reason, we don't seem to show up. Eddie's blog is always very high but the forum itself doesn't show. I'm sure the more we post and as the bots pick up certain buzz words this will help the situation. In the meantime, let's all try and get our name out there. Tell your friends, let others know on other forums. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here, use it. Lastly, the safety in knowing you can express an opinion here without censorship is important. Differences of opinion are OK too. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if we all agreed on everything, all the time, I'd leave :-)
Take care all ! Mo

I think the least said about other sites the better
I noticed there is no message function, is there a reason for this?

Jack4 wrote:I think the least said about other sites the better
I noticed there is no message function, is there a reason for this?

Didn't feel the need for a PM system Jack to be honest. Keep things out in the open.

I can see the point, it makes sense to me. I've joined several diabetic sites and I post on 2 of them in the last 6 months. so this site is good, as far as I'm concerned

Jack4 wrote:I can see the point, it makes sense to me. I've joined several diabetic sites and I post on 2 of them in the last 6 months. so this site is good, as far as I'm concerned

Thanks Jack. Hope you stick around and if you any questions or concerns, please ask. Take care, Mo

eddie1 wrote:This forum has been going around eight weeks, some of the members I talk to on the phone are happy with the way it has started. We agree, and members have stated here, we need to attract more newly diagnosed or long term diabetics in trouble looking for help. Some have said they feel some potential new members could have been put off by the threads and comments made about the other forum and some of it’s members. That may be the case, but I feel that is maybe selling a newbie short. I grant you they may know little about diabetes and good control, but that does not make them shrinking violets or nervous wrecks. The other forum has had more bun fights, bannings, thread deletion etc. than any other forum I have ever read, but newbies are still joining every day.

OK, I accept I don’t get the balance right all the time and my style is abrasive, but I believe free speech is a basic fundamental in every aspect of life, especially so on a forum. The Oxford dictionary says this regarding a forum “A meeting or medium where ideas and views can be exchanged” if you don’t have free speech it is not a forum, when people are afraid to say what they believe and feel, because they will be banned, or some may find their words disagreeable, what are you left with ?

Only one person has been banned from this forum on several occasions, a very well known internet troll with absolutely nothing of any interest to say to anyone here. A complete muppet who will no doubt be back again, thems the breaks. I hope this forum will find a balance and work is in hand to raise the forum profile in the rankings. We need to be patient, it will take time to become established and well known. But we must never become a cakes and commiserations club or a Gulag where people are banned or thread locked at the behest of a small group of long time members, or on the whim of a moderator or administrator, or because the forum is going in a direction that does not fit in with the long term commercial aims of it’s owners.

Regards Eddie

Just spotted this earlier and another reason we HAVE to be different from the rest so this doesn't end up as our fate...

eddie1 wrote:

Only one person has been banned from this forum on several occasions, a very well known internet troll with absolutely nothing of any interest to say to anyone here. A complete muppet who will no doubt be back again, thems the breaks.

Is not that statement a oxymoron? As a troll defined by internet slang is someone that makes comments from the shadows and shuns publicity.  

Moose

I think when Eddie says " well known" he means persistent. He still posts from the shadows using aliases but just keeps joining different forums under various names.

mo1905 wrote:I think when Eddie says " well known" he means persistent. He still posts from the shadows using aliases but just keeps joining different forums under various names.

Indeed! VERY persistent but we always spot him in the end as he always slips up and who knows-he may be still on this forum posting. ;-)

Paul wrote:

mo1905 wrote:I think when Eddie says " well known" he means persistent. He still posts from the shadows using aliases but just keeps joining different forums under various names.

Indeed! VERY persistent but we always spot him in the end as he always slips up and who knows-he may be still on this forum posting. ;-)

Think that's called containment ;-)

mo1905 wrote:

Paul wrote:

mo1905 wrote:I think when Eddie says " well known" he means persistent. He still posts from the shadows using aliases but just keeps joining different forums under various names.

Indeed! VERY persistent but we always spot him in the end as he always slips up and who knows-he may be still on this forum posting. ;-)

Think that's called containment ;-)

or a padded cell!