I'd appreciate your comments on how to make our community more user friendly

[Mark]

All,

WinterSky made a good suggestion to me the other day:

Are you familiar with stickies in the forums? The admins or moderators can create or make a current thread a sticky so that it stays on top of that forum. Perhaps instead of creating a forum specifically related to suicide etc., we can have a sticky at the top of an existing forum or forums that are much more visible and more easily accessible than a FAQ. You could link to the part of the FAQ relating to this topic and go directly there. Or, you could have advice in the stickied thread on how to cope with suicide in general, suicidal ideation, and everything related to the topic, and also on how to deal with it here if at all.

Are you familiar with locking threads? The thread on suicide could be locked and for information purposes only. Or of course it could remain unlocked for as long as you want.I think this sort of thing could be useful for us to do, but am not sure what stuff we should highlight and where to put it. So I am soliciting comments on what might be helpful information to post and in what form that might go. If anyone has some ideas for how to make our community here more 'user friendly' especially to users who are in a crisis and need help that is obvious and not hidden, I'm all ears.

Mark

[kaudio]

I agree with using sticky threads to highlight different parts of Mental Help Net, such as the FAQ, the blogs, the podcasts, and the self-help resources. When I first visited this site through a Google search, I remember visiting the Community part of the site. But, I did not visit the self-help resources until Mark and the other administrators mentioned them in their forum posts.

One idea that comes to mind is to write a sticky thread that serves much like the Psychological Self-Tools - Online Self-Help Book; but, instead of self-help advice, the content will address crisis issues for readers who presumably are undergoing an immediate crisis, and how to seek out help. The intention would be to tell newcomers and regular members of the Mental Help Net Community that help is readily accessible even if it does not seem that way. For instance, such a sticky can invite visitors to share their thoughts with the Mental Help Net Community; encourage them to visit relevant links to other online resources, such as crisis chatrooms; and give some real life alternatives, like phone number directories to community oriented services for various countries (I am imagining such directories exist, but I have no idea).

Also, some of the forums, like General Support, have grown such that their introductions have been pushed out of sight. We can use the sticky threads to bring them back to the top, and to share relevant links to the "Topics" section.

[confused12]

Oh yes what a great idea. I need one sticky thread things to 'grounding' in the anxiety, ptsd section even.

[appleby]

I like these ideas --

I am a member of several forums where they use these stickies -- They really help to be able to find resources when you need them, whether it's a helpline, a suggestion for grounding, a link that gives additional information about a topic I'm interested in, if I want to be reminded of the rules of the community etc.

Great suggestion -- Winter Sky

AB

[WinterSky]

What about a whole separate section entitled "Crisis" and instead of the color the others are now, use white characters on red background. And then have one separate forum that is easy to see and access.

[ASchwartz]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your suggestions.

As I have no experience with "stickies" I want to urge everyone to alert Dr. Dombeck to these ideas and discuss the practicality of putting it into practice.

Allan:)

[WinterSky]

Hello Dr. Schwartz,

A good example of stickies, sub-forums, etc. can be found at this web site at Talk Camp (http://www.talkcamp.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20). Perhaps we can have a crisis forum as a sub-forum under the section "Mental Help"? Sub-forums, as you might guess, is about organizing the data which IMO is practical.

A really good example by Dr. Dombeck of the practicality of a sticky can be found... (Please note: the following thread is spoilered for pedophilia discussion. Please do not open it if you think it might be triggering.) here (http://community.mentalhelp.net/showthread.php?t=56).

Here is an example of what can be done here:

Mental Help

http://usera.ImageCave.com/qualityetc/list.jpg

About why this idea came up specifically about crisis was because I had a crisis of my own and all of my coping skills went right out the window. I was desperate and did not know what to do with my feelings. Since this site is one place where I turn to, I naturally came here and started to write a post. But in the end I did not actually post the message.

[Kay_J]

Mark and Allan,

This is not a stickie-related suggestion, but I'd appreciate if you could also consider underlining links put on posts or altering their colour to a bit more discernible one. Partly because of their obscure colour (and partly because of my carelessness) I tend to fail to recognise links on longer posts, and guess I'm not alone in this.:rolleyes:

Thanks,
Kay

[WinterSky]

Mark and Allan,

This is not a stickie-related suggestion, but I'd appreciate if you could also consider underlining links put on posts or altering their colour to a bit more discernible one. Partly because of their obscure colour (and partly because of my carelessness)


I tend to fail to recognise links on longer posts, and guess I'm not alone in this. :rolleyes:

Thanks,
Kay

Hi Kay, I tried to take this to a PM but you do not have that enabled at this time.

I just wanted to check in with you to see if I am accurate in my thinking about the meaning of your last sentence there. You say you guess you are not alone in this (about the links) and then roll your eyes.

Are you saying that I am alone in my idea of having a crisis section? I brought it up in a PM, and obviously Dr. Dombeck felt the need to ask the rest of the members their opinions on it.

If I am alone in this, then certainly there is no need for it.

[laedladd]

You can tell me to keep my nose out of it if you want, but reading Kay's post, I didn't get any feeling that she was referring to your idea - I thought the roll-eyes was to do with the fact that she was missing links. As in, "I keep missing links unnecessarily - sickened :rolleyes:"

Nothing wrong with the crisis section in my opinion - as I understand it it would be a stickied thread in a section with some links to useful articles and stuff that you could access quickly when you need to, right?

The problem with hard-to-see links is also one you see on a lot of forums - I usually resort to typing the link text in CAPS so it stands out more - a change of colour scheme could be useful.

[WinterSky]

You can tell me to keep my nose out of it if you want, but reading Kay's post, I didn't get any feeling that she was referring to your idea - I thought the roll-eyes was to do with the fact that she was missing links. As in, "I keep missing links unnecessarily - sickened :rolleyes:"

Nothing wrong with the crisis section in my opinion - as I understand it it would be a stickied thread in a section with some links to useful articles and stuff that you could access quickly when you need to, right?

The problem with hard-to-see links is also one you see on a lot of forums - I usually resort to typing the link text in CAPS so it stands out more - a change of colour scheme could be useful.

Thanks Laedladd, you're fine. I just was not sure. Sometimes I might take things wrong.

[Kay_J]

---------------------

[WinterSky]

WinterSky,

Gosh, I certainly did not mean any harm to you. Rather, I appreciate your eagerness to improve usability of this community and I too liked your ideas: Crisis section, sub-sections, stickies etc. I just wanted to make another suggestion apart from them, for I am not familiar with web-related techniques; and any part of my previous post was not pointed at you. My apologies, obviously I was not clear.

Thank you for your post. But no apologies necessary! I was just checking in with you because of my reaction which is not about your post, it is about my "stuff" entirely.

Have a good day! :)

[Mark]

Just want to say that I'm keeping up with this, and like these ideas. Some of them will take some time to implement but are very good ideas (like the links into the main site, and the making of links more visible - I've had that issue myself. Maybe we can start on implementation next week sometime? Or soon anyway (busy!)

[FlowFreak]

On Posting New Threads and Post Content

I read a thread where another person was ****Triggered**** by it's content being unaware of it's content. When someone is to post a new thread with heavy content they can put in with their topic such as "Nightmares" **Warning***May Trigger Some or "I need help" **Warning rape/SA Triggers**, and sometimes even in the actual post when it comes to the heavy content a warning of ***Warning may be Triggering/upsetting for some*** and then that person knows, and can choose to stop reading in the post.

[laedladd]

In relation to the previous suggestion, there are already some guidelines about this in the FAQ (http://community.mentalhelp.net/faq.php?faq=rules#faq_topics)

I think it's possible that the FAQ isn't pushed enough - not many people seem to know about it. There should probably be a sticky at the top of each forum/section entitled "READ THIS FIRST" with the FAQ linked from it.

Is this trigger tag like what you were suggesting FlowFreak?

[confused12]

I don't know about anyone else but I am triggered by all this conflict being spilled into general sections etc. It is as if people are trying gain support from the idea 'you are either with me or against me' type of posting.

I already restrict myself from some places here so I wont be triggered but I am finding conflict spilling out from other threads and trigger topics being brought up in places I would not expect.

Sorry I don't know what can be done. And I am aware I own my reaction to the posts and need to work on it. Just now however I am not finding this place safe. But I am not going to give up on it just try and work with my own feelings about why it is having such impact.

It's not the individual people, I think it is a boundary thing, what to say,how to say it and in what forum is appropriate for what content.
If people have personal issues with others I would hope it be kept that way through pm and if there was a real issue that moderators could help out.
I am not here to build an empire. I just wish to share ideas, experiences and support without over stepping the line and be dragged into conflict.

I guess it is a bit like teaching teenagers how to use instant messaging. Of importance, to stop and think before pressing send. Ask ourselves questions like what is my intention for sending this post? how may the receiver perceive my post? what am I getting out of posting this post? etc

I guess I am cautious and go to great lengths not to offend people and often think to much.

Sorry but I am rather frustrated irl and I seam to be whining on. I will now stop. Thanks for listen and sorry I could come up with a solution.

confused12:confused:

[kaudio]

Perhaps when the sticky post feature is in place, a little treatment on protecting oneself from some bad practices used on the Internet should be included within a sticky. For this forum, it may be useful to describe what spam posts generally look like, and to refrain from clicking on links without checking where the link leads to. Further, members can be warned to avoid clicking on links with tiny urls that are intended to hide the real link, and redirect visitors to other websites which could potentially contain anything.

I thought of this myself when I read Dunii's post (http://community.mentalhelp.net/showpost.php?p=5259&postcount=164) and clicked the link he offered. When I followed through his link I was indeed greeted by a blog as described in the post, but the speed with which I followed through with his link reminded me of some of the concerns above that I overlooked.

[Mark]

I posted about how to make posts (threads actually) become sticky in the moderator's forum. I'm not sure if non-moderators can make this happen. basically what is involved is that you start a new thread, and check the "stick this thread" box (in the options section below the post) before submitting it. I'll put a "read this first" thread into self-injury now, and maybe mods can help implement this across other forums that need this to happen.

[mscat]

Yes, I am in agreement of trigger warnings on esp. Si posts. I would especailly feel terrible if anyone was ever influenced by my my unhealthy coping skills.

[appleby]

Hi Mark --

I've been giving your question a lot of thought and have several suggestions. What is unique about this community is the fact that it welcomes people with so many types of mental and emotional issues. I like that it's possible to receive support from people with many different perspectives.

Sometimes I think this forum is too "problem and issue" focused, though. And I'd think that there is a need to have some more positive ways for people to be able to connect with each other. Here are a couple of ideas that I have that would help this community to be more supportive and feel more community like:

1) To have a more "positive" focused community coping forum where people might post about breakthroughs and positive life and therapy experiences they have had, where posts with positive coping ideas like the "101 or more ways to prevent SI" thread could be found and added to, and where people who are doing well can offer and share their hope.

2) To have a "lighter" forum where people could play games and share stories. There are lots of forum games which people can play with each other.
There are games like "this or that" where,for example, one person asks which do you prefer -- coffee or tea? and the the next person might say Tea and then offers another couple of options -- beach or woods and so forth. Having a games forum can give people a break from the day-to-day difficulties of dealing with emotional and mental health issues.

Another thought/question that I have had is about people being allowed to post when they have an intent to hurt or kill themselves. I think those posts need to edited or removed. I don't think it is a good thing to allow for people to post about that, especially when people on the forum can't do anything about it. We are unable to help the person. At that point , the person needs to be turning to their own community,their family, friends, therapist, psychiatrist, suicide hotline, emergency room etc. for help. There is difference between announcing "I am going to SI" or "kill myself" and "I am feeling like I want to die" or "like I want to hurt myself". If in the latter, those are feelings without intents, then I think it can be a good thing to post and get support from members of this community, but the moment the person has decided that they are going to act on it, this is no place for them to be. It's not a fair position to put people here in.

So these are some of my thoughts...

Appleby

[kaudio]

Thank you for sharing your ideas, Appleby. I agree that posts concerning SI and suicide should be edited to warn other members of the serious, and possibly triggering contents. So, perhaps members should post notices at the Feedback forum concerning such posts, and ask that the title include a warning for other members to prevent triggering. I will also keep this in mind, and edit the titles of such posts with the [Trigger!] tag when I read such posts.

[Kay_J]

---------------------

[Mark]

It's on my list to work through these suggestions systematically one of these days. :o So much to do!

Appleby, we do have the Lounge which was set up for the purpose you describe (to be a place for lighter conversation). Do you have specific suggestions for ways to expand on that theme? I like the idea of lightening things up, but please do keep in mind that the main mission of this place is a serious one - support for hurting people - and that while we can do that sort of support with laughter too, we also need to do it with painful talk sometimes (because that is the way it usually seems to come out).

A "coping" forum is a good idea. I will implement.

Kay - I don't believe that just anyone can make a thread sticky. Only moderators.

Mark

[finding my way]

I am not techno at all. I tried to see if my question was already answered here, but I just got more confused. The thing I wonder is, do people understand that only the last post in a category shows up? I wish no post showed up at all for the big list, so that people wouldn't think their post disappeared, especially new people that are already fragile about speaking up. I finally discovered the "new posts" feature a week ago... there is so much to figure out about using the site! Anyway, if no posts show up in the big lists, it would be more obvious that you have to click on the heading to get all the posts for that category.

Also, there's some pretty desperate stuff on the blog part. That's awful that people are pleaing for help there where not many people are paying any attention to what's being said.

[neetugarg37]

hi, it is a good idea that we uses hyperlinks so that community made more user friendly.so that every user that unknown about the site can get useful information.
-------
neetu
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[paula]

What about people like myself that has only just learned how to switch a computer on, never mind going on about stickies and all the rest of it!

No dare I say, that there's bound to be others like myself? I haven't got a clue? I may have a son who is clued up about computers, being an Administrator of his own site his self, but I can't keep asking him 'how to do this and how to do that?' You forget that!

[paula]

Do you know, what is it with my post! You try and get involved within the community by answering post and WHAT FOR?

I DON'T KNOW WHY I BOTHER! THIS POST WILL GO UN-ANSWERED TILL IT GETS KNOCKED OFF! GET INVOLVED! NO THANKS!

[kaudio]

Hi Paula, I agree that learning about information technology can be difficult at times. Yet, wherever there is a will to learn, people will find a way.

Everyone's suggestions and thoughts to improve the user experience are always welcome, but please remember that this is a community of volunteers. Members have their own daily tasks to take care of alongside the tasks related to participating here. The time it takes for others to respond to your post does not mean anything.

Also, I am not sure what is meant when you say your post will be “knocked off”. Your post will remain on the forum.

neetu: I agree with your hyperlinks suggestion. I will include hyperlinks to other Mental Help Net pages wherever I can. I also strongly suggest that everyone take some time to explore the site beyond the community section. Mental Help Net offers a wealth of information concerning a vast array of topics by way of articles and podcasts.

finding: I share your observation that some members are seeking help in the blog section. When I can, I direct these members to share their thoughts on the forums as well. In my opinion, the blogs tend to serve more as journals for members to share their thoughts on a more ad hoc basis on any number of topics. The forums may share this ad hoc nature, but they serve as a space for posts focused on seeking and offering support.

[paula]

Hi Kaudio

Everyone's suggestions and thoughts to improve the user experience are always welcome, but please remember that this is a community of volunteers. Members have their own daily tasks to take care of alongside the tasks related to participating here. The time it takes for others to respond to your post does not mean anything.

How can I forget that this is a community of volunteers, it's drummed in often enough!

I also have given a lot of my time here in the past! I just expect a LITTLE back of what I've give! If not of the volunteers, as you would put it, then of the staff!

I too have my own daily task, like a full time job! I'm sure if I can manage it, others can, including the administrators! It sure looks to me like it's the same volunteers that carry this site, and keep it going! Because lets face it, without us volunteers, where would this site be?

Going back to the original post, could it be possible to ask one of you volunteers or any of the administrators, to explain the jargon that you all are so keen on having here. I mean, because we all can turn a computer on/off, we're supposed to know the in's/out's of it's capabilities as well, are we not?

The problem here, is taken for granted, that we are all related to einstein? Well I'm not and I'm not ashamed to admit it either! It's all good and well making all these suggestion's, but if you take a minute, just to sit back and think, 'well for the sake of them that are not clued up on the computer and are a bit thick! what we will do is EXPLAIN in a non computer jargon, exactly how we prepare to modify things on this community, by asking for any feedback on any problems, that volunteers may be facing, trying to understand all this **** that you all are so quick to add!'

[ASchwartz]

Hi Paula,

You "sound" kind of angry. Is that true? Do you have any suggestions on how we could make this experience better for you and for others?
I am asking this of others as well.

Allan:)

[Karl13]

What and where is this lounge that you speak of? What is a stickie? I work with computers all day i dont know this stuff. But what if you had a chat room that u could interact like now time. I really enjoy the blogs but if there was a Chat room sometimes it is easier to interact now time. To share ideas one at a time in stead of sitting down and writting a book report. Sorry about taking 2 whole pages in "Abuse and Bullying". It takes alot to write it all out. i actually worked on it for quite a few days on word then copied and pasted. I still have it saved incase i want to add later.

Duh never mind i just saw it as i left..(the lounge)

[paula]

Today 03:43 PM
Karl13
Lounge??
What and where is this lounge that you speak of? What is a stickie? I work with computers all day i dont know this stuff. But what if you had a chat room that u could interact like now time. I really enjoy the blogs but if there was a Chat room sometimes it is easier to interact now time. To share ideas one at a time in stead of sitting down and writting a book report

I think you can kiss my arse goodbye to that idea! There not to well up on volunteers idea's on here, didn't you know that Karl?

Glad to see your in my world here Karl! So, you too are not clued up on this stickies lark? Gosh! I thought it was just me, being thick on here! That makes Two of us, beep, beep! move over Beethoven!

[malign]

Paula,

I understand that you are asking to have some of the strange terms explained, but it is not entirely clear from your posts which terms you have trouble with.

I will try to explain 'sticky' threads. They are threads that an admin or moderator has decided will always be displayed at the top of the forum that the post was made in. For instance, if you go to the Self-Injury forum, there is a thread started by Mark whose headline starts "Sticky: Read this first, please". It has a little pin symbol to show that it is sticky. It is meant to remind people to use the 'Trigger' warnings. For that reason, he wanted it to always display at the top of the forum, so people wouldn't miss it.

There are lots of other terms, and I know they're confusing. Maybe (as a suggestion for improvement, perhaps) we could all throw out words we'd like to have defined in a Glossary attached to the FAQ (frequently-asked questions) link at the top.

[JustTrying]

ok i am not too smart ask anyone that knows me... forget the fact that I have passed alot of test like the GED for 2007 top 3 percent of all graduates.. not just GED but all graduates... Started and bulit , ran 4 bussiness.. I am stupid! I am stupid.... but I digress.... Stickies i did not understasnd until I read about them. CHAT I would like...... <Mark



JT(gabs)

[Mark]

for the sake of them that are not clued up on the computer and are a bit thick! what we will do is EXPLAIN in a non computer jargon, exactly how we prepare to modify things on this communityPaula,

can you ask specific questions? or name specific terms that you want defined? I would like to help clarify things for you but I don't know specifically what you need to know about. This software is not the easiest thing in the world to understand, I know.

The community is divided into "forums". Each forum is about a theme, so we have a forum for "Depression", and a separate forum for "self-injury", etc. the "Lounge" is an example of one of the forums.

Forums are composed of "posts" which are the individual contributions made by each member. You've made many posts yourself, Paula, and that is why your posts are now marked as "Senior Member". These status labels like "Junior Member" and "Senior Member" are detemined automatically by the community software, in this case based on the total number of posts you've contributed.

Member accounts are divided into three categories. There are regular users who can create posts, there are moderators who can create posts and also edit and delete posts (according to the community rules), and finally there are administrator users like myself who can create, edit and delete posts, and also set up new forums and do all sorts of back end stuff to alter the community. There are only a few moderators, kaudio being one of them.

Within forums, posts are organized into "threads". A thread is a collection of posts that have been made in response to one another. Threads are started with an initial posting, and then people respond to that posting. All the responses considered together are called the "thread". I guess they use the term "thread" to denote the idea that the various posts in a thread are strung together kind of like a chain of threaded popcorn that might be put on a Christmas tree as a decoration at Christmas time.

Most posts have no special status. that means that they enter the thread they are made to in order of the date they were created. So posts made on monday will appear before posts made on tuesday. The threads are read in decending date order, so the first post in a thread will appear at the top of the thread, and subsequent posts will appear in date order down the page, and then onto additional pages as are necessary to display the whole thread.

It isn't only posts within a thread that are organized in order of the date of their creation. It is the same for threads within a forum. There is one exception to this rule. Some threads are "sticky". Sticky threads can only be created by administrators (and possibly by moderators). Sticky threads always appear at the top of the list of threads within any given forum they appear in, regardless of the date of their creation. Sticky threads are used to highlight important information that readers who are viewing the forum ought to know about (in the estimation of the community). It has been suggested here in this thread that we make sticky threads within all the majojr forums that contain information about the resources available within the larger Mental Help Net website so that people visiting the community can find that information quickly. It has also been suggested that we create sticky posts that highlight the site rules, which presently can be found in the "FAQs" section of the website.

Please ask if there are other terms that you want defined.

Mark

[paula]

I think you knew exactly what I meant?

Karl13
Lounge??
What and where is this lounge that you speak of? What is a stickie? I work with computers all day i dont know this stuff.


Stickies i did not understasnd until I read about them. By Gabby

finding my way I am not techno at all. I tried to see if my question was already answered here, but I just got more confused. The thing I wonder is, do people understand that only the last post in a category shows up? I wish no post showed up at all for the big list, so that people wouldn't think their post disappeared, especially new people that are already fragile about speaking up. I finally discovered the "new posts" feature a week ago... there is so much to figure out about using the site! Anyway, if no posts show up in the big lists, it would be more obvious that you have to click on the heading to get all the posts for that category.


confused12
Conflict
I don't know about anyone else but I am triggered by all this conflict being spilled into general sections etc. It is as if people are trying gain support from the idea 'you are either with me or against me' type of posting.

I already restrict myself from some places here so I wont be triggered but I am finding conflict spilling out from other threads and trigger topics being brought up in places I would not expect.

I am glad I am not alone on this one and Thank you Mark and Malign, for explaining something that should of been explained at the beginning of this post, which would of saved a lot of confusion, regarding, how to use sticky threads on a forum! Now that wasn't hard was it!

[kaudio]

For future reference, there is a faq concerning general use of the forum (http://community.mentalhelp.net/faq.php?faq=vb3_board_faq#faq_vb3_board_usage) as well.

[paula]

I know, I've read it, now!

[confused12]

Hi Mark,

Are you able to add a 'thank you' reply to the bottom each post. So like if I started a thread and wanted to thank someone for there reply but others had posted in between I could actually go to that post and click on a thank you icon or something and the post a thank you from me, with my name attached.
This would let the poster know that I have read the post and appreciate the time they have taken to respond to my thread.

Confused12

[Mark]

I'm not sure there is a way to accomplish this. But I do think that you can simply append a post to a thread and start addressing the concerns of an earlier post (even if there are posts in between). People do that all the time.

[malign]

One way that seems to work is to just address the person you're replying to by their screenname. That allows you to reply to multiple people with one post, as well, if there have been several posts since your last visit.

I only rarely thank people directly for their reply; perhaps that means I'm taking them for granted, though I don't mean to. The way I look at it, we're all here to exchange our thoughts. The gratitude I feel is towards the community as a whole.

[kaudio]

One possibility is to use the reputation system to convey one's thanks. For the community, the reputation system is currently presented as part of the sandbox policy against spam; but, we could also use the reputation button as a 'thank you' button as well. Under the 'User CP', a member can see the threads where other members have given them reputation approvals. This way, the reputation system can be used to give thanks to a particular member while ensuring that the member in question will know what thread they participated in that merited that thanks. The only missing feature here is that one cannot tell who gave them the reputation approval.

[finding my way]

Hi Mark,

When I am NOT logged on, I can view many posts when I click on "todays posts." When I log on and comment on one, all the other ones I wanted to comment on disappear. I have to log off to see them again. Can that be fixed?

Thanks!