Tips for new forum members

[Lulu54]

Hello everyone,

It sure has been hopping around here lately with lots of new faces - I counted 11 new members on page 1 yesterday.  MedHelp is doing a great job getting our forum noticed - especially through google searches.  Welcome again to all of you new faces.  I hope you will find what you are looking for in an online community and stick around with us.

We seem to do this tips for newbies often, and I hope everyone will add their additional tips to this post.    Perhaps we need to turn this into a health page too?

Here are a few tips to make life here a bit easier for all of us:

Please try to break up your post into small paragraphs (sections).  Most of us have vision problems and reading a long block of words is sometimes impossible.  If the words go on and on most of us have to stop reading.  Its not that we don't want to read it, we just can't!  :-)

Our health pages have a ton of valuable information - all of them written by members of this community.  That means they are easy to understand and are not in undecipherable medical words.  This is a resource that you should use over and over - most basic questions are answered there.  You can get to the health pages by clicking on the yellow icon on the upper right side of this page.

The archives here of old questions are also a tremendous resource.  Search for old answers and read them.  But if you want to comment on something that is old or ask an additional question, please start a brand new post.  Many of our members do not respond to the lengthy old threads.  We want your questions and comments to be read and the best way for that to happen is for you to begin a new discussion.  You can tell what is an old conversation by the dates next to the contributor's name.

IF SOMEONE TYPES THEIR MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS, THEY ARE NOT BEING RUDE.  THEY SIMPLY HAVE VISION PROBLEMS AND NEED TO MAKE THE TEXT LEGIBLE.  IT IS OK TO ANSWER IN ALL CAPS.  

I would venture a guess that we are one of the most knowledgeable, supportive, understanding and compassionate communities on the web.  We either have MS or have someone we love with MS and are passionate about our medical care and the day to day lives of our community members.  No topic is taboo - we've discussed it all plus some. If you have a question or thought, please share it.  We continue to learn from each other.

And about those purple flowers behind some of our names - there are four co-community leaders here - Quix, Shell, Ess and myself.  We are all MS patients too, and are strictly here in a volunteer role.  We do not work for MedHelp  and we balance our time here with the rest of our life.  

Anyone else have tips to add here?  Please do so.

Welcome again to all of you who are new - this is a special place to me and I hope it will become that way for you too.  

be well,
Lulu

[Lulu54]

hi MK, sorry, I just saw your suggestion.  

Even if you have just a simple question, go ahead and post it as a new thrread.  Its perfectly ok and that way everyone will see it and yhou should get an answer pretty quick.

Lulu

[Hisoka]

any thoughts about the suggestion??

[Hisoka]

i have a small suggestion for this amazing forum, could we like have a pinned topic that we can post quick questions in? because youn know, we have alot going on in our minds, and i personally get many random questions about MS that just bumb into my head. sometimes its just one simple question and not worth a whole new topic. i just thought it would be easier to have a fixed place to post these random questions we get from time to time.

Just a suggestion :)

Regards
MK

[Lulu54]

Perhaps we should get this thumbtacked again?

[Quixotic1]

Save this Helath page to your Favorites or Bookmarks it.  Then Health pagesw will be easier to find.

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple%20Sclerosis/MS-Information-and-Resources-Index/show/22?cid=36

Quix

[Lulu54]

Its about time to bump this up again for our newest members to see - I'm sure these tips will be useful to everyone.

be well,
Lulu

[Mand125]

Probably similar to what saveone is suggesting but I find it useful to type my comment/question into Word first then copy and past it into the comment box. I have so often got near to the end of a long post then hit the wrong button and lost it.

Mand

[Lulu54]

The other tip I thought of today is:

if you have a question or post and don't get a reply (or a satisfactory one), don't give up on us.  Sometimes questions slide by without little notice because the action can be fast and furious and cause your question to slip to the second page and out of sight.

If that happens, please feel free to bump  it back up to the first page - you can do that by adding a comment to the post and it will automatically bring it up on page 1 as the most recent/current discussion.

[noam]

Can only say, thank goodness I found you...Really. I think there is a good chance that the only thing that has stopped me becoming the psych patient my latest registra has suggested I am, IS THIS FORUM!!! Having said that, I have heaps of questions but are going to keep reading others for now! Thanks

[shermay]

Good thread Laura, any chance of medhelp adding a spell check ;)))))))

Debs  xxxxxx

[Lulu54]

Hey Q - good to see you back.  We've missed you.  Yes, please have them tack this up and we'll let it grow and then someone can turn it into a health page perhaps ???

[Quixotic1]

This was a really good idea to let people know some of the special ways this forum works.  

For the vision-impaired there is also often the ability to use the text-enlargement feature that MedHelp offers at the top of every discussion and Health Page.  There are three symbols of the capitol letter A.  They indicate the three different sizes of texts that you can access.  Also many internet browsers, like IE offer a "zoom" feature, usually down in the lower right hand of the window.

There are NO questions that are too silly or stupid or weird to ask.  If you wonder something, so does someone else.

If the forum would like it, I can have MedHelp tack this thread to the top for a while so we can see if having it there is helpful.

Quix

[Lulu54]

Louby, I haven't a clue how to tack a thread at the top of the forum - that's why I thought perhaps htis should be turned into a new health page,  

Heather, thanks for reinforcing the idea that everything is fair game to discuss here.  We try......

my best, Lulu

[wadeheather]

I also would like to welcome all new members.  I haven't been here very long myself, but I remember how lost I felt when I finally found this forum.  I am still undx and not sure that I even have MS, though I have a lot of similar symptoms.  The forum members have gotten me through some pretty tough depression spells. I can honestly and frankly say that I may not have been here to type today had it not been for the forum. Sounds corny, but it's true.

No question is dumb or embarassing. No comment goes unseen.

Love you all.

Be well,
Heather

[Louby70]

What a excellent topic to bring to the surface Lulu & some very good pointers.

Just a idea, Is there anyway it could be pinned so new forum users can read it before they post.

The reason I ask that as I myself wondered why a certain lady typed in capitals, as I thought myself that was classed as shouting. I gave a response back to the lady in small writing, I noticed other users did type back in captial's to her. One gentlemen  who was also new to the forum, did question the typing in capital's & was informed that the lady had eye sight differculties due to the MS. Well I felt really bad then & thought to myself she must think I am a ignorant person, bless her she did reply to me, but I just felt terrible about it.

Best Wishes
Louby

[saveone]

Here are some more tips.

With all the new members and all the activity a good post can be moved to the second page before everyone has seen it.  If you feel your post wasn't seen or you are not satisfied because it didn't elicit the response you had hoped for there is a solution.  Simply go into the post and in the "post comment" box type "Bump".  It will send your post back to the top.

I was trying to enter info from my day planner into my journals.  I was taking over the recent activity listing on the right side of the home page.  I asked for help and Ess said something that got me to thinking.  Here is the solution.  For your entry set your privacy setting to "just me".  When you save the entry it will not show up in the recent activity.  If you are okay with everyone reading it then you can simply go back and change the setting to "everyone".  It is then unlocked for public viewing and you don't end up taking over the recent activity listing.

If you have a long entry you may want to highlight it and copy it to your clip board before you hit "post comment".  That way if a fluke occurs you have not lost your post.  You can simply copy the text back to your post or journal and try again.  This does not happen very often but if it does and the entry is long it is a pain.

That being said let me add my welcome to Lu's and add it is always nice when you introduce yourself and tell us your story.  We like getting to know you.

Peace, joy and love,
terry

[Lulu54]

Here's another tip - the weekends here tend to slow down.  Be patient if you have a question on the weekend - someone will see it eventually.  The main action here primarily happens Monday through Friday.