Hello everyone,
I’m Steph from the Community team, I hope you don’t mind me posting here today. I’m hoping to gather your thoughts and opinions on developing the ‘living with incurable cancer group’.
We’d like to make it easier for new members to write that first post, whilst retaining a safe space for members to continue expressing their emotions and most difficult thoughts. We know that some of you also want a space to chat more generally and give and get support around everyday life.
Firstly, I’ll be explaining a little more about the changes we could make in the group and what those changes mean for you. Following this information, there will be a poll where you’ll have a chance to have your say. We’d also welcome any thoughts or comments in reply to this post below.
We have been developing some groups across the Community to have two or three separate sections, or forums, within each group. Many of our groups now look a little more like this:
Underneath the new sections, we still show ‘all discussions’ from the whole group in a combined feed, just like you see now.
When we add forums to a group, you can still start a discussion in the same way. The only real difference is the option of which forum to post in (see below). Everything else works exactly as it does now.
If you would like to take a look at this group structure, why not take a look at the breast cancer or bladder cancer groups, where you'll be able to see this group structure working.
We expect to see benefits to new members in providing a dedicated space for them to introduce themselves. Existing members should be able to more easily find discussions around diagnosis and treatment, whilst enjoying a space to continue longer chats and discuss everyday life, and give and get support.
We understand that change can be difficult, so we wanted to find out what you, the existing members of the group, thought about developing the group in a similar way.
We're constantly working on the user experience on the site, as making the Community the best place for peer-to-peer cancer support is at the heart of everything we do. We are continually listening to feedback and making changes to the site which will improve the experience for all our members and make sure everyone can access the right support for them, when they need it.
If you have any questions or comments about the new group structure, we would love to hear from you. You can vote in the poll, reply below or contact us by email at community@macmillan.org.uk
Hello Salis
Thank you for your comment, it's good to hear that you usually find the titles of threads enough to know what it's about.
Just so you know, the existing discussion view will still be visible if we make the changes. If you prefer you'll be able to continue browsing the group in exactly the same way, without going into the individual forums.
We think that the 'new here - say hello' forum makes it easier for new members to make that first post. We'd also expect it to help members who want to chat, but might not want that chat to get mixed up with questions around diagnosis and treatment.
We will continue reviewing the comments here and see how members vote before making any changes. We want the group to work best for the majority of members here, so we're really grateful for your feedback.
Hi tvman and thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts.
It sounds like you can see the benefits of introducing separate forums, especially in creating a dedicated space for general chat.
I know some members were concerned that they wouldn't be able to start longer discussions in the other sections. I hope it reassures you all to know that the proposed group structure is not intended to stifle conversations, but instead offers a dedicated space for chat about gardens, crafts, or the latest moon landing (as you say, tvman).
We'd always ask that conversations are kept relevant and that new threads are started for new discussions. We feel that a forum structure would help encourage this, so that members don't miss getting the support they need.
Thanks again for your comment and do let us know if you have any further feedback.
Oops! You got me there, tvman - silly me, showing my age there 
I clearly should be more familiar with mars exploration - the company I used to work for were involved in the Beagle 2 Mars explorer back in the early 2000s!
