Hi everyone,
As you'll be able to see, we're testing a new group layout.
We've set up this thread as a place where you can give us your feedback about the new layout. We want to hear what you think - whether it's things you think work well, or need tweaking, here's the place to do it!
You can read more about the changes in our recent notice.
Best wishes,
Ellen
Hi, I just filled in the online form with the message below, however was unable to finish my message as there is a 1000 word limit! It might be worth mentioning this next to the online form info, as it’s a bit frustrating filling in all the Other info to then find you can’t complete your message!
So I wrote.....
I’ve previously posted on the feedback thread where a message was left saying any unanswered posts/comments to be sent via this form or to the email address. I have sent 3 messages to the email address and have not received a response to any of them! I completely understand that the admin staff might be busy dealing with new clients, however. Why ask people to feedback to this address if the staff don’t have time to deal with it?
I know we have been told that things won’t change and that the sub headings in the breast cancer section are here to stay, even though many of us clearly don’t like the new format and we have pointed out how confusing it has become! Just this morning I read a post whereby a lady was asking if she was ALLOWED to post in the treatment forum? As she had been in the New to group section and wasn’t sure if she was allowed to move across! I did take a screen shot but I don’t seem to be able to add that to this form! Now I see this form only allows 1000 words!
So the screenshot I wanted to add was this....
I think this proves a point a few of us made earlier, which was that the sub groups segregate people. This New person wasn’t sure if she had to continue to asks further questions in that newbie group or in the other groups!
As well as that there are people posting treatment questions in the ‘continuing conversations’ sub group, which in theory shouldn’t have any NEW threads in it! So surely the Tech guys could some how stop new threads being posted in there and somehow redirect them to the other Sub groups?
You commented about this being rolled out across the whole Mac site in the New Year! I wonder if this has really been thought through! My calculations would be that the Breast Cancer Groups as a whole would then have.. 24 places that a new Cancer sufferer could post! (I think that’s all the groups)
I found it pretty daunting 5 years ago when I came on and there were a choice of 3 Breast Cancer, under 50’s Breast Cancer and Secondary Breast Cancer, that could apply to my current situation. Had I not of known my complete diagnosis then all of those groups could of been open to me and very daunting!
I know you are going to read this and think ‘oh my goodness, talk about making things sound more complicated than they are’! BUT how about you think about this as someone who has just been given a life changing diagnosis, as someone whose world has just been blown apart! Would you want to come on a site like this and see all these sub group headings in front of you and not feel you want to post to say hi but you want to know you aren’t alone, you just want to know how you are feeling is ‘normal’, you just need a warm hug and a kind word from people who ‘get it’! Well that’s what people got when Breast Cancer was in one group, one loving and supportive group! A place where at just a glance you could see that someone had a question that you could help with and that others with the same issue could join in with! I liked the New here group to begin with but actually I think it’s made meeting people harder. Whereas before people would start a thread saying Hi and we would greet them and Then other new people would join in and say hi too. So that one new person now had 2 or 3 people who were straight away in their group of ‘new friends’ friends that might just be life long friends....just look at the Fruit Loops and many other groups that have formed before us!
Now it just seems that each individual new person says Hello on their own thread! So they get greeted if a member goes on there to look for new posters but they don’t seem to link up like they used too! I know eventually if they find their way to Chemo/Rad threads they might start meeting each other. But there’s something to be said for those first few days after you join this site! I still to this day remember the lovely ladies and Gent, that made me feel welcome and those that immediately said ‘I’m new here too’!
Now I know that nothing we can say will change your minds BUT could you at least consider reducing down the number of sub groups? Especially if you are going to roll this out across the whole board!? I really do feel it will make this site so unfriendly which is exactly how other Cancer sites feel. I came to Macmillan for a warm hug, which is exactly what I got! I didn’t come to be given yet more information thrown at me!
One last thing which hasn’t been replied to yet and I have asked a few times. Do we really need to have the number of views to be shown next to each post? I have noticed in the new section that some posts have been viewed 40+ times and only had 1 or 2 replies! If I was a new person I would feel very upset by that and think no one cared or that I had said something wrong! Obviously I now know it’s because people read a post and then see that they can’t offer anymore advice that has already been given. But I know from experience that your mind doesn’t work like that when your world has already been blown apart!
Is there a reason you need to know how many views a post has? If so could it not be only viewable to you?
Although your decision has been made. I hope you can see things from a different perspective and try and tweak things a little! Thank you. Sal
