Threads, discussions and their purposes- an update

[Lauz]

Hi everyone,

We wanted to give you an update on something we are increasing our focus on.

As the Forums have grown in members, so has the number of posts. This is awesome – there are so many positive convos going on and it never ceases to amaze us how kind, generous and insightful people are in helping others.

With all the new posts happening, we are noticing more frequently that discussions are moving away from the original purpose of the thread. We are specifically referring to ‘issue’ based threads (eg: a member has started the thread to discuss a specific matter and get feedback on it) not threads in the Social Space Discussion Topic.

The community here is wonderful and no one here “hijacks” threads or intentionally changes the topic. Usually this only happens due to discussions naturally evolving, and often the discussions move into more chit chat social discussions. 

While usually it isn’t a problem for members in the discussion, it can cause other issues:

• It makes issues / symptoms / topics harder to search for (eg: if someone is searching for 'bipolar' topics, it's confusing when their search results don't reflect the topic)
• It can make the discussion feel exclusive
• It can be confusing when a member is looking for discussions about a particular issue ( Eg: “I thought this discussion was about eating disorders, but is now about cats” ☺)
• A member might want to contribute to the original issue / theme, but because it’s gone off track, they don’t respond

For the member who started the thread about an issue they were experiencing:

• It is upsetting because it feels like their issue isn't important
• It is perceived as disrespectful
• They don't have the confidence to bring it back to what they are 
• If they do have the confidence to bring it back on track, it can be taken the wrong way by other members
• They get angry and potentially handle the situation in an unproductive way

We have noticed that a lot of strategies and advice that members have shared get lost due to this too.

Some things we are doing to manage this include:

• Mods will continue to encourage members either in the forums or via emails to move social discussions else where
• We recently changed the Discussion Topic name from “Enjoying time with others” to “Social Spaces” to make it easier to identify as a place to have social chit chats
• We are in the very early stages of a project that is looking more broadly at members’ experiences of the Forums, and this will be one of the issues we look at

What you can do:

• Before posting, think about if your topic is aligned to the original post (even if you’re responding directly to someone in that thread)
• If it’s not aligned, start or find a relevant pre-existing thread and @mention the members you were responding to, inviting them over to the new location
• If you see a post that might be best placed elsewhere, if you feel comfortable, respond supportively to the author and suggest some other threads they could post in
• Don’t take it to heart if a member or mod suggests another thread to continue a discussion in. It’s not personal, it’s just trying to make sure your post gets maximum responses in a more relevant place, while leaving another thread ‘on topic’

This will be a gradual process because the forums are so big now, and change takes time – so please be patient with us☺

Looking forward to working with you all on this!

[Phoenix_Rising]

This sounds like a super exciting challenge @Lauz. I will try my super big best to stay focused and on track...oh look, something shiny... 

[NatalieS]

Thanks Lauz, you are awesome, and this is such a HUGE challenge.

[Lesley]

Thanks for the guidance being new to the site I have been finding it hard to understand. Never used any chat sites before 🤔

[Shaz51]

Thanks @Lauz