Hello @Smiling_Gecko and @Mumi
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I have transferred this updated post, covering a few more issues and considerations, from the "Good Morning" thread because I believe that it is important to continue the discussion about usability and functions available in the Forum site. I am also taking the opportunity to invite a couple of members, being @BlueBay & @Smiling_Gecko. to this thread.
Please invite other members to this thread, particularly if you think that they would enjoy the discussion and activity.
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I also acknowledge @Former-Member 's concern, despite the anonymity provided by the Guidelines & Info in the site, that open expressions of personal content and discussions are often difficult in a site such as the SANE forum site.
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@Smiling_Gecko , I think that you have actually done what many others of us have done; simply dived in the deep end and "learned to swim" in the SANE forum site. There really is no requirement to start "a get to know you thread" when a person joins the forum. Though it is suggested. I, like many others, about a month or two after I rejoined in February this year, after initially joining in 2015, started a self-introductory thread, but it has been visited by others, and me, very little since I set it up. Members of the forum have come to know me (for better or worse), more by my activity in the various other threads on the forum.
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It was actually @Mumi , who had asked me if I had a thread of my own, that spurred me on to set up an open thread titled Re: Henry's Landing Strip & Hangar which I started about a week or two ago. I have been very pleased about the interest and activity of members in the thread. Although It was not, initially, the intended purpose for which the thread was established, other members, I believe, have come to know more about me and my interests through the thread. Likewise, I have been pleased to come to know more about other members and their interests.
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Often people find and use only a few threads, in which they feel comfortable and, unfortunately, do not extend themselves, or their activity beyond the threads with which they have become familiar.
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@Smiling_Gecko , you have also referred to an issue that I have raised on a number of occasions. That is the difficulty that you, many others and I have had in "navigating around the forums on the SANE website". I have mentioned this issue before, and more senior members in the site hierarchy have acknowledged my concerns, saying in their reply, that they would be considering them. However, I believe that we lose many new and potential members, who could benefit from use of the site, because of the issues related to navigation and negotiation of the site functions. Such difficulties, I believe, are part of the reason why many members, even many of the longer established members, confine themselves, almost completely, to only using those threads with which they have become familiar. This, in turn, means that the full functions of the forum site are accessed, in only a limited manner, by many members.
Another significant issue with regard to the usability of the site, is the effect that difficulties using the site have on members and potential members, where feelings of inadequacy are, inadvertantly or otherwise, projected onto existing, new and potential members. This potential impact on people with existing MH issues, to which I have previously referred is, I believe, reason for serious concern.
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It has become apparent to me recently, that even long standing members are often not familiar with the the basic processes of entry into the site as a new member, and are not familiar with functions of the site outside those few to which they have been accustomed to using. If long standing members have such issues, the flow-on effect would seem to lead to lack of confidence and confusion among newer members, particularly with regard to accessing and using site functions.
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I have made a point of offering new members suggestions about how to alert other members to their posts, by using forum addresses (eg @HenryX , @Former-Member , @Former-Member ) which are derived from our forum names, or pseudonyms ( HenryX , Mumi , Smiling_Gecko ) by using the @ symbol, in the Reply box, when replying to the posts of others. {almost holding the hands (digitally), of newer members, and guiding them through the processes}. Often, I have seen comments such as "add an @ in front of a members name", as considered sufficient direction to enable a new member to address another member in a post. It is definitely not, as any person with training skills and knowledge of the site, would know. The fact that such inadequate directions are given, by long standing members, indicates that there are real problems for people who are already using the site as well as those endeavouring to access the site and its functions. However, without adequate assistance, which is time consuming for the assisting member, and unnecessarily daunting for the new member, it is difficult to even get started in the process of using the forum, let alone developing skills and acquiring knowledge to enable and facilitate activity in the rest of the forum functions and structure. These issues, I consider, are significant barriers to the effective use of the forum for its intended purpose. My experience, on this site, is very different and much more difficult than the experiences that I have had in using other websites and forums.
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In 2015, when I first joined the forum, it is likely that I did not continue as an active member of the SANE site, because of the difficulty, that I had at the time, navigating and negotiating my way through and around the forum site. It was also a time when, I believe, that I would have gained significant support and assistance from a service, such as purported to be offered by SANE. Paradoxically, I found myself unable, at the time, to access and navigate the functions in this site. A site that might have been very helpful to me during that period. The site is neither easy to use nor navigate, in part, because it is definitely anything but intuitive. It appears to have been a product that has been "purchased off the shelf" presumably from an American or Chinese company, since the only language option is English USA, without due consideration for its functionality or usability and application in an Australian context. Either that or it has become totally outdated during the time since it was first acquired. In either case, I think, replacing it should be given serious consideration. In Australia, we often hear claims that our IT capability is equal to or better than that from other countries. In such an important environment as Mental Health applications, such as is said to be offered by SANE, it would be great to see that capability applied here.
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Hoping that this post may add to the discussion. If any questions arise, I would be pleased to discuss them.
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With Best Wishes
@HenryX
