UK Skin Cancer and Melanoma Patients

[Iain Mack]

Hi everyone. As Forum Administrator, I would like to propose a reorganisation of the site as I believe improvements are now possible. In particular, I would like to reorganise the site sections in a more informative and meaningful way. There may also be new features which could be introduced.

I would like to invite all users to contribute to this process, so please post any ideas or suggestions you have.

Good luck to you all and a big thank you to those generous with their help for and support of others.

Iain

[Alison..]

I'm not sure there is enough traffic for subsections to work. I think postings might get lost.

However, I guess it might be useful to have a section for people to post information about Melanoma (e.g., trials, results, good sites..), and possibly an Admin/Announcements section.

I think all the general discussion/support should be in one section as now.

Alison

[seanty]

I generally agree with Alison. I would add that one thing I was discussing with JohnDerby when he was at stage 4 was whether it was worth having a separate section for those at stage 4 to discuss things which were of relevance at that stage, but which might upset those at earlier stages.

Seán

[Iain Mack]

Thank you for that. I agree with you both. I'll wait a little longer for anyone else to feed back then make a proposal re sections.

I was also thinking that so many people diagnosed with melanoma and who would benefit from the site do not know it exists - I wonder if there is some way the NHS could distribute a leaflet with site details to melanoma patients?

Perhaps we should also consider a social section - it might be a periodic 'get together' would be popular.

What do you think?

[Alison..]

Re advertising: I think it might be worth incorporating a link in leaflets - maybe make contact with the CancerBacup people? Here (Edinburgh) they use CancerBacup leaflets at the Cancer support centers (e.g., Maggies centers) and locally produced cheap leaflets (with local phone numbers etc) in clinics.

Not sure about a social section, as we don't seem to have quite enough people within a couple of hours drive of each other to easily meet, but I wonder if it would be good to have a section where people can choose to post their "stories" and optionally photos (as common on CancerBacup). Most people probably choose to be more anonymous, but a few people might be willing and it adds something to the support aspect.

Alison

[inkworks]

I agree with Allison about having a section where people can post their stories. I am new to melanoma and although there is a lot of general information out there I find it difficult to find information about individuals and their personal experiences with the disease.

[Chris]

I think Alison's suggestion of a personalised section where individual experiences can be recounted and pictures posted is a good idea. It is more likely to succeed than trying to arrange a social gathering, but would still add a more personal slant.

Having said that, I still think it is worth pursuing the possibility of a gathering. For some, this could be of real value. I would suggest that when joining this forum it is compulsory for someone to put down their geopraphic location. Maybe even treatment centre. At some point in the future it could then be decided if there were enough in one area to try and arrange such a gathering.

[Glen]

Having the facility for members to list their UK melanoma history is a great idea, including where they're being treated, and a facility for it to be regularly updated so we know how you're progressing.

The American based mpip website does it, and I find it most useful to trawl through the personal details to find people at the same level as me, and realise that in USA they have many trials going on compared to UK.

Glen

[Glen]

Hows about making it compulsory that members have to state their general location?. Therefore we will know who is in our area and the individual has the opportunity to meet if they want to go down that route. Its also interesting to find out of other hospitals in your area/region with melanoma clinic/scanning facilities/trials .

Glen

[ally]

[quote="Iain Mack"] I wonder if there is some way the NHS could distribute a leaflet with site details to melanoma patients?

Perhaps we should also consider a social section - it might be a periodic 'get together' would be popular.

What do you think?[/quote]
Both brilliant ideas, Id support both.

[Glen]

Iain,

Have you made any progress regarding the above suggestions that we have a separate area set aside so that members can post/add/edit their individual melanoma history. Perhaps this special area could be password protected.

Regards
Glen

[sharon]

I dont know what can be done but I think that the site needs to be cleansed of 'members' who are using the site for purposes not related to melanoma there are pages and pages of them and also they are posting on old threads for example John derby who died in the summer one of his old threads now has a link to web pages... I am not technical enough to know how this can be sorted out but it does need to be looked at particularly those relating to 456 and web pages. It would be wrong if someone accessed this information from this site....


agree with everyone else on the improvements. and also maybe an archived index of topics already covered. there are so many posts that if we could search for something by title that would be great....

[Iain Mack]

Many thanks to all who have suggested improvements to date. I have a good idea now what new features / format would be popular in v2.

We are now reviewing other available Bulletin Boards before proceeding with a view to transferring to a more secure platform to prevent inappropriate users and postings.

If anyone still wishes to add suggestions during the intervening period please feel free to do so as all will be considered. Thanks again.

[Alison..]

I think the new phpbb version 3 has more security features but would look the same. I also noticed this helpful summary of relatively simple things that can be done to reduce spam.

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=427852

Alison

[Iain Mack]

Thanks Alison, I'll check it out.

Iain

[danensis]

Perhaps it would be an idea to have a "report to admin" button alongside the others at the bottom of a post, so that we could alert the moderator if we do spot spam.

John

[Iain Mack]

Hi John,

I'm pleased to say since we took steps a couple of months ago, spamming has virtually ceased.

Thanks,

Iain