Morning everyone, thanks for the additional feedback and discussion over the weekend. I understand things have gotten a little tense in here over the journey, which is unfortunate. I appreciate how invested everyone is in the space here, I hope in the future we can continue to have open discussions about changes and ideas respectfully (some earlier posts in this thread have been removed).
I'll respond to a few themes I've seen coming through in the replies:
Will carers feel unwelcome if there is no dedicated carers space?
It will be up to us at SANE to make sure that we promote the forums as an inclusive space for all. I am open to the idea that we have a Carers category as one of our 10, but we don't have the traffic currently to support an entire separate forum for Carers. We may do this in the future if the audience grows sufficiently enough, but building audiences takes time and our advertising/promotion budget is very limited.
Will carers not feel they can speak freely if they are in a space with LE readers?
I don't believe so, as carer members are already in a space with LE members. While the two forums are 'separate', they are very visible and accessible to all and it is common to see carers and LE members interacting on each others' threads. If a need was identified by carers that they needed to have a private space to be able to only speak with other carers, we could investigate opening a private hub.
Will I have to tell my story all over again if I start a new thread?
No you won't. Members are easily able to access previous threads and histories if they want to know more, and you are welcome to refer new members to these if questions are asked. I understand it can be exhausting to have to retell your story over and over, and that it's great when you make connections with members here that 'get' you. I would ask that you remember that this is a collective self-help space, and to be kind and open to newer members you see coming through and wanting to join in - perhaps think about how you felt when you first joined the forums and weren't sure how to make connections.
I don't want to start up multiple threads, can I stick to one?
Yes, I believe we addressed this with the suggestion of having a 'Day to day coping' category for members that felt this was a better descriptor for how their conversations evolve. We will have to break these threads up periodicially because of the page-loading issue described.
Will this mean I can't connect with people socially anymore?
No, I'm a little confused where this concern came from. One of the 10 proposed categories is a Social catch-up area (which we also have currently). What we are hoping to emphasise with that area is that it is a 'problem-free' area, a place where you can connect to be distracted from the worries of the day. But of course, social connections happen throughout all the threads.
Having a suicidal thoughts and self-harm area will create more crisis posts, could we have a thread within mental health management instead?
I understand the concern about the forums being perceived as a crisis service: this is not a new problem, and we will continue to clearly signpost the limits of what support is provided on the forums. We emphasise in the community guidelines that the forum is not a crisis service, further guidance would be given within this section itself. There are a substantial number of threads coming through from members where managing SI/SH is a primary focus and we believe it would benefit those members to have a safe, open area to address this. It was clear during our guidelines discussion a few weeks back that there is considerable anxiety that discussing these topics on the SANE Forums is not allowed, having a signposted area should help alleviate those anxieties and break down some of the stigma around open discussion of suicidality.
I have lots of issues going on, how do I know where to post?
This is one of the problems we are attempting to solve by having better-defined categories. We recognise that your personal experiences are complex and may touch on two, three or more aspects. Post where you feel is most appropriate. Moderators may move the thread to a different area if they feel it will enable the thread to get better visibility and support for the topic you're discussing.
How were these categories collated?
We reviewed a broad range of threads to understand recurring themes and issues. This involved looking at both the frequency of topics mentioned and the depth of discussions on these topics. For issues like self-harm, we did not simply count the number of times a term appears in posts. Instead, we considered the context and the number of distinct discussions where these issues are the primary focus. This method helped avoid inflating counts based on repeated mentions in single threads. We believe the suggested categories are an accurate reflection of genuine themes emerging in threads and posts over the last 2-3 years, but we're hoping to get further feedback from members here around how these look and how usable they might be in practice.
What about trigger/content/spoiler warnings?
I'm going to suggest we save that for a separate discussion, as there appears to be quite strong feelings about it and I'm keen we keep this thread focused on the category feedback.
