I can't understand why d.s would willingly make the site so difficult and non user friendly. It's a real shame how they've damaged this site. Looks like I chose a bad time to come back. I was here 3 years ago and it had such a different feel. Like a community, but now it's a shell of it's former self. I want to try to stick around, hopefully in time new people will join, some members may return. I only hope they stay. Perhaps it can get back to something like it was, although I've read many of your posts and it seems the people running d.s AREN'T LISTENING....that or they don't care. Is it financial reasons that made them do this? I don't know much about web site design. perhaps someone can explain? Would be especially good if someone on high from d.s could explain their intentions.

MTC, by wherewithal, I mean having the emotional and physical means to use and cope with the site as it now is. It's not meant as an insult.

By the way, I'd implore you all to read Lyle's brief story in this link. Good perspective on pain and suffering and yes, wherewithal. He has a link on his journal as well.

https://www.dailystrength.org/group/dailystrength-members-community/discussion/what-is-your-dailystrength-story

I know... it's hard with the new DS. I get it. I really do. It is a choice how you want to move forward though.

rmb, thank you for clarifying.

I get that much is within one's perspective.

Every time I use ds, or any other website for that matter, I am quite aware that I am adding to the damage already done by the original RMI (repetitive motion injury), as are many others. I therefore have to choose to either take care of my physical body or my emotional body (so to speak). So, by using ds I am then choosing to contribute to my own pain and physical damage to my body. And by not using it I am choosing to forego much need emotional support. Its a damned if I do and damned if I don't.

My point here is that support shouldn't be so difficult or painful. For a site designed to be a SUPPORT site that KNOWINGLY causes people to have to choose between getting support and adding to their own physical, mental and or emotional pain is unconscionable imho.

My big issue is with the notifications, like MTC mentioned, if someone comments on a friend's journal that you've already commented on, you have no idea. Even though there are now "notification settings" we can select for that, they are not set up and do absolutely nothing. So you have to consciously remember to check your friends journals for updated comments. This should show up in our feed, like it used to. We should have an option on what does and doesn't show up in our feed. I don't want to see every time someone posts in a group that I'm barely active in (and that ends up filling my entire feed with useless info so I just leave the group so I don't have to see that in my feed). I want to see what my friends are writing and when they are getting comments on their journals.

The visual update to the site doesn't bother me (but I can understand how it can bother people with physical disabilities), what bothers me is the functionality problems that should have been worked out long before launch day.

I think that the decline in activity here started long before the new system came online. I also remember the days when we would get so many new posts and replies in the depression group that we had to look at the first 2 or 3 pages of posts to see all the activity for the last 24 hours.

I forgot who commented about the facebook impact on DS, but that makes sense. I recall a lot of the real long term users saying that they were hooking up with DS friends on facebook, and this ws long before the new DS was rolled out. Kind of like making DS a chance to make friends, and then go off to other forums to let those friendships grow in different directions.

I know I've said this before, but we need to look at DS 2 ways. The easy one is to notice all the things that DS can (or should) do to make DS better. The harder one is to look for ways that we can make DS better.

We have had a lot of effort directed at telling DS what they can do; I've been in the thick of that.

But there are ways that we can make DS better.

Look for posts in your support groups that have zero replies. Be the first to reply. Even if you feel that you don't understand the issue, or it is a hard one, reply with wishes for better days. Likewise look at posts that don't have many replies and reply. Even if you just say "I agree with what the others say", it can mean a lot.

Hopefully we can all see the friends in need in our friends list. Make a point to send a hug to those people, perhaps look at their journals for a hint to their feelings and make a comment.

Share good news on your groups! DS does not need to be devoted to sharing bad news and troubles. Good news can be relative too. Years ago (when the net was new and DS was not invented yet) I was on a group for parents with ADD children. One mom posted that she was really happy because her child had gone an entire week without making a huge mess of the bathroom when going potty. (I'll spare the details) For her it was as good as another parent getting a "Child of the month" award from school.

Consider sending out random hugs from time to time, or start a fun post in your group, or challenge people to fun (silly?) contests. Be spontaneous, even if you have to plan it out ahead of time!


But yes, I do wish that DS would bring back a lot of the cool features that we had before.

Hear, HEAR!!!!!!!

(or Here, HERE!!!!!
Both seem to be
appropriate.)

PepperMan, right on!

PepperMan you hit right on it! I read in this room from time to time, the reason why I don't comment? Sorry guys but you can be a bit too negative, I don't mean that to argue. We can't go back to the old Ds, but we ourselves can show others how to make the most out of what we have. Also who wasn't complaining about getting the boot-off from the old ds? Everyone I know was getting tired of it and we lost several! The system was getting ready to explode so the way I look at it we're lucky to have a free support place to go to and I happen to think my friends here are worthy of all the differences of the new ds. I personally have fought to keep people on by showing them the positives and to hold on while the kinks were being worked out in the beginning....thankfully they stayed :). I'll do better here and check in more often ;).

I read through this forum often but also don't reply much, because I've honestly had a decent experience with the new site. I haven't really had any of the technical problems that I read about, my groups are pretty active, and overall the transition has been smooth for me. I did like the old site better, but at this point I think this is the site we have, and it doesn't appear that DS is going to be making any major changes so I'm just going to make the best of it. What other choice is there really, other than leaving, and for me that's not really an option.

As far as FB, I have been on it a year longer than when I first joined DS. DS was definitely my favourite! Too many memes, and not enough support on FB! Then, yes, I started becoming FB friends with my DS friends. Even though they may be around the globe. It was a chance to get to know people better, or in a different way than here.

So after a long while, I was spending about half my time here, and half on FB. That was consistent. Since the change - maybe 50% of my time on FB, 40% of my time on other Forums, and 10% on DS. I am staying here, because the RA group really needs people who have been there and done that! So I try and visit every day or three, and give my opinions and experience. We do not have a CL, although I know DS tried to get one, but no one wanted that job. And that is ok!

Anyway, if I spend time on here, my hands always hurt so much from scrolling I have to stay away a longer time. I just don't get what kind of support group DS is supposed to be, when the very reason I came here for support, the website is hurting more!

OK, I'm done!

"I forgot who commented about the facebook impact on DS, but that makes sense"

It was me. I've been watching all forums I visit (many are technical) go into decline. I see more and more that communication channels are being switched to Facebook.

DS is different from Facebook - but they overlap.

DS has two sides - helping people with serious health issues - and a social side. What has happened is that alot of the social side has moved to Facebook. Research I did back in the late 90s showed that without social posting forums tended to go into decline. Once your health question is answered - why do people stick around? Even if you want to give back a purely issue based forum is unlikely to have too many regulars because most people don't have sufficient knowledge base to contribute. Social interaction in general posts allows everyone to contribute and build community.

Unfortunately as far as I can tell the latest DS build is making it more difficult to make friends, connect with them and to generally be involved without more effort.

I am not disputing if you say there wasn't as many on DS before launching this but I know when I checked people online there was a lot of people compared to now. I think every site probably goes through slow periods but it sure seemed to me it was a lot more active before with the old DS.

who said there were more people on DS before?

If you look at the membership figures, Bipolar fell from 20,000 members plus to less than 2,000. True many of those were old accounts.

But if you look at how active most boards are now then you will see it is much reduced.

To post you need to join a board - so unlike before the spammers now join boards so members figures rise. Previously about 50% of DS's accounts were spammers. A few years ago the majority of new accounts were spammers

I don't know now but if you look at TeamDS's profile you will see the people as they come in you will also see alot of spammers. Also people who join 20 or so boards but never post.

Yes, but the way hugs worked on the old DS, there was a lot of social interaction there. You would look at your home page, see comments, go comment on them, journals, the same. I KNOW you can do the same if you go to the top of the page, but I forget. It is not right in front of me or accessible. It is not visible!

As for hugs - don't get me started! Hugs were open. If you went to someone's hug book, you could see other people hugging. It reminded you to hug them, say a word of encouagement. Now, hugs are basically identical to messages, with the added problem of Twitter type word allowance. I personally know someone, a long time member who stopped showing up because of that.

Why have hugs that no one can see, when you can just send them a pm and not have to be limited by the 144 characters or whatever it is? That is a big innovation that has wrecked the social aspect of DS. Things are hidden! I don't care about hiding a hug from a spammer. It is something I would say publicly.

So why are the hug books hidden? It would really help the social interaction here to bring back the open and visible hug books.

Hmm! I forgot that was bugging me so much! LOL