I'm sure there was a similar thread last year, I wasn't interested in health unlocked because I just wanted to be with nras special club!

Seems a shame that newbies don't want to join in because this is for everyone to share/have banter/help other's out.

Please come back new folk, we love to hear from you x

Hi All,
A few months ago we updated the information page that is sent to all members about the Forum (both new and current), including how to access it and positive quotes from other users - it is also highlighted in the welcome letter we send. Obviously it is also mentioned as a membership benefit on our joining page and in our general leaflet. It is promoted via our welcome calls to new members and has featured in an e-news we sent out - so we are publicising it wherever we can! The information and support section on our homepage tends to list services that are open to all - which Health Unlocked is, and we are also somewhat limited by what we have space for on the homepage. This is something we hope to rectify with our new website later this year.

If there is any ways in which you think we can improve our website, and in particular, the Members area (which you reach once you login) then please do let me know membership@nras.org.uk
As always, all suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks for all your continued support,
Emma x

yes i think there was a similar topic last year,

sadly a lot of older Members now have either left the forum or don't post .. but i for one do not like the Health Unlocked Forum, not sure if you have to sign up for it but it all looks a muddle to me.

also i don't like the idea of an open forum .. i used to belong to one about 5 years ago when i embarked on my weight loss journey, yes it was great to post my weight loss and also photo's but now looking back i know anyone could read or see my photo's!

i'm not technical but Paul's suggestions seem a good idea, would love to have more traffic through here again.

Suzanne

Nope, not a word. If those of you who agree with me could post to say so that might help?

These days, for many people, Facebook is a more useful forum. A closed user group (i.e. requests to join have to be accepted by an admin (just like this forum) would be easy to set up.

Dear all,

Thanks for your comments so far (do keep them coming!) - we had a big day on Friday looking at our website so apologies for the delay as I wanted to pass your feedback onto the rest of the team before responding.

Apologies if I have mis-understood but was your main suggestion to put the majority of the information on our website, via the members login? If so, unfortunately, the government funding provided to set up the charity was on the condition the main content of our website was accessible to all and we would not want to put a barrier in place (even if it did encourage more Members) and therefore stop patients receiving the information they are looking for. I do however also agree that there is a lot of sections in the members area that are unnecessary (repeating information from elsewhere) and so distracts from the forum.

I do also try and post items of interest e.g. such as Ailsa's recent radio broadcast, into the website/media/PR area when I can but do need others to do the same otherwise the posts are all from me, and this is your forum after all! (Paul - was this what you meant by 'post entries to the forum that are referred to on the web site'? i.e. PR items etc? please do correct me if not!) We'll try and do it a bit more often :o)

However, I do think your closed Facebook group option is an interesting one - something I will mention to my colleague Ruth who looks after our social media.

Would something like an online directory in the members area be of interest? e.g. a place for all the best websites for gadgets, insurance companies, member tested sites etc I've seen this done on other member areas and could be a useful summary, rather than trawling through previous posts on the forum? We could even do a printed one for those who aren't internet savvy. Just a thought.

I've noticed that in the members area the list of past e-news' hasn't been updated so, seeing as I recently took over sending them out, I'll try and get that updated! Don't forgot you can also get back-copies of the magazine there as well.

Is there anything else you wold like to see in the members area? If you'd prefer to email rather than post - membership@nras.org.uk

Thanks for your continued support.

BW,
Emma

The suggestion is that the forum is where you post the majority of information that would otherwise go in the members' area, to drive traffic to the forum, increases membership and push activity beyond the current low levels, Active posting of infomation by NRAS staff to the forum would be one thing, as would the news letters you mentioned Emma. In short anything that would create or deserves discussion should go on the forum. If you want to post an entry on the forum that cross-links to content actually hosted on the website, because that gives you better control over your content then that's fine, but the members area should in most cases simply be the forum.

Make the forum the epicentre, not the web site.

Hi Suzanne,

It is a popular site but it also has people from all over the world on it (mostly with RA but occasionally with other rheumatic conditions), which has to be taken into consideration when asking questions to people on there and when reading the blog posts. I know a lot of users on there are Members but, for the ones that aren't, we do use it to promote new publications, surveys etc. and a lot of traffic to our website is via HU. The HU team are very supportive of us and we are working together to try and improve the site. There's been a lot of talk on about the Members Day & RA awareness week on there so it is a good way of recruiting new supporters too!

Emma

Actually, it's even worse than I suspected.

If you look at the NRAS homepage, there is a section called information and support. In that section, you would rather hope that the NRAS forum would get a mention wouldn't you? Does it? No!

What it does include is a direct link to the Health Unlocked site for blogging and member views. So, clearly, NRAS itself does not want us to have a separate forum. Or at least, that's the only logical conclusion you can draw from the way the NRAS presents the access points to the various forums. Emma, you really need to sort this. :)

hi Emma,

pleased to hear the forum will be more heavily publicised,

we seem to be a sinking ship here

i know how invaluable this forum was for me 3 years back when newly diagnosed ( although i have to admit i was also scared reading some of the posts ) but i know we are all different and what happens to one doesn't happen to all, and that a balance of opinions/suggestions is helpful,

but this forum as well as the Helpline got me through some very dark days,

Suzanne

P.S. i should have mentioned that i was an NRAS Member a good 2 or 3 months before i even knew about the forum, it was only by speaking to a lovely lady on the Helpline who pointed me here, so perhaps that's an indication of why more publicity re the forum would be helpful.

Steve

Good points. I have tried subscribing to te forums but it doesn't seem to work very well so I echo your concern. But there is other forum software beyond the one used here. Have you registered your vote on the poll http://www.nras.org.uk/m....aspx?g=posts&t=4266