Notice some changes to the Forums? We have been upgrading the homepages! ⭐️

[Daisydreamer]

Hi SANE Community, 

Have you been to the Forums Homepage and seen it look a bit different?

Well the SANE team have been busy making some changes to the layout to help make navigation easier for members to find the forums. This came from feedback we have been hearing that for many new members, navigating the space can be tricky, so we hope a few new changes will help make finding the forums and posting easier!

What changes are in place?

1. The Forums Homepage has had a makeover! Check in out: https://saneforums.org/

We have made it easier to find information about the Lived Experience and Friends, Family and Carers Forum and get started! You can still view the latest posts through the homescreen, but they are a bit further down. 

2. There are different views for each of the Forum Landing pages depending on how you use the Forums

If you are a reader, new user, or causal contributor, you will now see the Forum Topics when you log in or view the site. This is to help our new users find places to post 🙂 

If you are a Senior Contributor, you have made more than 30 posts and have a good sense of how to navigate the Forums, so you will see Latest discussion first (this means your homescreen won't change from what you see now). 

What changes are coming next week?

1. We will be introducing a "New discussion" button to the landing page of each Forum to help making starting a new thread easier. You will be able to pick which Forum topic your new discussion will go into, hopefully saving you time navigating the forums, and making it easier for new members!

2. We will be making the "New discussion" buttons bigger, so they are easier to find on the Forums page

We hope this helps to improve the navigation, and make the Forums a smoother experience for you all! 🙂 

[Daisydreamer]

Tagging our Community Guides, as I think you might be interested in these changes!

@Anastasia  @AussieRecharger  @BPDSurvivor  @Faith-and-Hope  @HenryX  @jem80  @Judi9877  @NatureLover  @outlander  @Shaz51  @ShiningStar  @Snowie  @MDT  @wellwellwellnez  @Zoe7  @Aniela  @Boo13  @CrazyChick  @maddison  @pinklollipop15  @Eve7 

[maddison]

Thanks @Daisydreamer . Great work SANE team. Welcome change🙂

[Shaz51]

Way to go @Daisydreamer 😀❤👍

[MDT]

@Daisydreamer
Can we look at putting the forum behind a barrier?

If you google your user name you van see everything you've ever posted as any name you've had on here is all

Not exactly private

Just a though

[Zoe7]

Not a fan of some of these changes @Daisydreamer but can see the intent behind them. There seems to be more being added to an already 'busy' homepage which in itself can add confusion and be a deterrent to navigating through the forums. Not sure how to overcome this but for me the less 'navigating' I have to do the better. When we used to have 'Forums' as a header alone on the home screen banner it was much easier. Now the process to get to the forums (when not logged in or a member especially) takes several steps - wondering how much of a deterrent this now is to new members?

[CrazyChick]

@MDT

I understand your concerns re privacy, but this is a public forum. Being public means the information on here is more accessible for people who want to find it. This can help people to get mental health support on topics that interest them through searching with google.

But that does mean that people need to be careful with their privacy - selecting an appropriate username, not mentioning real names, locations or other identifiable information etc. If someone accidentally includes things that they no longer want to share publically, they can edit your posts to remove that information. Or there are other ways that the Sane Community Managers can assist with privacy concerns for individuals if needed.

[outlander]

sounds good @Daisydreamer

[AussieRecharger]

The first thing I saw was lived experience. Well done. 

[Daisydreamer]

Hi @AussieRecharger @outlander @CrazyChick @Zoe7 @MDT thank you all for reaching out to let us know your thoughts! 🙂 

When we are catering for the hundreds of thousands of people who access SANE's Forums every year, these changes may not be for everyone, but we do hope that it helps us improve the member experience over the coming months 🙂 

The question about privacy is a really important one. Last year we did make a change to ensure that profiles couldn't be found via search engines directly, and without being logged in, you can't see a person's posts on their profile. I can also enquire further in our team to see if there is more we can do 🙂