Help & Support

It seems to me that this site should be for help and support. I have not posted much but decided to just look at the posts and see what was said. The site to me seems fine. It is easy to use and I am informed as soon as another question is asked or a post goes on. Perhaps there are other sufferers out there who would like to ask a question or post something but feel a bit intimidated by all the negativity. Having these illnesses is bad enough lets try to help each other.

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Well said, freckboy, wise words. I think the site is basically settling into a new format and better for the sick and worried.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Yes, can't see any problems with it myself. Lets just try and look after each other with kind words and information.

[Toci]

I could not agree more. Well said. x

[Hidden in reply to Toci]

Thanks.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

agree

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

agree

[cofdrop-UK]

Hi Freckboy

What negativety are you referring to specifically hun?

cx

[mattcass]

Hi Freckboy You are 100% correct Help & Support is what we do BEST!! .Mattcass

[Hidden in reply to mattcass]

Yes that's what it's all about.

[appyalison]

Well said Freckboy. Alison

[beatles]

Quite agree Freckboy, I do not see any real malice or nastiness. Obviously the wrong comments may have been posted rarely, otherwise the moderators would not step in.

But it's all subjective and maybe because I am a Londoner I have thick skin !!

But I agree with you I find this site very agreeable with an interesting bunch of people

coping as best they can with varying degrees of illness. All the best Adrian

[Hidden in reply to beatles]

Thanks Adrian, I agree there are a lot of nice people on this site. Lets do our best to help each other.

[Hidden]

We all used to help each other, support each other through whatever crisis was happening regardless of who or what it was and have a good laugh as well, not always about our illnesses' either,but because of a handful of over bearing, holier than thou members, a lot of us left and found other health chat / help sites elsewhere,these people know who they are so need say no more, hope you find what your looking for here Freckboy, Good luck

TT

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Hi aswad, lets hope those members you talk about have gone and will be replaced by new members who will receive the help and support we are all looking for. I know when I was first diagnosed I thought it was the end of the world. All I wanted was to find out as much as I could and ask questions. Sounds like you left and came back, so that's good. Keep well.

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Not back as such, only popped in to catch up with a couple of friends, the members i was on about are still here and still preaching, but those of us that have left still keep in regular contact and still provide the support to each that we always have.. That's why this site is so quiet nowadays, not everyone want to talk about illness all the time, which you will no doubt find out, most that are left are doom and gloom merchants, sorry but that's how the blf has ended up because of only a few members who can't see the other side of being ill, .

TT

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Good Morning

Isn't it funny - I don't think this community is "quiet" - I think it's as lively as it has always been. Lots of new people joining and asking questions. A couple of points I'd like to make that have been made by other people on other posts -

Firstly it's summer - the traditional time when people go on holiday so many people are not around as much - busier doing things with family and friends.

Secondly communities like this are full of people who come and go of their own choice - they get what they want and then move on - that's the way it is and there's nothing wrong with that. They don't want to stay - and probably don't want to be contacted by others to encourage them to stay etc.

People say this community has "gone down hill" - I can't help smiling when I read those comments because it really is no different to what it was like 4 years, 3 years, 2 years, 1 year, 6 months ago - the people saying it has gone down hill joined it at some point when another group said it "was going down hill" - it goes in cycles. But some people just can't stay - and some people need to remember that it was this community that put them intouch with the "friends" they still keep in touch with either through personal message or by other means. So is it really that bad?

So perhaps it's time that people should stop bad mouthing this community - if you don't like it stay away - but if you do want to continue contributing try and be more positive - perhaps then more people might start to realise that there is "the other side" of living with a lung condition.

Sermon over

Mark

[Toci in reply to Hidden]

Well said. x

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Well said Mark. I have got a lot of info from this site and I like to join in and answer questions or reply to blogs if I can be of help and I know what I am talking about (or think I do). Why some members have to make a big deal about saying the site going down hill and how they are leaving I don't know. If you want to leave, just leave and let that be that. I think the site is fine. It is easy to use and there are new members coming on board all the time. Keep up the good work.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the post, Mark. I remember what it was like 4 years ago, and as you say just the same. A mixture of jokes, humour, information and support.

I'm one of those who stopped posting for a while .. no particular reason, I just did. I'm back just now, but who knows for how long. Real life sometimes requires our attention.

C

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lol stitch, here here and me too carrie. x x

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Dear Mark,

. How you can say the site hasn't changed I don't know, and you know full well that a lot of us left because of certain member forever preaching rules and regs all the time, I can't name, names but i know you are aware of who they are.

. I can't and won't speak for others, but even though i suffer severely everyday i still try to look at at the lighter side of life and have a laugh if i can, having a terminal illness does not have to be all doom and gloom,. If i can help and support others i will, and if i can cheer someone up with a joke or story or poem that's none related to copd, I'll di that also, if i remember correctly, you said yourself a while back you don't have to read what you don't want to or get involved in conversations you don't agree with, we are all of different opinions and walks of life, it would be great if we all towed the same line, but it wouldn't half be a sad boring world to live in.

. It's great to see new people joining, and its not a case of i don't like the site, just a handful of members who seem to think they run the place and we should all play by their rules. Weed these out in public and sermonise them like you have just done to me and I will be more than happy in fact I'd be ecstatic, but somehow i don't see this happening do you.

TTFN

TT

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Well said aswad I totally agree.

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Aswad,

Considering that, according to your profile you only joined the site in June this year, I don't quite understand how you would know if this site has changed over the years or not.

It's also quite sad that, after only 1 - 2 months you appear to have made a lot of negative assumptions about people you can know little about.

As a new member yourself, why don't you start by sharing a bit about yourself and your lung condition and give others the chance to get to know you better.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Just because i only registered in June doesn't I've not been looking in from another HU site, I've been around a lot longer than you think

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

But, carrieme, your profile shows you joined in April 2012 yet you talk of four years ago? I know this forum changed at some point and maybe people had to re-register, some people have changed their names and profiles several times. Also, I know of quite a few people who use different HU sites, I do on behalf of my wife, you may not necessarily want to be known by the same name on each one. George

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

You want to know about me no problem, but your nit exactly forthcoming about yourself are you, so what's up with you

[Hidden]

Welcome freckboy, a good post and well said.

BC

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I totally agree with all those who agree to help keeping this forum friendly and supportive, its helpful and in everyone's best interest to keep it that way.

I have no desire to experience anything else other than that when I visit the BLF support community. As freckboy says in his OP.

I suspect the majority feel this way, new comers as well as those who were around at the birth of BLF community (previous to healthunlocked) and those who have come from NHS Choices and other locations across the WWW, and even those that only joined a year ago, its irrelevant, how long we've had a lung condition, or have used support communities.

We don't join communities to listen to repeated negative bad mouthing and discord among members. Generally we come here for the very reason it was set up, that is to find and help support in a friendly caring environment.

Putting negative comment on the public board, bad mouthing the workings of the community, Health Unlocked, the BLF or the people that come here is so NOT appropriate to the reason the majority come here and so NOT helpful to a support environment.

As freckboy says in his Original Post,

that is what this blog should be about, nothing else.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Well said BlakeyC