Featured posts

Yes it is very disappointing. I feel shut down and slapped down . Clearly there is no room for robust discussion on this site. I did not expect to feel bullied by bcna staff, so goodbye. I will join an overseas group that can have intelligent discussion without the moderator weighing in accusing others of being disrespectful for daring to express opinions she didn't like!

Hmmm.I actually feel quite disappointed with this reply.If you read my post again,it was only about admin posts being featured and left too long at the top.Nothing more.I get what you are saying about staff forming close friendships with members,but any members that I have formed a close friendship with,I inbox them privately.The blog is for women with breast cancer !!!!! I know you are the moderator,therefore you have the final say,but I can respectfully disagree with it.Cheers Robyn.

Hi everyone. I'm putting on my moderator hat.

As iserbrown mentioned, we do see much of this as constructive criticism. We know that the online network is not as easy to use as we all would like. We are actively working on improvements and there are some exciting changes in the works.

As for content, as per our network posting guidelines:

"You may not like everything you see. Everyone participates differently and you may sometimes see things you don’t like. You are welcome to disagree with others provided your tone is respectful. If you feel the urge to respond in an irritable manner, it might pay to sleep on it."

While one member may not enjoy seeing a celebrity roller-skating in pink shorts or the 3-week pink bun campaign, another member enjoys and appreciates those fundraising efforts, which help support services such as this online network.

While one member may not enjoy seeing one of our staff member's holiday photos, another member who has come to know her and see her as a friend, does and considers it a cheerful distraction.

The BCNA online network is for all Australians affected by breast cancer - that means people undergoing treatment, living with breast cancer, recovering from it, as well as the people that love and support them such as family and friends, health care professionals and BCNA staff, who form close relationships with members and are doing this job because they care deeply. 

Please do not disrespect each other or our staff members. This has to be a safe space for everyone. 

This is a big community. If there's content that you don't like, then please disagree respectfully or move on to another conversation. If it's inappropriate, then please use the Report button beneath each post.

I have not posted here before and am a member of the "shittiest club in the world" - women living with advanced breast cancer. I have to agree with everyones comments, it is hard to read posts from women who have never experienced BC, Chemo, Radio, scans, bad news from scans etc etc. I also find the pink bun ads annoying - especially when I m feeling sick from chemo. This should be our forum and a separate forum for BCNA notices should maybe exist.

Not sounding mean spirited but when you can hardly walk due to spinal secondaries when a year ago you were a power lifter and body builder to hear of someones overseas trip who is a staff member and how fantastic it was is not top of things I want to read about at the moment.

Keep up the good work BCNA but maybe take some consideration of what we are all saying here.

Hi Robyn - I can see that you have stirred a great conversation around this post.  When I first looked at the site, May last year, I thought it was too confusing so it took me until July before I got into it. 

I love being able to support others as I've got the benefit of the experience of intense treatment being mainly behind me; goodness, I hope I haven't mozzed myself saying that!  I agree that sometimes it appears difficult to pick up a post that you'd seen a few days earlier as you can't always remember the exact title to go and search for it and unless you've commented you're not getting a prompt to go and look at it!

I am sure admin will see all this as positive feedback as we know they are working through trying to improve the forum.

Take care

Christine

Robyn, I think that's a good idea. I'm a new member and have been struggling to find a way to view posts just from members/survivors. I find the format here very confusing, it would be nice to have a more linear traditional forum style with all the posts/threads laid out clearly. Please don't get me wrong, the information is helpful, but I feel I'm digging and backtracking to find what I need and often give up in frustration. There are other sites with a clearer layout but I really wanted to participate in an Australian forum, most of the others aren't. Just the opinion of a newbie, for what it's worth!

Thank you for your support and replies.This post was not meant to cause ripples,but I had been thinking this way for a while.This blog has been successful for a long time,and for me,in the early days,it was like a second family.I am certain that most ladies feel this way.The emotion that we feel after a BC diagnosis,can really only be understood by someone else with BC.Thanks Cheers Robyn.xox

I completely agree. This is something I have been feeling for some time. I believe that bcna admin should be in the background not front and centre of a site for women who actually are fighting this disease. I think that they need to reassess what this is all about. It's also not just about pink buns and fundraising. Everytime I open up I get an advertisement for pink buns. I'm sorry but I also find it offensive to look at someone in sparkly shorts on rollerblades having a blast eating pink buns. This is an insidious disease and I wish money went to finding a cure.

This is my point of view and may well not be anyone else's, but I really find the whole pink wrapping of a deadly disease trivialises the fact that it is the biggest killer of women and that for women with metastatic disease there is still no cure!  This fact hasn't changed in 30 years. Sorry to rain on all the smiley faces parade.

Thanks for your feedback too:) I understand exactly what you mean,but I still feel that blog members are pretty good at supporting each other.Thanks for your reply.Cheers Robyn.

Hi Robyn. Thanks for your feedback. We use featured posts in a few different ways.

One way we use featured posts is to highlight a post from a member that might have gotten lost in the feed. If we notice a member has asked a question and hasn't received a response, we'll feature it to help ensure that others see it. We want everyone to find the info and support they're looking for.

We've also been using it for a welcome thread because one of the persistent complaints we were receiving from new members is that they didn't know what to do or how to get around when they first got here. The introduction threads have also been shown to work well for new members to say hello (the first one has 70 comments). I know it's a little boring to see it there all the time, but we find that these threads are really helpful for new members.

We also use them for announcements. These come and go. Some stay up longer than others.

We only have one feed and it doesn't fit that much, but we're working on that. In the meantime, we need to make room for everyone. Maybe we're not striking the right balance and we're happy to work on that. And we're definitely happy to feature more posts from our members :-)