Feed back Time... Disease Board format

[brewmaster15]

Hello all,
We are always looking for ways to improve the forum here and often try new things to accomplish that. The Disease board was always an area that we wanted to improve so that people could get better more expert advice on their fish health problems.

Between July and August we made alot of changes to the layout of the disease board, and tried to minimize the negative impact of advice being given by inexperienced or new members.

WE broke the board up into several sections and put restrictions on how it is used.

Its been 3 months and now and I'd like to ask your opinion on how its working. Do you like the New Layout of the forum's Disease board? Have you benefited from it,used it, been frustrated by it?


Theres information here

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?115166-Changes-to-the-Disease-Sickness-and-Medication-forum

and here

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?115281-Further-Changes-to-the-Disease-Sickness-and-Medication-forum&p=1106457

I've added a poll to this thread for some down and dirty numbers, but I really want to hear from you all. We strive to try and guide the forum's direction with user input and it often hard for us to do that with these kinds of threads.

Alot of times when I ask for feedback like this, I only get it from the most vocal members, which I want to hear from, but I like to make my decisions well informed with as much info as possible, which means I need to hear from you all.

Thanks,
Al

[OC Discus]

There is room for broadening who can post. Maybe an identifying status could be applied to SD approved experts while others are allowed to post.

In the case of the 4 discus that just died, I would have advised rehoming the non-discus, sterilizing the tank, and doing daily salt dips on the discus until they were clean.

I would also monitor the section more carefully for sarcasm and berating remarks that actually take away from the learning/keeping experience. Emotions can actually impair judgment as one seeks to defend a position or a reputation.

[Rudustin]

I have to agree with OC about the "sarcasm and berating" issue. The last thing a discus keeper with sick fish wants is to be even more panicked and dismayed with that kind of reaction. Rufus

[musicmarn1]

great feedback guys and I totally, completely concur

[brewmaster15]

3 comments,6 votes, and 28 views so far.. not bad, but we need to do better. ...so lets bump this up again.

-al

[musicmarn1]

Al I think thats good news !! no news IS good news in this case maybe??!:o

[Second Hand Pat]

Well, I think overall it is a positive change. The advise given is more consistent and on point with the issues in a given thread. The OP is not sent in all kinds of direction and confusion based on the variety of advice given. The downside is we need more health advisers so a consistent level of attention is given when needed.

[nc0gnet0]

Well, I think overall it is a positive change. The advise given is more consistent and on point with the issues in a given thread. The OP is not sent in all kinds of direction and confusion based on the variety of advice given. The downside is we need more health advisers so a consistent level of attention is given when needed.

I could not agree more.

Although 90% of the issues we see are attributed to the same things over and over and over again. It's usually either lack of good water changes or failure to Qt new arrivals. It's to be expected when you see someone new, but, it's so hard to believe when you see the same thing with experienced Simply members.

[brewmaster15]

Not bad 43 views and 8 votes... I know we can do better:bandana:

Come on People I am giving you a chance to help determine how we do things here on the forum.... We asked opinions before we made the changes, and now we need feedback. If I didn't want to hear from you I would not ask.

Please help us evaluate the system. A vote takes a second to cast., maybe it takes a few minutes to read the threads I listed.

Thanks,
al

[OC Discus]

Rick is right about most of the problems likely having the same source. If all new discus were from the same batch and added to sterilized bare bottom tanks without other tankmates and the tanks were properly cleaned/water maintained disease would be cut down to genetic issues.

[OC Discus]

How about an elite team of administrators who have the knowledge to recognize bad medication advice and quietly remove bad advice from a thread before it evolves into a debate. They could send a pm to the poster giving the reasons for the action, or maybe post a note in the thread correcting bad advice and giving reasons. Very few people could do this, because they themselves might have different views.

[jsullins]

I agree with Pat


Well, I think overall it is a positive change. The advise given is more consistent and on point with the issues in a given thread. The OP is not sent in all kinds of direction and confusion based on the variety of advice given. The downside is we need more health advisers so a consistent level of attention is given when needed.

[nc0gnet0]

How about an elite team of administrators who have the knowledge to recognize bad medication advice and quietly remove bad advice from a thread before it evolves into a debate. They could send a pm to the poster giving the reasons for the action, or maybe post a note in the thread correcting bad advice and giving reasons. Very few people could do this, because they themselves might have different views.

That just would not work....timing.

[jsullins]

If you are looking for more advisers maybe the powers that be could get together and create some type of test if you will for people who are interested in trying to help. If there answers are inline with what most would do then consider allowing them to post in the advice section. If there answers scare you to death tell them thanks for applying but the posistion has been filled. Just an idea.

[nc0gnet0]

The underlying question here is, is more better?

I am assuming that the driving force of this concern is quite often response time. It's a legitimate concern, but how often is the disease in question a do or die situation, in which medication could have prevented death if administered 2-4 hours prior? I can think of only a few such cases (other than water related issues) that come to mind and they are EXTREMELY rare.

Quite often a knee jerk reaction is much more detrimental to the fish's health than the step back, do a water change and observe approach. If you have 20 different people telling the OP to do 20 different things, chances are he will do the first thing, or all 20. We had far too much of this in the past, at least IMO.

As for improvements, I think it would be nice to have a flow chart that could help narrow things down a bit intially, perhaps a few more stickies on the things we see over and over again, and maybe some information of what traps to avoid (aka go to lfs come home with melafix or general cure, dose first ask questions later).

Other than that all my suggestions would require modifications to the forum software, something I know absolutely nothing how to go about.

-Rick

[nc0gnet0]

bump

[rickztahone]

It seems most people are happy with the way the Disease board is currently running. If any of you would like to voice your opinions, and feel that this format isn't working, please share with us now, and tell us what you think can be improved.

It is not every day that the owner of a forum asks its members for their opinion. Speak up and help us make this disease section one that you feel comfortable in participating in.

[Tankster]

The new format is excellent.

The format of old was well intended but usually devolved into situations where those who actually know what they are doing, spent 75% of their time addressing bad advice and distracted from helping the hobbyist in crises.

Needed Improvements:
It could use more approved advisers. I am afraid we will burn out our current batch of hero's who are dedicating quite a bit of time and attention to the Emergency Room.
I like jsullins suggestion of a test created by the current Emergency Room Advisers. My only caution, this being the internet and all, peoples motives are always in question so I would suggest a live test on a private invite only forum section created especially for this purpose. You can create scenarios based on past ER post history. I might even go so far as to create a scenario where the applicant is informed he or she is on call for the next 24 hours and to keep an eye out for his or her ER test scenario. This will give you an indication as to how attentive they are and how long their response time is. You will want real time feedback on an individuals capacity to handle someone in crises, understand if they are asking the correct probative questions, and providing sound advice while addressing the hobbyist's emotional state as part of the overall solution. This could be an exercise that is conducted every 6 months to a year, depending on how many people you are able to add to the pool after the first round of live testing.

Maybe seems a bit extreme to some but this is one of the most critically important sections of our forum and having the wrong people in place can cost members thousands of dollars, not to mention the emotional trauma some go through with the loss of prized fish... or even the loss of their favorite stunted runt.

[DISCUS STU]

It may be too restrictive. At 1,000 posts to qualify to be able to respond, it's understandable that relevant advice and experience should be posted and well intentioned though not necessarily good advice can hurt more than it helps, this is potentially life and death at least for our fish, there may be a tremendous amount of good experience that can't get to where it can do the most good.

1,000 posts means that only those with the most activity and history on the forum can offer their help. Good to be able to balance the best possible advice from the largest possible pool of those that may have the qualified background to offer it.

[nc0gnet0]

bump

[Second Hand Pat]

Hi all,

We really want to hear from you guys on this. Everyone was quite vocal when initial feedback was requested on how to make the disease forum better so please chime in now even if it is just with your vote in the poll. Everyone's input and feedback is very important and helps us to run the forum for the betterment of all.

Thanks,
Pat

[DonMD]

In my view it is now much better. The restrictions on who may respond to calls for help have practically eliminated advice being given by people without the needed knowledge and experience. So, it's better for the original poster who will get better information at the very beginning, and it's better because it cuts down on argument about what treatments should be given. I don't have any advice on how to improve it, but I will say I think you've made a significant improvement already.

[brewmaster15]

I'd like to ask once again for votes and feedback here..

-al

[rickztahone]

I believe that the changes that took place have made the disease section a more rounded and advanced section. The limitation of inexperienced posts by members who have not been around fish diseases long enough was a step in the right direction.

With that being said, I know it has been mentioned prior, but at some point, the regular people who post might get burned out. This happens any time people have to repeat the same thing over and over like we see these disease section advisors endure.

I believe we should broaden the pool of advisors, but only by way of selection. As it stands, it may be difficult to find these members because they may be limited by our current restrictions, but I highly doubt it because the restrictions aren't outrageous. My proposition is to find these other members who do not normally post in these sections. People that have been in the hobby for years and know about medicating, yet do not feel inclined to advise.

I wouldn't want to pressure anyone in to doing this that didn't want to do it, but rather coax these members to participate a little more so as to help alliviate some of the weight of the current advisors.

Maybe we can rehash our stickies so that the most common diseases are outlined and a proper medication protocol can be given for the most basic of diseases. Of course, this may also lead to problems because our members may misidentify one disease for another.

These are just things that I believe can be molded to better improve a section who has already had a major improvement in overall quality.