March 10, 2011

Are You Tired of Today's Diabetes Forums?

Well, it came to an end.  Not the way many of us desired, but participation waned and March 23, 2012 the site will disappear.
 
If you are looking for something a lot more social and possibly a bit more informing than many of the diabetes forums that exist today, you might want to stop by MyDiaBlog. This is different and while it is online now and you are able to join, it is still in the final stage and some areas are not yet as intuitive as some would like.

You will need to be an explorer of sorts, but the learning curve is not steep and actually is rather fun. I had some doubts about the site after reading David Mendosa's blog about it, but after a few days I did explore the site and a couple of days later joined. You are welcome to read David's blog here and I wish you would.

This site is the creation of David Wolf and do not be surprised after joining. You may have one of the moderators welcoming you. The first time this happened, I thought what the heck and answered back. We had a short conversation and I am happy that I did. This puts the social in social media networking. Be sure to check out the bar at the bottom. It has the status for chat on the right side, along with who in on line. On the left side there is access to chat rooms.

I am still lurking on the site and exploring the features – and there are many. The second time another moderator started to chat, I was deep into exploring and closed the chat box which is very similar to the one found on Google Chat. I probably should have said hello and exchanged pleasantries as I had already been interrupted, but I was deep into learning and wanted to finish what I was exploring.

These are a few of the features, Members, Forum, Blog posts, Events, Library, Photos, Videos, and Games. There are others but I have not explored them all. I have not checked all this, but under many of the areas, there is a menu when it opens. It has been exciting to watch the changes over the last few days as some have been expanded and some have been clarified.

Under Forum for example are Home, New Posts, My Groups, My Watched Topics, and My Topics. Again, I have not explored all of these, but New Posts is where you may start a new topic. Blog Posts is still being worked on, but there are lots of blogs at this point. Anyone can create a group so that people with like interests can join and compare ideas and interests.

There is still much to explore, and I look forward to finding out more of this developing social networking site which is different from forums and other sites and is more like a social network site than I have seen previously. Privacy is very much in the forefront, but there are some areas that may be weak at this point. The profile section is excellent, but the listing of activities by members is a little disconcerting, but this may need to be open so that you can see who is doing what. Security is so much better than facebook that there is no comparison. Facebook is so bad it hurts and this is on the other end of the spectrum.

So check out the site and see if it fits your needs. Once you have joined, do not get surprised by the moderators extending a welcome. When the box appears, be ready to chat if so desired.

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