Thursday, April 27, 2006

Suggestions for improvements of this website

After the recent “blogquake” at this blog, which now seems a thing of the past, I decided to set up this Discussion Forum for any suggestions for improvements at Diabetes.Blog.com that readers might have. Some of them would be easy to implement (e.g., a new Discussion Forum on some topic or other) and some impossible, but if you have a brainstorm, please share it with others and me and if it can be implemented, will do.

Also, if you have comments about the mechanics of the blog (like how to post comments!), here’s your chance to vent.

Your thoughts, please…

As of June 1, 2008, the ability to post new comments at the Discussion Forums at Diabetes.Blog.com has been disabled. The old comments will remain available for you to read.

Please go to Diabetes Discussions to see new comments and to add your thoughts!

Instructions for posting comments may be found at Getting Started.

Thanks.

Bill the diabetesdoc
mailto:info@diabetesmonitor.com

Diabetes.Blog.Com is a blogcompanion to our main website, the Diabetes Monitor, which you can find at http://www.diabetesmonitor.com/


Posted by Bill the diabetesdoc in 05:00:00
Comments

139 Responses to “Suggestions for improvements of this website”

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  1. toneylee in rural va says:
    September 4, 2007 at 4:57 pm

    Denise! Thank you!! I think I did it.
    Home->Enter->Edit. You are brilliant! :)

  2. Denise in NV: PCOS;dx type II 12/06; humalog 50/50 says:
    September 4, 2007 at 4:58 pm

    Glad to assist

  3. Geri in co:Byetta 10,Glucophage XR-1000mg 2xdaily, gluctrol xl 3-2.5 mg daily, says:
    September 4, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    Denise in NV: PCOS;dx type II 12/06; humalog 50/50, Just checking if I can change my name too with my method.

  4. geri in co:Byetta 10,Glucophage XR-1000mg 2xdaily, gluctrol xl 3-2.5 mg daily, says:
    September 4, 2007 at 7:37 pm

    Geri in co:Byetta 10,Glucophage XR-1000mg 2xdaily, gluctrol xl 3-2.5 mg daily, ,
    Now I’m going back to the original way. I’m confused as to what is so hard but being confused is a normal thing for me. My validation confirmation started with NUT, Ohhh well……

  5. toneylee in va says:
    September 5, 2007 at 9:47 am

    EVERYONE: Dr Bill sent me a link to get you to the same place Helen describes:

  • toneylee in va says:
    September 6, 2007 at 8:56 am

    Hmmm, I can’t make the above link work; don’t know why. Here is the url I was sent to copy and paste:

    http://friends.blog.com/profile/edit/

  • geri in co:Byetta 10,Glucophage XR-1000mg 2xdaily, gluctrol xl 3-2.5 mg daily, says:
    September 6, 2007 at 9:53 am

    toneylee in va, After all this time that I’ve been on the blog what would the advantage be to “join”?

  • Angela in Iowa type 2 11-05, Byetta 10, 2 x day, Metformin ER, 1x day, Diagnosed type 2 11-2005 says:
    September 6, 2007 at 10:24 am

    toneylee in va,toneylee in va,

    It worked for me just make sure you use the entire address

    http://friends.blog.com/profile/edit/

  • Angela in Iowa, Type 2 since 11-05, 500 Metformin er 1 daily, Byetta 10mg 2 daily, boniva 1 month says:
    September 6, 2007 at 10:26 am

    Angela in Iowa mine does not show up as blue if I use other

  • toneylee in va says:
    September 6, 2007 at 11:23 am

    Geri: Just if you want to. I think it is easier to login and not have to copy that code to post your message. You just type in your email and password to post. Then, as long as you are signed in and don’t get off the computer, you don’t even have to do that. You just click Publish. You know what long stretches at a time I spend on the computer, so it is easier for me.

    If you post by logging in, your name is in blue. If you switch from login to other (or never sign up), your name isn’t blue.

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 9, 2007 at 9:11 am

    Dr Bill: Because of Suzan’s continuing frustration (see Odds and Ends), I have tried “forgetting” my password and trying to recover or make a new one. Suzan is right – I can’t do it either. Will you ask the folks at blog.com for instructions? (I can’t identify the recovery code in the email they send me – or else it doesn’t work – nor can I figure out what to enter for url, etc.) We may need to know this for other posters in the future. Thanks!

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 11, 2007 at 9:33 am

    Suzan: I’m reposting these directions (per Dr Bill). You are signed up and have a good password. Now… I think you can do this and change your meds, etc. however you wish:

    Because your name appears in blue, you have successfully signed up and created an account. Don’t change to “Other” anymore. It won’t work.

    Click on your blue name. That will take you to your Profile page. Up at the top of the page is a small link that says “Home”. Click “Home”. Up top, if it says to, log in again with your email and password, and click Enter. You’ll go to a new page. Go back (use the back arrow on your tool bar). Now click Enter again. You should be on a new page that has a space with Profile on it. Click “Edit Profile”. See the Nickname space? Change it to read whatever you want – add meds, change meds, anything. Leave all the other spaces blank. Then click the bar at the bottom that says “Edit Profile”. A message will say “Successfully edited”. Then come back here and post a test message. Did it work? (I know this looks complicated, but it really isn’t.)

  • Anonymous says:
    September 14, 2007 at 12:34 pm

    toneylee in southside va,
    Okay, I have taken a couple of days to breathe and calm down, so now I will try to follow what you wrote. I have openned IE two times so that I can write on one and read the other. If I use Netscape (preferred), it will close me down. Here goes…….. Actually I have to send this or my name won’t appear in blue…
    Suzan

  • Suzan says:
    September 14, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    Now I will try it the other way and see if I can get my name in blue.
    Suzan

  • Suzan from CA: Byetta, Lantus, metformin, Humalog says:
    September 14, 2007 at 12:46 pm

    toneylee in southside va,
    Okay, I think I have done it, but I didn’t have to re-enter my email address because it was already there. Thanks heaps for your help.

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 14, 2007 at 4:11 pm

    Suzan, you did it! Yay! Glad you were willing to calm down and try again one more time. I see your success in the name line, and I’m thrilled – I so wanted it to work! We really have to thank Denise; she’s the one who explained it to me. :)

  • Annie in New York, byetta 5 x2, 1000mg Metformin er x2, and other asst non diabetes meds says:
    September 27, 2007 at 4:21 pm

    Dr. Bill, I hope you are still checking out this island. After a few days off from the blog I was surprised to see my picture next to my comments. Is there a way to delete it? I seem to be the only one this has happened to. I know this isn’t very important but I would like to be the one to decide to if I show a picture of myself. Thanks, Annie

    [As you might have guessed, I did NOT change the format to add the pictures (or make the other changes you've noticed... the folks at blog.com did).

    Looking at subsequent comments, I think that the photos are probably a positive addition, since it turns out you can change the photos when you get bored with what you previously used...

    Bill the diabetes doc.]

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 27, 2007 at 6:20 pm

    Hi Annie, I noticed it right away – neat to see you, of course, but I bet it is happening because of all the other blog problems right now. Maybe you could go to Home and Edit and just delete your picture on your blog page? Have you tried? (Dr. Bill does check here all the time – don’t worry.)

  • Annie in New York, byetta 5 x2, 1000mg Metformin er x2, and other asst non diabetes meds says:
    September 27, 2007 at 7:47 pm

    toneylee, thanks. I tried to delete my pictures from Home but couldn’t figure how to do it correctly. I also wanted to update the site with new pics since I lost weight since I posted the pics. I wish more people would put their pics up too. Annie

  • Annie in New York, byetta 5 x2, 1000mg Metformin er x2, and other asst non diabetes meds says:
    September 27, 2007 at 7:59 pm

    Toneylee, I was able to delete the old pics and replaced them with one taken over the weekend. I hope you decide to include your pic too. I hope everyone does.

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 28, 2007 at 9:48 am

    Annie: Whenever I can’t do something I email Dr. Bill and he forwards the question to blog.com. They send him instructions, which he forwards to me. You might email him, too. Annie, I don’t want my picture on the Internet. I just don’t feel comfortable. I love yours, though, but then you have a lot to be proud of!

  • Bill the diabetesdoc says:
    September 28, 2007 at 9:55 am

    toneylee, why not add a cute picture or cartoon figure that you think represents who you’d LIKE to be? That’s what I did!

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 28, 2007 at 10:40 am

    Well, Dr. Bill, that isn’t a bad idea. I might play around and figure out how to do that. Thanks, cuz I never thought of it. :)

  • Angela in Iowa, Type 2 since 11-05, 500 Metformin er 1 daily, Byetta 10mg 2 daily, boniva 1 month says:
    September 28, 2007 at 11:17 am

    toneylee this is a test I added an Avatar on my blog page but it did not show up on my last post I posted as other so I will try with loging in

  • toneylee in southside va says:
    September 28, 2007 at 11:36 am

    Ok, Avatar was a good word clue for me. I’ve experimented with adding my email avatar, which is the only one I have ever heard of! (Some of my computer skills are minimal.) Let’s see if it works. :)

  • Annie in New York, byetta 5 x2, 1000mg Metformin er x2, and other asst non diabetes meds says:
    September 30, 2007 at 10:35 pm

    Toneylee, Dr. Bill was kind enough to send me an email because he noticed I kept the new pic. I decided I wanted to show the real me hoping others would do the same. I’ve never been able to find a character that feels like me. I’m hoping other posters will feel they are ready to show their true selves too. As you can see from the pic I still have a long way to go to reach my goal but Byetta has given me the tools to make my dreams come true.

  • toneylee in va says:
    October 22, 2007 at 10:14 am

    Dr. Bill: For about the last week,the blog has been erratically and inconsistently difficult to access or to post on. Right now, obviously, it is ok, but earlier and last night, it was not. I’m not the only one having problems. Do you know if anything is going on? Can’t help worrying that another blogquake is in the offing!

  • Strawberi says:
    October 23, 2007 at 1:17 am

    I have the same problem some times when I write a LONG LONG story, it kicks me off and says fatel error. other times it won’t post then the next ry it works after I complain. And one other thing dr. Bill how come u can’t come on her and give some advice to people like me that became so fearful of Byetta, I know if u had given me your opinion I would have not worried so much as I am doing still. I drove these people nuts with my wht the called negitives. But gosh the side effects and complaint scared me. I have to mention I nearly died at the hand of 6 dr. that ignored me. My Der friend found me a dr. that listened and we found in 12 hrs that I had a Pheochromcytoma and 1 month later nearly died of adrenal failure while on pre surgery BP med’s and the surgeon was on vacation. They got it out in time. It was cancerous fro tne long time of beingin me. But its been 9 yrs and last check few month’s ago via CT my right one is fine…well againyour appearence sometimes for help would help alot.

  • Susan, Byetta5x2,Metformin,GlipizideXL,ToprolXL, Lisinopril, HCTZ,Zetia & Omeprazolw says:
    October 24, 2007 at 10:10 am

    I’ve been having problems too with getting my posts on the blog. Sometimes I can’t read the code because some letters get superimposed over others and it is difficult to determine what they should be. Vs and Rs are particular hard to determine.

    Also it seems that the longer the entry is the harder it is to get “published.” Mostly I get no place and lose what I wrote. And then I don’t want to try again. It can be very frustrating. Can’t something be done with how the system is operating?

  • toneylee in va says:
    October 24, 2007 at 10:48 am

    Susan: See Dr Bill’s Note at the top of each blog page. Blog.com is promising to get through their “upgrade” as soon as possible and apologizes for the inconvenience. I, too, have terrible difficulty with long posts, especially when I paragraph them. Recently, I have taken to copying each post before I hit “Send”. That way, at least, I won’t have to regenerate the post before I try again. But also, I often have to split a long post into two and even then I may have to eliminate the paragraphing.

  • Pat from LI says:
    March 30, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    Getting lost on the blog: I move quickly through the blog and often only check the most recent posts. While there is a list on the right column of ten or so posts, I’d like another way of determining what I’ve missed since the last time I was on. I don’t know what that would look like, but I keep missing posts and find it too clicky to go back and forth through every island. Any thoughts?
    Thanks. Even we oldtimers find lots that’s useful.

  • toneylee in va says:
    March 30, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    PAT: I don’t know how to use it at all, but I have noticed there is an RSS feed button for these forums. Might that help if you were computer savvy enough?

  • Bill the diabetesdoc says:
    March 30, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Pat:
    The only other way I am aware of is to write down the number of the last post in the island that you are on as you leave the session.

  • Anonymous says:
    May 6, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    Dr Bill: I get this fatal error message every time I click on the Byetta forum from the main Diabetes Monitor page:

    Fatal error: Call to undefined method MDB2_Error::fetchRow() in /usr/share/php5/PEAR/MDB2/Iterator.php on line 116

    Usually I can access the blog anyway by fooling around, maybe finding a less-used forum that works and then clicking a recent comment. But then I am taken to page 1 and need to click to the last page. Even then, nothing looks right. Is this because of the upcoming changes? Happening to anybody else? It’s been going on for several days.

  • Anonymous says:
    May 6, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Things not working well here at diabetes.blog.com. I’ve written the support staff at blog.com…

  • Anonymous says:
    May 8, 2008 at 9:19 pm

    Looks like things are pretty well fixed.

    If you have questions about the recent blogquake, PLEASE use the Suggestions for improvements of this website area.

    Thanks.

  • Anonymous says:
    May 9, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    Dr Bill: you are right–posting is now ok. But this morning, every time I post I am taken to the first page instead of the last. Things are still a little glitchy I guess.

  • Anonymous says:
    May 10, 2008 at 12:36 am

    Please spend some time at the Diabetes Monitor website, and read more about diabetes.

    And please tell your family, friends, physician, and your diabetes team about our websites (DiabetesMonitor.com, Diabetes.Blog.com, and Dr. Bill’s blog)!

    Many thanks!
    Bill and Steph Quick

  • Anonymous says:
    June 2, 2008 at 12:04 am

    As of June 1, 2008, the ability to post new comments at the Discussion Forums at Diabetes.Blog.com has been disabled. The old comments will remain available for you to read.

    Please go to Diabetes Discussions to see new comments and to add your thoughts!

    Instructions for posting comments may be found at Getting Started.

    Thanks.

    • « Older Comments