Find A Kidney Donor.Com-Seeing Interest Of Fellow Dialysis Patients

[findakidneydonor.com]

Hi,
My name is David and I am starting a website where people in need of donors can make videos (kinda like Youtube videos/vlogs) to get their face out there to possible healthy donors or their friends. I am testing the waters, so to speak, for anyone in need of new kidney donors. This service will be entirely free and is not illegal or a scam (possible recipients are not allowed to buy kidneys and are asked to report anyone who is trying to offer that illegal service). I am a fellow dialysis patient (in-center hemo) who has been waiting on the list for 5 years (10-year waitlist in my area) and instead of just building a "Find A Kidney" website for myself, I thought of creating one anyone can use.

It's a very simple concept. You would make a small "get to know you" section and post a video of whatever you want. Show your daily life, show us your family life, your day at a baseball game, your ER visits, etc. Whatever you want. If you think it will help a possible donor see your video and say "hey, I wanna donate to this person cause they are so charismatic or because they are only 2 towns over...". You would film with your own camera or video phone and upload it to the website. There will be instructions on how to do it and help will be offered. I hope one day if the website can help some people find donors, we can buy expensive cameras for users to borrow.

If you are interested in learning more or would like to become a user as the site starts up please feel free to email me here on ihatedialysis.com or at administrator@findakidneydonor.com

[Paul]

That sounds like a good idea to me.

[Simon Dog]

What platform are you going to use to build this system?

You would make a small "get to know you" section and post a video of whatever you want.

Blood type as well, so prospective donors will know if they could donate directly or had to participate in a swap.

[findakidneydonor.com]

What platform are you going to use to build this system?

You would make a small "get to know you" section and post a video of whatever you want.

Blood type as well, so prospective donors will know if they could donate directly or had to participate in a swap.

Thank you so much. So far the only issue is finding willing patients. If you know anybody who is interested, let them know. Thank you again for the kind words.

[findakidneydonor.com]

What platform are you going to use to build this system?

You would make a small "get to know you" section and post a video of whatever you want.

Blood type as well, so prospective donors will know if they could donate directly or had to participate in a swap.

Thank you so much. So far the only issue is finding willing patients. If you know anybody who is interested, let them know. Thank you again for the kind words.

Blood type is def a major part of each person's video and profile. Thank you for bringing it up. As far as platform, I am brand new to all this. I am currently set up with WordPress with my hosting through BlueHost. For all I know I am doing this completely wrong, but I am hoping I am able to help some people. Right now this is just me, for the most part, running a brand new non-profit website. I guess I will just find out as I go.

[Simon Dog]

Wordpress suggests you are running in a Linus/Apache/MySQL host.   You may find it useful to learn PHP and MySQL to develop custom database functionality to keep track of the user data.   Also, include a place for followup ("success stories") in the profiles.














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[Paul]

You may find it useful to learn PHP and MySQL to develop custom database functionality to keep track of the user data.

Yes a database and some form of higher level programming are a must. It does not have to be PHP, you could use Perl, Python, or one of several others (my preference is for Perl, but that is simply because it is what I know). Similarly there are other database programs that will do, but MySQL is the most common and probably the easiest. But trying to do it simply with HTML, or worse, just with Wordpress will not work, neither can do enough.

Your first job should probably be to pick a language to write it in and start learning. That is not as hard as it sounds. I first learned the basics of Perl from a "Dummies Guide To Perl" book in a weekend. Databases are harder because they are so unforgiving, but easier because there are a lot less instructions. Don't be tempted just to buy the scripts you need because good ones are very expensive (you can get cheap or even free ones, but the cheap/free ones require a lot of programming knowledge to customize).

[kickingandscreaming]

If you don't know what you're doing with WordPress I would suggest NOT getting too far into the weeds with the database.  I suggest that you find a good user-generated content plugin where your users can submit their profiles, etc, from the front end.

Plugins such as:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/user-submitted-posts/
https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-member/

I tried, a couple of years ago to create a user-generated site (about dogs) and found the WordPress infrastructure for crowd-sourcing a bit weak.  The thing you'd accomplish by doing it with online forms that your users can fill out is that you wouldn't have to input all the material yourself.

Good luck.

[Paul]

I disagree. For your site to work you are going to need a hell of a lot of members. And new members are going to need to search several criteria at once (blood group, area, etc.). Wordpress is simply not up to that. If you are just serving just one large town or small city, then maybe it could cope. But I doubt it could do a whole state, and unless it has been improved considerably since I last looked at it, I'm pretty sure it could not manage the whole country.

[findakidneydonor.com]

I disagree. For your site to work you are going to need a hell of a lot of members. And new members are going to need to search several criteria at once (blood group, area, etc.). Wordpress is simply not up to that. If you are just serving just one large town or small city, then maybe it could cope. But I doubt it could do a whole state, and unless it has been improved considerably since I last looked at it, I'm pretty sure it could not manage the whole country.

For my user data and all user associated things, I was planning on using plugins through Wordpress. Is that not good enough?

[Simon Dog]

I am not familiar with all Wordpress plugins, so I can't tell you if they will be sufficient.  I am certain, however, that directly coding the custom features you need will give you far more flexibility.]

Perl, Python, or one of several others (my preference is for Perl, but that is simply because it is what I know)

Perl and Python would require you write them as SCI scripts, which makes debugging much harder, plus you cannot as easily insert code into an HTML page.   I've done a lot of Perl and PHP development, but only tweaked a few Python scripts.   I should learn Python though since I may have an interesting part time opportunity.

[findakidneydonor.com]

I am not familiar with all Wordpress plugins, so I can't tell you if they will be sufficient.  I am certain, however, that directly coding the custom features you need will give you far more flexibility.]

Perl, Python, or one of several others (my preference is for Perl, but that is simply because it is what I know)

Perl and Python would require you write them as SCI scripts, which makes debugging much harder, plus you cannot as easily insert code into an HTML page.   I've done a lot of Perl and PHP development, but only tweaked a few Python scripts.   I should learn Python though since I may have an interesting part time opportunity.

Would I be using the coding (whether its Perl, PHP, MySQL, etc.) in the HTML section of WordPress? I hope to eventually hire someone to help make the website more efficient and nicer. For now though I think its just me, due to finances. If an amateur had to learn one of these systems (MySQL, Perl, etc) would you think is easiest to learn? Maybe that's a stupid question lol.

[findakidneydonor.com]

I disagree. For your site to work you are going to need a hell of a lot of members. And new members are going to need to search several criteria at once (blood group, area, etc.). Wordpress is simply not up to that. If you are just serving just one large town or small city, then maybe it could cope. But I doubt it could do a whole state, and unless it has been improved considerably since I last looked at it, I'm pretty sure it could not manage the whole country.

Thank you for your expertise Paul. Do you have any suggestions for helping the website handle such large numbers? I think this idea can do some good and I want to give it the best chance for success.

[Simon Dog]

Thank you for your expertise Paul. Do you have any suggestions for helping the website handle such large numbers? I think this idea can do some good and I want to give it the best chance for success.

PHP, MySQL, InnoDB table type, make extensive use of foreign keys to link tables.

[Paul]

If an amateur had to learn one of these systems (MySQL, Perl, etc) would you think is easiest to learn? Maybe that's a stupid question lol.

I only really know Perl well, so I cannot give a good comparison with Python and PHP, however a few differences I can point out, which might influence your choice of language, are:

PHP is written directly in the web page, the others are "called" from a web page. This means Perl and Python has to be written on a different document and a command is added to the web page telling it to run the Perl/Python program.

Perl can be used without learning "object orientation" (advanced Perl uses OO, but you don't necessarily need to use it), so can be mastered more quickly. I think both PHP and Python are only object orientated languages, and I found OO a pain to learn (never actually use it unless adapting other people's work).

Perl and PHP both have a module making it easier to work with MySQL.

Perl is best if you need to do a lot of number work, it was originally created to do that.

Would I be using the coding (whether its Perl, PHP, MySQL, etc.) in the HTML section of WordPress?

Neither Perl Nor Puthon will work there (although you may be able to run calls via the HTML thingie, I have never tried) There is a small possibility PHP will work in there, but I doubt it unless Wordpress actually states this (since it is server side, Wordpress will have had to actually set up a program to parse it).

As to running MySQL, it is not a language, it is a database. Normally you would write commands to run your MySQL database in Perl/Python/PHP. There may be add ons that allow you to command MySQL via Wordpress, but I have never looked, so I cannot tell you for sure.

For my user data and all user associated things, I was planning on using plugins through Wordpress. Is that not good enough?

If I were designing this site, I would not use Wordpress at all. Although Wordpress might do as a starter site, just to get the first few members signed up and give people an idea of what you are doing (NB "might" I am not certain it is possible). However if you decide to do this be aware you will need a hell of a lot of work shoehorning in add ons and forcing them to work with each other. Also be aware that you will have to totally redesign the site when it gets big, Wordpress will not be able to handle this. And when you start be sure that whatever database system you use can be used in both your start up site and final site. If you cannot, then when you upgrade you are going to have to retype everything manually, and imagine, for example, if you have 500 members when you upgrade, and you have to personally retype everything every one of those 500 members has typed into your system, that is not going to be fun.

[Paul]

Sorry, just one last thought on the "what language to use?" question: Your hosting company needs to have a suitable engine to parse the language. Most hosts have all the up to date ones, so this is not a problem. But some cheaper hosts do not. Before you make a final decision check with your host to see that they have what you need. Although, it is probably better to decide what you need, then change hosts if they cannot provide.

[Simon Dog]

PHP can be coded within a wordpress page (Been there, done that), but is cumbersome.   For high end sites, full custom using a package like Dreamweaver to do the design/layout is a good way to go.

As to hosting - PHP, Perl and MySQL debugging is much easier if you have shell access .... something not all servers offer.

As an example - this forum is written in PHP and uses the MySQL database.

[Paul]

using a package like Dreamweaver to do the design/layout is a good way to go.

There are cheaper options, there are even free web page designers. I code by hand so have little experience of them, but I'm guessing the free ones are not as good as Dreamweaver, but Dreamweaver is very expensive so may be beyond startup price.

As a thought, do you have Word For Windows? If so, that has a web page design function, no idea how good it is though.

[Simon Dog]

Form a non-profit 501(c)(3) and you can buy Dreamweaver and other software cheap.   Plus, you can solicit donations for the project here.

[Emerson Burick]

It's a very simple concept. You would make a small "get to know you" section and post a video of whatever you want. Show your daily life, show us your family life, your day at a baseball game, your ER visits, etc. Whatever you want. If you think it will help a possible donor see your video and say "hey, I wanna donate to this person cause they are so charismatic or because they are only 2 towns over...". You would film with your own camera or video phone and upload it to the website. There will be instructions on how to do it and help will be offered. I hope one day if the website can help some people find donors, we can buy expensive cameras for users to borrow.

How do you envision your site being different from the competition, such as matchingdonors.com?

[Paul]

How do you envision your site being different from the competition, such as matchingdonors.com?

For a start, hopefully it won't auto run videos. Ugggg!

[Simon Dog]

How do you envision your site being different from the competition, such as matchingdonors.com?

I think the new site will not have the nominal $600 fee for listing.

[findakidneydonor.com]

It's a very simple concept. You would make a small "get to know you" section and post a video of whatever you want. Show your daily life, show us your family life, your day at a baseball game, your ER visits, etc. Whatever you want. If you think it will help a possible donor see your video and say "hey, I wanna donate to this person cause they are so charismatic or because they are only 2 towns over...". You would film with your own camera or video phone and upload it to the website. There will be instructions on how to do it and help will be offered. I hope one day if the website can help some people find donors, we can buy expensive cameras for users to borrow.

How do you envision your site being different from the competition, such as matchingdonors.com?

The most obvious difference from matchingdonors.com is payment. Most dialysis patients get some form of disability but MD.com wants patients to pay $600?! They even offered me a payment plan but made it so difficult and unpleasant (customer service wise) that I couldn't get it. I started this idea with the plan of making sure nobody is paying just to try to find a kidney donor. Maybe it is unfeasible to create such a website without charging, but my goal is to help make kidney donation easier thru the use of social media and the internet. So far I'm realizing I have a lot of work to do in creating a functioning website (hopefully I can one day afford to hire a web developer who knows this stuff better than me) but I will keep trying to create this option for dialysis patients.

[findakidneydonor.com]

Form a non-profit 501(c)(3) and you can buy Dreamweaver and other software cheap.   Plus, you can solicit donations for the project here.

Already in the process of becoming a 501c(3) specifically to have avenues of creating funding. This way I don't endanger my health coverage and disability payments by using things like crowdfunding. I was thinking, till I can pay a proper web developer who can do the things your speaking about (database wise), I just use WordPress (hosted by BlueHost) to deal with the initial inlay of users and visitors. I don't expect many users at first. At this point, I can't even find anyone who wants to be one of the initial users upon launch (with or without videos). That is part of what I am hoping to accomplish in order to launch. I don't even know where to look or ask lol.