How popular is this forum??

[beep]

Going thru this forum's topics  I've noticed a lot of outdated topics with no response  mind u I have only really stayed mostly in the Dialysis General Discussion n even here a lot of the topics havent been replied since 2016 

[iolaire]

I always view "Show unread posts since last visit" so I'm reading all forums.  I feel like there are about 30 active people on the forums, but then when there is news on a long time member you will see others who are not active comment so at that point maybe 100 people are posting.  Finally when new members sign up and introduce themselves usually they say they have browsed the forum for a few years before signing up.  So its not really that active but its a wealth of information, it ranks well on google searchers, so the visits are much higher than active posters.

FYI: Just went to the Dialysis: General Discussion section, the header says "iolaire, Tío Riñon and 30 Guests are viewing this board."  So assuming some of those Guests are real and not bots and the like that is a huge ratio of guests to members.

[beep]

thanks for that iolaire

[Simon Dog]

So assuming some of those Guests are real and not bots and the like that is a huge ratio of guests to members.

ihatedialysis.txt does not have a robots.txt file defined, so it is reasonable to assume that a decent portion of the traffic is search engine bots.

[Rerun]

Hey if you are NEW to dialysis and scared to death there is this forum and all information is new to them.  Why delete posts and reinvent the wheel all the time?

 

[Michael Murphy]

All I can say is my dialysis journey was made considerably easier by this web site,  this site also introduced me to bill Peckham and Zach both of who I admired for the ability to respond to posts in a clear and concise manner plus correct my mistake in a manner that did not put me down but also left me with the correct information and a admiration for their ability to write in a informative style.  Plus this is the site I discovered the facts about Cambodia also known as star fruit lf you've never heard of them I highly recommend searching the site for facts about this fruit.

[Darthvadar]

This site has saved my sanity on many occasions when I was caring alone!...

Long may it continue!...

Darth.... Moderator....

[smartcookie]

As a professional, I viewed this site as a guest for a while before finally joining.  I got a ton of information from the perspective of the patient and it has helped me view my patients differently.  I can really say that this forum changed the way I practice social work.

[LorinnPKD]

Hey if you are NEW to dialysis and scared to death there is this forum and all information is new to them.  Why delete posts and reinvent the wheel all the time?

 

Rerun is absolutely right!  So much of the value of this forum is the accumulation of questions and answers.  It's so helpful and reassuring to go digging and read about the candid experiences of others.  After all, you really don't know what it's like until you're the one in the chair. I was glued to this site when I knew D was coming up fast.  Still grateful for all the honesty of the posters here.

[nursey66]

I read almost every post on the transplant part of the forums when my husband got his first transplant years ago , even though the posts were put on way before then. I found all of them informative and helpful to me who knew hardly anything then. I am so glad that they keep the older posts on !!

[SooMK]

I have followed other forums to find that no new postings would be made for weeks and weeks. What I noticed about IHD was that there are new postings, sometimes many of them, on any single day. Many of us started off reading IHD posts for long periods of time before signing up. Such a great resource.

[Charlie B53]

I would bet a small amount, cause I never bet a lot I'm too cheap, that anyone post any question that they will receive replies within the same day.  The fact that you may not see a large number of postings all over the board does not indicate that any new posting has not been read.  There are a number of people that read every new post. Most people will not reply to a post unless they have something of value to add.

This is not Facebook, this is a very helpful forum attended by members that actually care for one another.

We do have a lot of visitors that simply read but do not join until they finally do have a question that they cannot find a decent answer.  That is where this forum becomes so valuable.  We try, and some are willing to take the time to look up information and help any and all members that ask for it.

[DayaraLee]

Many of us started off reading IHD posts for long periods of time before signing up. Such a great resource.

That's me, for sure. I joined in 2016, but began reading in 2012. Daily reading. I don't know what I would've done without this resource. It not only provided a seemingly unending repository of information, it put real human faces and stories TO that information. I learned so much and am continuing to learn every time I read, whether it's a new post or something I search for that ends up being 3, 4, 5 years old. I hope it always remains. 
 

[Vt Big Rig]

I can't help but echo the statements about this place helping me keep my sanity when I first began.

Since I retired, and spend less time near a computer, I  am not as active as I once was but still check in often.

[kitkatz]

I think a lot of the IHD forum traffic has gone over to our sister page on Facebook. 
Seems modern technology is slowly making the forums pages dinosaur type pages.
You can almost get an instant answer  or argument on Facebook, plus that page is not as moderated as strictly as this one is.
It depends on what you are looking for.  More accurate answers are on the forum pages.
Facebook can have a lot of nonsense mixed in with its information, however it is faster.
Either way is a valuable resource to our members.

Members can help by being on the forums site regulalry to answer questions and to add new topics to areas so we look active as a forum.

[Charlie B53]

I believe we have far more information saved at IHD.  Learning to use the 'Search' can bring up valuable information that you cannot find on Facebook.  Facebook may have a quicker response, but IHD has a catalog available that does not exist using Facebook.

Facebook may have an almost immediate conversation.

IHD has the whole library of information.

NO comparison.

[beep]

what I was getting at looking thru the various forums in this ihatedialysis site I've noticed a lot actually quite a few topics unanswered dating back to 2015 n in some case's 2013   I admit in this part of IHD there is some movement but in ohter sections lotsa outdated posts
EG.in the post Ihatedialysis games  there are 20 new posts with the latest post being 2015 n there are quite a few 2014/2013

[iolaire]

I believe we have far more information saved at IHD.  Learning to use the 'Search' can bring up valuable information that you cannot find on Facebook. 

As with many many websites I find the google site search most effective using the keywords site:http://ihatedialysis.com/forum popular you can search the form for "popular" and get good results. 

This is most effective (and faster) for multiword searches which I have a harder time doing on forum searches i.e. site:http://ihatedialysis.com/forum travel Ireland which brings back my Ireland travel dialysis post as compared to the forum search for travel Ireland whose first result (after 20 or so seconds) only has one travel related post and that's for Singapore.

The text "site:http://ihatedialysis.com/forum" added to the search keywords brings back only content from that part of the website.

[Charlie B53]

I gotta agree, knowing HOW to Search, using the right words, makes a huge difference in the results returned.  I am still learning.

[MooseMom]

Hey if you are NEW to dialysis and scared to death there is this forum and all information is new to them.  Why delete posts and reinvent the wheel all the time?

 

Exactly!!  Good point, rerun!

[glitter]

I have been around since 2009-10, I was a caregiver, my husband passed. I still follow a few people on FB, and I still visit, I just rarely post. I do still give out this website to anyone I meet who has kidney issues of any type.

[BobN]

IHD Rocks!

[kristina]

Going thru this forum's topics  I've noticed a lot of outdated topics with no response  mind u I have only really stayed mostly in the Dialysis General Discussion n even here a lot of the topics havent been replied since 2016

Hello,
.... just a few thoughts :  ... In kidney failure there is hardly anything ever to become outdated and if there is a post on IHD without any reply, that usually implies to me, that a medical rarity has occurred and unfortunately there is no answer to be found from anyone here on IHD... yet ...
... To come across IHD is one of the very best survival-ways to research and find help/answers to questions in ESRF.
Members on IHD are honest and do not "beat about the bush"... I remember researching on IHD many points about my own ESRF-catastrophy and reading those posts has certainly helped me whilst dealing with my own ESRF-trauma, long before I even thought about becoming a member. I first felt that I had to to find a way to deal with my own ESRF-trauma emotionally before I felt strong enough to join IHD, ask further questions and contribute.
... And I seemed not to be an exception in going about it in this way, because sometimes when I "click" on IHD, I notice, there are sometimes more than 80 - 90 visitors and perhaps they are also people who have just been informed about their own medical kidney-ailmant and perhaps they have been informed about their need of dialysis-treatment and they feel the need to find out more about it all ....
... I have always liked a lot about IHD the fact that it appears to be essentially very practical. Of course, IHD-members also give emotional support and assistance when needed, but essentially it is - in my personal opinion -  the very best survival-guide in ESRF and how to survive ESRF as best as possible for as long as is possible.
IHD is there to learn that ESRF is not the end but we can learn how to survive despite our medical ailments ...
Best wishes from Kristina.

[Michael Murphy]

I usually view this site several times a day.  If a question is asked I will try to answer if I think I can answer, however dialysis is a wide world and there are  vast areas of the dialysis arena that I have no knowledge of.