Should Chill4us become an open website?

[wendy]

We have had some really good topics with replies on Chill more recently and I feel these could have been shared with thousands more carers who are outside of Chill.
At the moment Chill is a private forum with only
Carers Window to the outside World on public display.
Surely we would like to help more carers and past carers and let them know what help is available in our forum.

If we made more public, we would reach more carers as they would be able to read, but not reply unless they joined.
No one would know who you are or where you lived.
What are your views on this?  Your ideas are always listened to and we go by what you say.

[JaneJ]

I think certain topics should be made available. The best advice I have ever received has been from chill members so to share with others would be a lovely thing to do. If a topic will be public members can choose to post or not and be more aware of putting private information in.

E.g I might put my husband instead of Lee etc.

[daisy]

gpr  I would have no objection to non members being able to read posts although I agree that we would avoid using names and instead say my husband/wife/son/daughter etc.  I suppose we would also avoid using place names eg letting others know where we live.    Of course names used in the past would still be visible on the forum so not sure what to think about that.

[Jeanne]

I agree with all of the above. I would be a bit concerned about using names, places etc., so that anyone could read tho. x Jeanne

[Rosalind]

I agree with Jane it would be a good idea for more topics to be made public, but we would have to be careful about names and places.  wo3 xxx

[wendy]

this is in a rush
good mornings, good night, light a candle, remembrance would remain private.
we will wait to see what you say, but when you read the recent posts, think how they could have been made public and helpful to other carers
i am learning from your views.

[irenee]

 

I think all carer's need all the help they can get.

yes chill should become an open website it would be such a help to others.

Ireneexx

[Honey]

if everyone else is in favour of this , i will agree. however, personally I want all my past posting history  to be deleted before / if this happens.
i would not like strangers to read my past postings made when the site was private .anyone who joins can view the last postings of this person if they click on to a members name, and if some more topics were made public , our past posts on some topics would be made public to strangers. this could be worrying to some members here who might have innocently and  inadvertently posted something they wouldnt want to share with strangers. 
we post here with the assurance of privacy.
please will you delete all my past posts before you make some more forums public.
with thanks 33900  hu****
x       

[chenrezig]

I think maybe do it in stages ?

By that I mean do it with a few things first, like the jokes. videos where very little personal info is posted if at all.

Or if we did "go public" keep a 2-3 sections private accessible only to those who are members.

The appeal to me of Chill that it is private, I feel secure here. Like Honey, I wouldn't want anything I posted in the past to be visible to the public - the problem with that is we would lose a lot of advice and info.

[Fairview]

All I can say is Chill4us is a great site and everyone I have told about it thinks so too. The more there is to support carers and former carers the better.
Just to be able to chat on line, read what others think and feel part of a group is a great comfort.  Thanks,
Carol Munt

[debzsanderson]

I agree that having certain parts kept as "members only" is needed . I would also ask that things that have been posted that are sensitive to a member shouldn't be left for the whole world to read. The thought that comes to mind however is that would it make even more lurkers and people not bothering to join as they no longer need to as they can read posts without if that makes sense.

[wendy]

Old posts would not be made public,
we could start with jokes and poems, like Liz has suggested and then we can think how we would do the posts we want public.

[Rosalind]

That is the best way to start Wendy  va&&&& xxx

[wendy]

I would of course remove your posts if you asked Honey, but you try asking them to do that on CUK
They will not.

[Bernie]

I don't think chill should go public, it is a safe haven for it's members some of who may be vulnerable. If people are savvy enough to use a computer and contribute to other sites I'm sure they have the werewithal to apply to become a member of chill. Personally think making chill public would make it much harder to moderate, love Berniexx

[coffee]

hi I agree with Bernie  chill should not be made completely public  there are some things that only ones we know and other carers need to know.
It is good to access info for carers but making it public is also open or invitation to people just prone to hacking  and its getting so sophisticated that even now most  anti programs cannot stop it, if they wont to hack in they will.
You can put in the window ,  that's open to the public saying-  we are a carers forum with some wonderful caring tips that will help you- the tips come  both from carers and past carers  so please access them it will be for your benefit just join chill and experience a world of info . usually hackers can't be bothered to join a forum at least those who really are carers and wont some help they will know where to go  but opening up fully to the public  I am sorry Wendy  I would say no to that coffeex

[daisy]

:)  It's interesting to read everyone's opinions on whether or not Chill should become accessible to non-members.    The more I think about it I am of the opinion that all posts prior to a certain date  should remain as at present, not available to non-members (except those which have already been made available)    This date should be announced on the forum so that members will know that prior posts will not be accessible to non-members whereas all posts after that date will be open (if that is what is decided)  Posters will know to be careful with any information contained in their new posts whilst being assured that earlier posts will remain "closed"

[mumxtwo]

I don't agree with making Chill  completely public. there are things that I have written that I would not wish to be shared with others that are not part of our safe community.

I say go gently. A lot of members have replied to this topic which is wonderful to see and shows that there are certain misgivings. This is not a decision to be made in a rush and taken lightly.

I am all for the Chill family growing but not to include every tom, dick and harry who just want to browse.  We talk about very important and real issues on here with total honesty and that must be respected.

gpr gpr gpr gpr

[Ukman]

Hi All
I find all your replies interesting.
Why should 'Chill' become public ?
Well the main reason is that forums are not really used like they were 3 - 5 years ago . They used to be  places to create friendship and get support , yes 'Chill' still offers and supplies that but most people use facebook now so forums are now used 90% of the time for people to ask questions and find answers to questions and problems they have.
With the forum closed as it is now google cannot crawl the site , so for example if someone types into google - 'what help can I receive for caring for my husband' for example 'chill' will not come up , yet we have loads of info and support on that topic and 100's of others.
Reference to hackers -  no hacker can find enough information about you from any of your posts.
We would keep certain boards closed so only new members can view them but please remember that anyone can join chill now , we do do certain checks on them to make sure they are a carer but dosent mean they can lie does it ?
The only thing that would change by making 'chill' open is as said above useful support and information would appear in search engines to help others.
Thanks
Ross

[Honey]

I agree with everyone else,
do please make the site public if you think it will help chill and other carers,  but please delete past postings from members like myself who posted with good faith and  assurance that their past posts would be kept confidential and private before you do so.
as for the reference to cuk wendy, that's not fair. I don't visit  their site or post on there .
that's not a private forum like this is/supposed to be. 
that's why I chose to join this site.
I don't do facebook, twitter etc, I havent got the time or inclination to do so.
I am too busy caring .
love to everyone
hu**** hu**** hu****
x

[wendy]

I am waiting to hear from Ross to see the best way to go ahead with this without causing me more work.
things like the lovely avator Jane put on today, would have been great to be public.
I think the best thing will be for all us managers to get together to discuss this, so please get your thinking caps on.

I think a lot will depend on you, we will be asking you to post more in The Window to the outside World, if you dont mind it being public.
But my guess is, I will start a new board, which will be public, and I will suggest you put things in it.
I repeat once more, that old posts will not be made public.

[daisy]

gpr  I have never used twitter or facebook and don't wish to, even if I had plenty time. 

[JaneJ]

The window into the outside world would make a great platform to post in to be public.

Could we copy and paste subjects that we all think should be shared into this when it is public? Obviously someone would have to have to be the only one who could copy subjects over if posts came up that would be beneficial to carers everywhere.

may be a post monthly or weekly that is titled I would like to put the posts public ad then anyone who objects has time to say so?

Trying to think of ideas for it that doesn't cause more work!! it is difficult though!!

xxx

[wendy]

[JaneJ]

oops!! I didn't know that!! Lol

xx