This is your forum Seeking input

Okay now that Relaxed Lantus has a moderator (yours truly) we can start putting up our own stickies and deciding on how this board is going to run at least in our own little corner of the world. So I want input from all of you on to what you want to see in those stickies.

One of the first that is my own personal preferences and something I have heard time and time again from others is the abolishment of the daily condos. Instead what I would like to see is one condo per cat per month so we can keep all the back history in the same thread in case we need to scroll back up to find pertinent information without having to jump through a ton of links back to previous threads. Then just edit the top title line as you would normally to add the current days numbers etc.

If you have a question then add the ? to that title if it pertains to your personal cat, or start a new thread if it is just a general question.

So what else would make your lives easier here and make this forum a nice place to call home?

Mel, and The Fur Gang

Ok so I am trying to picture that:

Alska OCTOBER - 1 AMPS=211 PMPS=211

Then the following days of October I would just edit the subject line i.e. "2 AMPS=201 PMPS=213"

Then start an new condo for November and edit that for 30 days.

Am I grasping it?

I could see how that would de-clutter the forum except I think you might have the same complaint when a condo gets too long -- but then you could advise if that member should start a new condo. I like it because there are some days when I just don't have anything to say in the body of the condo. This way, I wouldn't have to have a new message every day but still be able to post numbers.

Sorry for thinking out loud...

I love this idea!

RobinCot said:

I could see how that would de-clutter the forum except I think you might have the same complaint when a condo gets too long -- but then you could advise if that member should start a new condo.

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Maybe make it something like: "October 1-15: Michelangelo AMPS..." and then when that gets too long, make it "October 15-31" :?: Of course the date range will depend on how busy your condo gets or how often you want to start a new condo. Personally, I'll probably end up with one post a month (wait! I haven't even posted a condo since the beginning of August! ). Others might have a new condo ever few days or every couple of weeks. Maybe make it up to the poster's discretion on how often they want to start a new condo? Just thinking out loud along with Robin.... ;-)

MommaOfMuse said:

So what else would make your lives easier here and make this forum a nice place to call home?

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Maybe in one of the Stickies (SLGS?) make sure to put a disclaimer somewhere that you don't have to exclusively follow a specific protocol.

I'm sure I'll have more suggestions but that's all I can think of at the moment. :lol:

Yep Robin you are pretty much grasping the concept.

So it would go something like this:

10/1 Autumn amps-327, +6-177, pmps-161

The next day just edit the original title 10/2 Autumn amps-347, pmps-157

but all the month's info would be in that one condo, as far as it getting long there is this lovely feature (first unread post) at the right hand corner of the post, click that and it takes you right to where you last left off reading on that particular thread.

I'm also trying to come up with a short "history" section that could be added to the first post of each monthly condo that would just give the critical information such as insulin type (Lantus/Levemir) Current dose, Diet, other health issues and other meds. This could be simply copy and pasted each month to transfer it to the next month's condo.

So Autumn's would be

• Levemir .10u
  Friskies Pate various flavors
  Hypothyroid/synthyroid 5mg

Or something to that effect, just trying to keep everything very streamline and all the critical data in a place that is easy to find.

I'm right there with you Robin and well most of us get to that point as well, especially after you done the poking and the shooting for 6 months to a year or longer, just isn't that much to say anymore other than just chit chatting which is fine. But it would be nice to have a place to put our numbers and have friends stop by without actually having to come up with something to fill the void after the title bar. lol

Mel, and The Fur Gang

YAY!! Keep thinking out loud so I can get my little fingers flying later today and get us some nice squeaky clean stickies up.

I really like this idea! It sounds much more manageable and cohesive. :thumbup

Mel, let's hold off on any major changes. I want to move this software Thursday, if all goes well. I will be doing a planning session tonight. There's a lot in flux, and that may get a push to next week, but it's worth waiting on this.

Additionally, we'll need to hash out the large guidelines. I am suggesting no new stickies, etc until we can work together on that.

But we can still give suggestions on what we'd like to see in the meantime, right?

Works for me Robert.

Just keep making suggestions so Robert and I both know what needs fixing and what is working just fine.

Mel, and The Fur Gang

I like this. A daily condo seems totally overkill and often leads to needing to hop around to different threads for a single cat, even though those threads are all on the same page. With relatively few people, it has always struck me as a hand-me-down practice rather than a practical one for this group.

These are great ideas!
If you want to have a daily "Chit Chat" thread someone could start that, for just shooting the breeze.

I also really liked what Mel said in another condo yesterday:

MommaOfMuse said:

You don't need to wait for me to tell you to up a dose, if his numbers aren't where you want them, you hold the syringes and you know your cat the best. My job and for that matter anyone's job here is to teach you the steps to the dance, but we can't dance it for you. You know your cat and your own limitations so you can decide what is best for both of you. Basically all we old timers are here for is to be your sounding board, if you have a question or are unsure which way to go with a dose then by all means ask and we'll throw our 2 cents in and give our opinions but like all opinions you are the one to decide which to follow and which to ignore.

One of the best pieces of advice I got long ago when I started here and had my testing and injecting down was...Don't ask "What now? But....ask "What if I?" There is nothing magical I do when I look at a spreadsheet, I look at it just like everyone else and see what the trends are, is the cat trending down? Up? are there enough points of data to see where the dose takes them? etc. Everyone of you has that exact same ability to look at a spreadsheet and see the patterns, then decide what you're going to do about it. Raise, lower or hold the dose steady. The reason I want everyone to learn to do this on your own is because servers crash, computers break and internet service goes out and you have to be able to make those judgment calls on your own. I don't want anyone to feel like someone is going to jump down someone's throat because they made a decision about their own cat's treatment without consulting the powers that be. That just isn't how we roll here.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm picking on you because I'm not you just happened to be the first person to ask a dosing question that gave me the chance to mention the above about just making the dosing call on your own. Again if you need help that's why we're here but if you think you have it figured out pretty well then by all means fly solo.

Mel and The Fur Gang

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really interesting idea. i do see how they would get really long in a month, yet daily does seem too often sometimes too. maybe weekly? idk. it took me a long long time to learn how to use this board and theres a lot i still dont know. idk how u mean to search thru those long posts? when the posts go more than a page, i usually dont read past the first. its so much scrolling, and flipping, and reading. i have poor reading comprehension and get confused, also. i need to learn that trick. i ran out of things to say too a lot of days and used to put a comma. then changed to a greeting daily. its nice to get encouragement and hellos daily, sometimes. i think i would like weekly, but of course u guys decide just my thots.
seems like a month would be so much searching, even after a couple days? if u needed to know something u would have to read thru the whole thing? maybe i just dont know how to do it. u all know more, so whatever u say! its a good idea. ty mel! u all have a great day!!
larry bug says hi!
(not knocking anything mel, just saying my 2 cents )

Pam

Searching for something is fairly easy if you know what you want to find...lol There is a search feature to this board. If you go to the very top of the page and its kind of tiny there is a search box. Just like yesterday when you couldn't find your post on WCR I typed that into the search box then went through the results to find a post by you. But then again I'm fairly computer savvy, a voracious reader and just about an photographic memory especially when it comes to critters. I may not always remember the Bean's name but I can always tell you the cat's...lol It only really gets confusing for me when I have several with the same name. So now you know why mine all get such creative names...hehehe. Not too many other folks are going to have a cat named Duvess, Tre'Vona or Nightmare (GA) ohmygod_smile :lol:

And BTW it is okay to disagree with anything. That is why I'm asking because I want to KNOW what will work the best for all who already call RL home as well as make it an easy, friendly, and helpful place for newbies. This is still a fairly new forum by FDMB standards so its got kinks and hiccups to be worked out. But also because it is an alternative to Tight Regulation I want us to work together to eliminate what doesn't work for us over there. IMHO there has already been enough politics and end fighting between the ISGs which needs to stop. It isn't us against them, and it never should be. Tight Regulation is a great ISG and a great protocol if it floats your boat. But if it doesn't for whatever reason then we need to be the alternative. Its about the CATS and their caretakers. And finding what style of posting and help that is needed to serve that purpose.

Over the 4+ years I've been here I've seen this board change a lot some for the better and some for the worst, but rather than complain about it or give the stock answer of because that's how it has always been I'd rather do something to change it, even if that is just in our little corner of this world known as Relaxed Lantus. And if others like what we're doing and want to adopt some of it great, if not no biggie. It may come down to several posting styles over here, where those just starting out need the daily or weekly condos while those of us like myself, Robin and Kay who have been dancing a long time just keep one thread going because we've got this.

The biggest thing I want to avoid is making this forum ever feel like a dictatorship. Yes, I've landed in the position of moderator but it isn't my board its Robert's and Rebecca's all I'm here for is to make sure everyone plays nice together and following the board owner's rules, keep the spammers at bay, take our wants and wishes to them so we can discuss what will and won't work for all involved. Its never my way or the highway. Because honestly there is going to come a day when I no longer have an insulin dependent cat or possibly even a sugarcat. In fact at the rate Miss Autumn is going that day maybe coming fairly soon. But I still want a place to call home here, because I truly care about each and everyone of you from the moment you first post here.

Mel, and The Fur Gang

thanks mel! yea i learned to do those word searches.
ty for helping us, yet giving us freedom. no dictators, is a good thing. i do appreciate ur advice, tho, if u ever see a time u think we should go up, or down, and maybe i havent noticed or said anything, myself.
larry says hi. he sleeps so hard during the day. diff than the other cats. i wonder if its a lantus thing? maybe like a sleeping pill? the other cats nap off and on, and rouse easier than him, during the day. anyway....