Talking Allergies

Hmmm. Let me talk to the webmaster and see about this. As far as I know this couldn't be automated. It would be up to me (the moderator) to delete the topic. When you say that someone might "read it and recognize themselves" do you mean a non-member? I guess there is always that chance.

If we ever did do something like this, we'd have to indicate at the beginning that it's a short-lived topic.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Karen I had no idea about the "signature" option in each user's profile...perfect spot for what I was talking about. Please do let us know when this is fixed as I'll definitely add one.

Yay! Signature feature is working! Hopefully others find it helpful.

Karen,

Yep, I meant that nonmembers I know in real life might stumble on the site...or might have even been directed here by me... I'm afraid that I'm pretty recognizable after all of my posts.

But if this isn't an automated feature, it sounds like it could get complicated...and time consuming for you. It probably wouldn't be a good idea unless other people are interested in this besides me.

I suppose that losing one's anonymity is something that one ought to consider when being part of a webgroup anyways.

I really like the idea too Lisa. I noticed there is a "usergroup" option. Is there a way to create a usergroup where we can discuss, and know which members are a part of the group, and therefore not viewed by anyone not a part of the "usergroup".

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DD age 9 1/2 -peanuts, nuts,
DD age 7 1/2 - milk, eggs, chicken, peanuts, treenuts, cats, dogs,
DS age 2 1/2
Husband- asthma, eggs, treenuts, fish, shellfish environmental
Self - penicillan, eurithromiacin, mild laytex allergy.

Here's how to attach your signature to all your posts. Go to "profile" and type the text in the signature box. Then scroll down to "preferences" and make sure you click on "yes" next to "always attach signature".

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16-year-old son: peanuts, nuts, raw egg whites, asthmatic
Self: allergic rhinitis, fragrance/chemical sensitivities, oral allergy syndrome

Yep - the webmaster fixed the settings. So now we all have to make sure that our signatures are set up the way we want. I just changed mine to be more informative.

You can put whatever you want, but I find it helpful to know what allergies you are dealing with and a general idea of where you are located (e.g. province or state) so that when someone says "I found this great product at my grocery store" I have an idea of whether to bother to look for it or not.

For example, if I live in Canada and the poster is in the U.K., I get less excited about new product info than if the poster is also in Canada.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

I have another message in to the webmaster and will report back on what he says. At the moment there are no usergroups set up, and to be honest, I'm not familiar with this functionality.

Stay tuned...! (And thanks for all your suggestions!)

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

Thanks for the help with the signatures. And I think the usergroups idea is a good one.

Lisa, I get your point, but I'm not for this idea. Once you publish on the Internet, what you are saying is public. It can be copied and sent around. There is also no way to know whether a person who might be offended by something is reading the forum during a given time period or whether a mutual acquaintance is and copies and sends to the person in question. It would be impossible to determine a "safe" period of privacy in a public domain.

Think I'm also philosophically opposed, given that the purpose of the forum is to share ideas and come together as a community.

However, I have seen some people say in posts that they are changing a name and a couple of facts to avoid being too obvious to the person(s) being referred to. I think others understand the need to do that on occasion. And you can always say more and edit your post later - but that would be personal choice rather than a forum practice.

And lastly, I like our easy to navigate threads. A quick delete section would mix together topics. As a participant, I prefer to be able to find things by checking different categories.

I can see that there would be some problems with my original suggestion. But I like the suggestion of making use of the usergroups function.

I have a few suggestions:

- Sections on the forum for 'Ask the Allergists', 'Ask a Dietician' and 'Ask a Food Manufacturer' (would need to find dedicated individuals with credentials who could speak to topics and give advice (with a legal disclaimer of course!)

- Forums specific to regions of Canada so suggestions for travel / restaurants/ discussion threads on schools could also be housed in this area

- A thread for food companies divided by allergens where people could post the results of their conversations with these manufacturers

- A 'Cheers and Jeers' section (useful for the magazine too perhaps) - highlighting the positive and negative actions of organizations and businesses as it relates to allergies.

TMcG, Thanks for the ideas.

I'm already toying with some way to do Ask the Allergist online - given the time commitment for an allergist, it would have to be sporadic.I think it's doable, but in a few months.

Trying to do Ask the Dietitian as well is too ambitious at this time, but down the road, a good suggestion.

As for threads on specific cities and travel/restaurants - I think you can start cities threads any time any of you want under the existing categories.

Cheers and jeers you can do any time for the magazine here, that's the purpose of the feedback thread. Help yourself, we have thick skins, well, sort of.

Thanks so much for the response...

For 'Cheers and Jeers', I only have nothing but Cheers for the magazine! I was so happy to see it prominently displayed at Chapters here in Montreal while I was there today. Such a wonderful cover this issue!

I wish that when I opened a thrad I would enter at the mst recent post since my last visit (Right now it can tell if there are any new posts), or have it open to the last thread.
Currently, I find I open to the original post and I have to scroll through every post, or I can open on a certain page.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy and green beans) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: Oral Allergy Syndrome, Allergic to Birch trees