Welcome to the Lived Experience Forum

[chemonro]

Hello, this is Che. I'm 43,from Melbourne. I have managed to sign up, load a profile picture and make a post. 

I'm a bit confused about the compulsory anonymity "do not use your real name" policy. I wonder what the thinking was behind that? 

Also I notice that some of the links (under forums in the header and on the confirmation page when you verify your email) lead back to the carers forum.

I predict that this will cause confusion. 

What do you think? 

[Jake]

Hi Che..,

Yes I noticed the same thing - no link to this forum - probably 'teething problems'. I just spent 15 mins doing a new post, did a 'preview' then lost my draft which was 'autosaved' when I hit 'backspace' - don't know where to find it, so annoying as I put a lot of thought into the text, now I can't find it!

How can we do an 'edit' of our 'preview' without backspacing??

Regards - 'Jake'

[chemonro]

Actually I think there is a link... It's just at the bottom of the page and I got confused! Good to meet toy Jake! .

[NikNik]

Hi Che & Jake,

Yes, some teething problems it seems. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I will get back to you both as some of the issues you raised are solved 🙂

Jake - sorry about the frustration with your post! You should be able to find it in your profile in a grey box on the right hand side with the title "auto saved drafts". Please let me know if you can't find it - hopefully backspacing hasn't caused it to delete completely.

The menu at the top doesn't currently link to this forum because this forum isn't public just yet. But you raise a point that this could be confusing. I will look into what we can do about that while this forum is still closed to the public.

Thank you both for this. Let me know if you come across any other bugs and I will keep you updated on our side too!

NikNik

[kenny66]

Hi Che and Jake

Im Ken from Cairns

I got a bit confused with the going back to the carers forum but I think I understand it now. Good to meet you.

I posted some life story in the first topic which looks like it was the wrong place to put it.

Hope to speak more

[NikNik]

Hi Che,

I just realised I didn't address your question about anonymity! My apologies.

The forums are anonymous for a few reasons - above all for privacy & safety purposes.

Another important reason the forums have been made anonymous is because we found that staying anonymous was important for people. People reported feeling more comfortable knowing they couldn't be identified or were concerned about posting their identity and not having control of who can access that information (strangers, potential employers, friends etc)

I hope that this element of the forums doesn't reduce the benefits for you.

Thanks for navigating your way to the forums - even if we made it a bit trickier than it should have been 🙂

[Jake]

Thanks NikNik, found it, didn't realise my name was an active link to my profile!

Regards, 'Jake'

[NikNik]

*phew* thanks for letting me know @Jake
Just the other day I wrote a massive detailed email that I thought saved to drafts.... seemed not to be the case! And of course your second go at the types of things never seem to be as good as your first 🙂
I had my fingers crossed that hadn't happened to you!

[-karma-]

Hi Che

congrat's on doing the above, an achievement in it's self I think!

Is the profile art work your own?

I struggled to add my own unique piece, so I'm in awe, hee hee.

[nyxsong]

---

@NikNik wrote:
Hi Che,

I just realised I didn't address your question about anonymity! My apologies.

The forums are anonymous for a few reasons - above all for privacy & safety purposes.

Another important reason the forums have been made anonymous is because we found that staying anonymous was important for people. People reported feeling more comfortable knowing they couldn't be identified or were concerned about posting their identity and not having control of who can access that information (strangers, potential employers, friends etc)

I hope that this element of the forums doesn't reduce the benefits for you.

Thanks for navigating your way to the forums - even if we made it a bit trickier than it should have been 🙂

---

I understand that for some people it is important to have anonimity but to me it feels like hiding and to be honest I have done enough of that in the analogue world. I think it would be nice to maybe have the option to use your real name without the necesity. It is a matter of pride for me to engage with the people who share a lived experience with me and I think on  a personal level I am skulking behind pseudonyms when I can't stand up and say who I am. it is of course different for everyone and it certainly changes as we move through our journey, so I encourage being anymous and as an option!