This is a weird post for me – I am driven by data more than anything else. But, in this case, I am trying to share an impression, a feeling maybe.
For the first time in 6-7 months (since the start of FUD), I just spent some time on another, very large diabetes forum (not tuD) that I used to visit regularly. I was totally shocked by the extraordinary difference in the level of knowledge and understanding in the posts. I guess I have become so accustomed to the level of our discussions here – I can’t even explain. It felt like a different world.
To try to illustrate what I mean: someone asked about the possibility of a new technology where a pump would be coupled with a CGM. One moderator replied that this was so far out it was not even worth considering it, and insurance would not cover it anyway. Only one guy (at least one who posted) knew about OpenAPS and the MDT 670G. Hardly anyone had answered the thread over the past three days.
I don’t know if I had forgotten what it was like, or if we have progressively grown into who we are now. For sure we have all become, together, much more knowledgeable about D, both through our constant exchanges of information, but also through our willful experimentation. I know one reason for this is that we all strive to know more and to get better at it: this is what we are and why we are all finding our way here.
This is not my point, though. My point is that, even though I was in a part of the DOC, I did not feel like I belonged. God knows how many times a week I am frustrated by my lack of understanding of WHY my son’s BG is reacting as it is – but in that other forum, it felt that the very standard of knowledge, the expectations members had, were different from ours. The collective knowledge of the group was less polished, less thorough, less deep. People did not seem to care as much about helping other fellow members. I felt like an alien. It was a foreign place to me.
I just can’t imagine being a part of another place. FUD really feels like home.
Michel, so much of this is your doing. You assembled a heck of a team, and it was all built from nothing but a vision. This really is a premier site of experts.
We are so diverse in our experience and background. You have assembled a group of experts on everything. From OpenAPS to Afrezza, from xDrip to Tresiba. Any kind of pump, any kind of insulin, high carb, low carb, it doesn’t matter the subject - someone here is doing it. We have parents of very young ones who are fighting the disease all the way up to old timers who are themselves diabetic, and everything in-between.
And as incredibly diverse as we are in our background and knowledge, we all share the same vision and passion for what is happening here. We are incredibly united in what we are doing.
Best of all, there are no strangers here. We know each other.
None of that happens by chance. The credit belongs to you.
I love everything you wrote, but I cannot accept the credit: it has been 100% a team effort from day one! And this is the only reason why it has been successful
Yes Michel, it has been a team effort, but your leadership has made this possible. More than that though, your personality has set a tone and your expectations have allowed us to hold each other accountable even when we have had tense conversations. The result has been not just a very knowledgeable place but also the most civil, friendly location on the internet.
Ditto that. And it’s full of humour, too, which is in short supply in forums like this. I noticed the humour right away when I first visited, and then I noticed the absence of shaming or self-berating about eating carbs or taking statins, and I was sold.
If you feel at home here and you know others with D, please feel free to spread the word! We are a community, no, a family, that genuinely cares for one another. Together, we are able to help each other achieve our personal goals that each of us has. The world of diabetes is often-times hectic, but the people here make it far less hectic for me and my family.
It was a pretty phenomenal series of events, effort, coordination, etc that set this forum into motion. Proud to have been a small, though unique, part of it. Was really cool to be part of all the behind the scenes discussions, the hand picking of the people we wanted to be here at first to get the ball rolling, all of it. Truly thankful to your drive, expertise, and commitment to making it all work.
Totally agree! I was just thinking the other day of how there are so many questions or theories I have had about diabetes, and in the past all of the advice was either. 1) just get used to it, diabetes doesn’t make sense 2) toddlers can’t have low A1Cs 3) go low carb 4) some foods just can’t be eaten with diabetes 5) pre bolus 6) basal needs to keep you flat in the absence of food.
Not to mention the craziness of people simply having no advice for exercise other than “run in the 200s so you don’t go hypo,” – especially frustrating since exercise is one of the few things proven to provide health benefits for T1Ds beyond BG control.
All of those tips are useful for a person who doesn’t read books or is struggling to wrap their heads around carbFs or , but I feel like a lot of the advice that circulates on other message boards can be gleaned by reading two or three books. In my opinion these are great starting points but they really are in the “one-size-fits-all” category, despite the YDMV motto that so many places espouse.
Plus there were a few times when people would get all didactic, like “you are endangering your child by not following my dogmatic advice.” I almost never encounter that type of judginess and certainty of being right here. That’s been really nice – you don’t realize that you are self-censoring until you stop having to do it!
i had been on the Tu site for a couple of years with miminimal if not 0% help. i found it at times very antagonistic and clickish. i didn’t know that there were other sites out there. then Eric contacted me through you, Michael, and you guys got me onto this site. since May of this year, which is when i started on this site, i have not been anything but welcomed. i feel like part of a FUNCTIONAL family (as opposed to the dysfunctional kind). everyone offers guidance and care and support….basically, everyone has offered me something. not one day has gone by that i don’t check in and try and contribute and find others contributing to my life; spiritually, emotionally, technically, physically, etc.
i feel, even at the age of 53, even as a PWD for 30+ yrs, like a child with loving and doting parents. i don’t feel like “the-odd-man-out” i feel normal, healthy, and sane. everything is possible on this site.
i am so grateful that someone (and a group of someones) had such a beautiful, heavenly vision just to begin with. i think that this is all i have ever wanted in my life; not just because of my having D, but because this is what is humanly possible when we all group together and spread kindness and humanity.
Everyone that has to visit one of these kinds of sites already has a lot to deal with. Our goal is to make that burden a little lighter. Even if we can’t do anything but listen to a day of venting. No one benefits from running the other person down.
Wow! I didn’t see this until right now (again, training wheels on the forum thing), but it echos a text I earlier sent to @Eric about how thankful I am that this forum actually values science, experimentation, and a positive outlook on being unlimited with diabetes. I’ve seen no posts about fluffy stuff or what DH or DD or whomever can’t eat, and I think that’s one of the things that motivates me to become an active participant in this FUD home you’ve all created. I feel like I won the forum Lotto without trying very hard!
I do think everyone who is posting is genuinely trying to help (from the scores of threads I’ve read thus far) and I am excited to have helpers in the sense making of this crazy life living with a T1D. Thanks to all of you for making such an excellent repository for your knowledge!
I know exactly what you mean. After tud I joined diabetes daily. I didn’t post much. I noticed a thread about inhaled insulin, which of course I’m excited about and know a lot about so I responded. Was met with absolutely nothing but stupidity… haven’t posted on that forum since. This is my online home-- and although we’re young and growing still we’re light years ahead of anywhere else on the web in terms of the whole sense of “community”
Looks like I stumbled upon an old thread among friends, but I would just like to confirm the sentiment. You guys are good. You’re interesting. And you’re refreshing. (And one of you openly admitted mansplaining). What you bounce back and forth here is what I value at home and in my own management—logic, experimentation, exploration, and, ultimately, ownership. I have my own Facebook group that is dedicated to trying to survive the 670G, and I’d like to say I’m running it with the same intent. I share my logs with them, not saving them the thrilling analysis, and I sometimes get crickets or smiley faces in return. like that. BUT I also have noticed that we are all sharing a certain level of understanding that I don’t believe everyone came in with. For that I’m proud. Not too proud, however, not to learn new things from them as well, for even the one who seems least in the know sometimes has the best ideas. Anyway, this group is solid. I’ve enjoyed every exchange so far, and I find myself checking it way more than is heathy. I will forgive you all for that.
like that. 
BUT I also have noticed that we are all sharing a certain level of understanding that I don’t believe everyone came in with. For that I’m proud. Not too proud, however, not to learn new things from them as well, for even the one who seems least in the know sometimes has the best ideas. Anyway, this group is solid. I’ve enjoyed every exchange so far, and I find myself checking it way more than is heathy. I will forgive you all for that. 