Fasting BG 2021

[skb]

Grammabear and SKB haven't posted yet today and it just points out what a small group this is.  I know SKB has tried ways to boost the membership but it seems that we don't attract any more members.  It would be nice to get some other points of view.

Wally, I am not checking BG these days because I have not been keeping to the desired food plan. This happens every Diwali and continues for a few days after. Besides, I have nothing to report weather wise as Mumbai has the same weather and temperature every day. I have no idea why, people (at large) tend to think of Forums as bygone and tedious. All Forums are now responsive in design and are available on phones just as FB or Insta are. Functionality wise Forums can be rated as 8 or 9 on a scale of 10, whereas platforms like FB are at 1 or 2. Yet they are popular. Forums across the net are suffering. We are not the only one. We do have 30-40 good genuine  members but they have also given up.

Grammabear, corporations will do anything to make a buck. I think you'll have to pay something to connect John's pump to the company site s/w.

[bigskygal]

I am so sorry you are having these problems Kathy. I hope you can getit resolved quickly.

[Grammabear]

100 this cold, frosty morning.

skb - It is always about money when dealing with a company listed on the New York stock exchange.  Tandem is no different than any of the others.  What was most aggravating about my interaction with them yesterday was waiting in the phone queue for 1-1/2 hours and then being switched to someone else a number of times until I got to the point I didn't even know whom I was speaking too.  It could have been anyone.  I don't know how things work in India, but here it seems that things have changed tremendously.  It used to be that the customer was treated with respect, not anymore.

People on forums, if one can call a 'group' on facebook a forum, seem to want to have answers to questions that should have been answered when they were diagnosed and when they were prescribed a device like a insulin pump.  So many of the people are clueless about what their device can do and how to operate it safely.  And these devices are used with children.

I have a sister and brother who are T2, neither of them seem to give a care to either taking their meds or following a proper eating method for controlling their sugars.  It makes me sad to say the least.

[walkerwally1]

84 this morning.  It is cooler today and we will see about a 10° drop but still in the low 70s for  while.  Still pretty nice to be outside.
Yeah SKB, I dropped in to a couple of diabetes forums I used to follow once including the one we all belonged to and it looks like there is very little activity.  I am not a big Facebook fan but there are groups for 3D printing that I have been directed to that are quite active and have members from all over the world so lots of information and help.  I haven't tried to look for diabetes groups on Facebook but I imagine there are several.  We have had other members that posted but they seem to fade away. 
Grammabear, sorry you are having such a problem with Tandem.  Dealing with customer "service" can be a very frustrating thing. 

[bigskygal]

109 this partly cloudy morning.

61° was the high yesterday, man was it windy!! At least I didn't lose power! Today's forecast is either 46°/27° or 38°/19° with snow flurries. I hate it when the weather sites are so different!

Every once in a while I think about looking at the other forum...then I realize, I really don't care what is or isn't going on there so I don't. I'm not on FB or Insta and have basically let my Twitter account go dormant. I'm not much into social media. I have one other forum besides this one, I frequent which is about TV shows.

[skb]

skb - It is always about money when dealing with a company listed on the New York stock exchange.  Tandem is no different than any of the others.  What was most aggravating about my interaction with them yesterday was waiting in the phone queue for 1-1/2 hours and then being switched to someone else a number of times until I got to the point I didn't even know whom I was speaking too.  It could have been anyone.  I don't know how things work in India, but here it seems that things have changed tremendously.  It used to be that the customer was treated with respect, not anymore.

Sadly, the first line of treatment for T1s in India is MDI. Only lately have I heard of doctors going in for rapid and basal insulins. Otherwise it was always a 70:30 mix. Pumps and CGM are still very rare. Costs and consumer base are the factors that companies have so far not concentrated here. Also the fact that T1 or LADA is very rare in SE Asia.

When we left the other forum Veejay was nominated the lead moderator. Now she is absent and mbuster plays the lead role. All the names we knew of, hardly visit the site and there is no meaningful discussion going on. That is a sad state of affairs for all forums.

If you look at the structure of forums, they obviously have a better framework, where posts are organised, can be searched and found easily. FB on the other hand is a platform for the moment. Everything is jumbled up on one page and finding a post from a week ago is a task on highly active forums. It's more of a Self News channel or a Fan Club if you like.

[Grammabear]

134 this cold, cloudy morning.

My replacement pump arrived yesterday and programming it was quite easy as that is what I have done numerous times with the old pump. It is tying into the software from Dexcom and Tandem that took me forever.  All seems to be working okay this morning.

I do visit facebook, but not for long and not every day.  Many people on the 'pump' groups on facebook are either complaining about something trivial or truly clueless and need to have helpful information on the operating systems they are trying to use.

[walkerwally1]

101 this morning.  It was warmer than expected yesterday with a high of 82° but it is supposed to be a bit cooler today, still in the 70s though.
I took a look at the other forum also and there was very little activity.  The same thing on a couple of other forums I had visited in the past.  I took a look at Facebook and a diabetes group there and it had a lot of people posting from all over the world but it was really disorganized and answers were all over the place.  I don't know how anybody would get any useful information from that group but then there may be others that are better. 

[bigskygal]

118 this cold clear morning.

39° was the high yesterday, today's forecast is 37°/16° I hope it doesn't get that cold overnight. It was only 20° when I got up around 9AM. It is only 28° right now at almost 11:45AM it is early in the season for these cold temps.

[Grammabear]

skb - Why is it that T1 and LADA are considered very rare in SE Asia?  Is it the lifestyle or the diet or maybe genetics? 

[skb]

it had a lot of people posting from all over the world but it was really disorganized and answers were all over the place.  I don't know how anybody would get any useful information from that group but then there may be others that are better. 

Exactly the point I was making. Even we should try to keep our diabetes related discussions in relevant forums, and only keep morning readings and weather talks here. That way bots, spiders, guests and others will have a better chance at spotting what they are looking for and will be encouraged to join. Even Google rates structure and functionality very high.

skb - Why is it that T1 and LADA are considered very rare in SE Asia?  Is it the lifestyle or the diet or maybe genetics? 

No idea Grammabear. Could be 1 or all 3

[Grammabear]

120 this cold sunny morning.

I agree with Wally's comment that FB groups about diabetes are loosely organized.  If you read something helpful one day, chances are slim that you will find it again the next day or a week later.

[walkerwally1]

105 this morning.  I keep looking for more Fall like weather but it doesn't look like it will be anytime soon.  We may get all the way down to the 60s next week ! 
I don't know SKB.  We are a group now of 4 people, 5 with ShottleBop, but he only posts his diet stats and doesn't really get involved in other discussions.  We have had other people join and post only to leave.  Maybe we don't do enough to welcome new members but I think we try to be helpful and informative.  Looking at other forums it seems like they are not doing well either.

[Grammabear]

I agree Wally that many other forums are not doing well either.  This applies also to forums across the pond.  I also belonged to a diabetes forum in the UK that just recently disbanded after some 15 years.  The world in which we live has changed.  We no longer have time, take time etc. for reading.  People have phones and seem to be totally absorbed in quick checking and quick answers to any type of problems.

[bigskygal]

112 this cold cloudy morning.

35° was the high yesterday, today's forecast is 39°/19° with chance of snow showers... Yesterday there were flurries on and off all day but nothing much stuck to the ground.

It is sad the state of forums these days. I keep hoping some of these new "members" will actually participate but I guess that is wishful thinking. People seem to prefer social media more than forums any more. I'm old, I prefer forums oh well...