13 replies to this topic

[crystal_willow]

Heya,

This is something I wondered about when I first started going through the forum and now I am clear I feel I want to raise it as a genuine request.

When I was going through trying to choose what treatment to try I was left with the task of going through each treatment one by one in reviews and forums and going through each discussion on it to try to help me get an idea of what works for people.

The site seemed to only be full of people who were struggling with very few successes... this gave the impression that there is no end to acne which I now know is not the case. I know I'm not the only person to get this impression and I have heard people say that lots of people get clear but they tend to stop using the site and their voices and stories get lost in the din.

I thought wouldn't it be great if there were a forum, a section on this site which is specifically for people who are "clear". For people to share their sucess stories so that people can go there and read hopeful stories and see that many, many of us DO get clear.

I understand that alot of cleared people lose interest in coming to acne.org as their life gains other priorities... this section would allow those people to leave something positive behind before leaving aswell.

Please consider doing this as I think it would be really good for people to have a source of positive and hopeful information/stories without having to always wade through the negative stuff, especially considering the amount of depression expressed on this site. I know it would have been useful to me.

hugs to you all x

[mm97]

crystal_willow, on 28 September 2011 - 10:51 AM, said:

The site seemed to only be full of people who were struggling with very few successes... this gave the impression that there is no end to acne which I now know is not the case. I know I'm not the only person to get this impression and I have heard people say that lots of people get clear but they tend to stop using the site and their voices and stories get lost in the din.

I agree with this 100%. I find that reading this website makes me a bit hopeless at times because so many people seem to have tried everything and not had success even though they've been struggling for so long, and it's easy to fear that that will be you after you've read stories like that repeatedly - yet it makes sense, because I think most people who've cured their acne would not think to return here regularly unless they were really dedicated to helping others. I would love it if there were success stories on this website; I find that a lot of posts seem to advocate Accutane as the only permanent, long-term solution for acne, and it would be wonderful to know that others had permanently cured their acne by other means. If there was a section for success stories, even if people only wanted to post once about how they've cured their acne, it would offer hope to those who are still struggling, and get them out of the mindset that 'there is no cure and I'm going to have to live with this forever unless I do something really drastic'.

[AyeAye]

I think this is such a good idea. And its so true that people who have cleared their acne are less likely to come back to the forums and so their 'voice' is lost. But giving people the opportunity to post their success story before fading away I believe would be very helpful and encouraging to people who are new to whatever regimen they are trying (like me!). Great suggestion Crystal-willow....

[thegivingtree]

Yes to this! I tried making a thread along the same lines in the scar forum but it garnered no replies. I'm guessing because there arent too many successes and the people that do enjoy success eventually leave the forum.

[alternativista]

We have a pinned thread like that in the Nutrition and Holistic board.

[Brandy]

There are Success Stories for the Regimen here: http://www.acne.org/success.php
And the Gallery for Accutane and the Regimen each have Success before/after photos.

Perhaps instead of a whole new forum for all types of success stories, we could make a thread that could be pinned in each existing forum for people to post their success story and pictures. Thoughts?

[dicegame]

Like others said, when people reach their goals its rare they will come back 2% probably will. As they have no use for the website anymore. Sad but true. Though I believe this can be taken to another level. For those who are writing in their logs, its sometimes possible to see that they start using a product then mention they are improving then totatlly stop. This can be taken as a note that the product they purchased possibly worked.

From a development stand point. Someone who lets say doesn't login for 60 days can get emailed and the email will ask if they had acne to answer a quick survey of how they beat it. The Options would be:

- Regimen
- Other Popular Products
- Other (Once enough survery responses of a specific Other, It can be added to the Other Popular Products).

You don't ask many questions but atleast then, people might be more inclined to send in an email, since acne.org did help them a bit?

I'm a developer I can always get something built if you'd like.

Thanks

[crystal_willow]

@brandy
@dicegame

they both sound like a great ideas : )

How would their responses be displayed on the website?

There are people who do stick around to give others support after they get clear (me being one but I know there are more)
so a method that results in stayers and leavers being able to leave their stories would be great.
dicegame thats a great way to get stories that would otherwise be lost

I am a fan of having one area purely for success stories
Somethign like a forum split into threads about different methods appeals to me...

i'd split it into:

accutane
Benzoyl Peroxide/DKR
Antibiotics
Topicals
Combined medications i.e. antibiotic and BP
Natural methods and lifestyle changes
other

It would have to be explained to those posting that stories to be added to these threads must be sucess stories so we would request that only those who have been satisfyingly clear for 6 months should add to the threads to keep them as accurate as possible as the rest of the website is available to discuss the effectiveness of regimens that are in the process of clearing someone.

obviously people have different definitions of "clear" but the idea is that the person leaving the story must be satisfied with the clarity of the result in the long term.

maybe we could provide a format for success stories to be written in

like -

Before clearing photo (1 or 2 photos depending on extent of acne)

Photos during (perhaps 3 or 4)

After photo (1 or 2 when you realised you were clear)

Long term clear photo (1 or 2 photos at 6 month + clear)

• Acne type/severity before clearing
  
• Acne experienced for how many years before clearing:
  
• What main medications/methods did you use to get clear?:
  
• Acne experienced in what areas of body:
  
• daily treatment routine:
  
• How long did it take to clear your skin using the regimen that you achieved success with?:
  
• Do you think anything other than your main method may have contributed to you getting clear i.e. getting enough sleep, eating well, switching makeup brands etc

what do you guys think?

Edited by crystal_willow, 06 March 2012 - 04:03 PM.

[PaulH85]

Sounds like a good idea to me, having an area for success stories in each section.

I can't see that the idea of contacting members by E-mail or whatever would really take off. If people stop posting, they usually have their reasons and perhaps want to draw a line under things so I can't see that they would appreciate being contacted to discuss it. I do like the idea in principle though, just don't think it would work here.

[crystal_willow]

PaulH85, on 06 March 2012 - 03:59 PM, said:

Sounds like a good idea to me, having an area for success stories in each section.

I can't see that the idea of contacting members by E-mail or whatever would really take off. If people stop posting, they usually have their reasons and perhaps want to draw a line under things so I can't see that they would appreciate being contacted to discuss it. I do like the idea in principle though, just don't think it would work here.

your probably right but people are pretty good at ignoring e-mails they don;t want to answer so i think it may be worth trying. xx

[dicegame]

PaulH85, on 06 March 2012 - 03:59 PM, said:

Sounds like a good idea to me, having an area for success stories in each section.

I can't see that the idea of contacting members by E-mail or whatever would really take off. If people stop posting, they usually have their reasons and perhaps want to draw a line under things so I can't see that they would appreciate being contacted to discuss it. I do like the idea in principle though, just don't think it would work here.

I'm not sure i always felt that with websites like these they stop for one of two reasons, they have finally found a good product and don't need help anymore, or they've gone to another community, which to be honest there really isn't much that are thriving like this one. Now adays with programming this can be achieved easily. They don't even need to click on a link, as emails can now communicate with PHP. People reply with what they used to beat it and it passes it to PHP, which will require manual validation though. Though its very convienient for people since they can reply straight from their inbox.

Thats my two cents anyways.

[tritonxiv]

Great great idea.

Although... I think it would be pretty useless to have -only- success sections in each sub-forum.

We already have that... sort of.

I feel that a consolidated success forum would allow everyone (including those who may not have used conventional methods) to share their positive experiences and give acne.org newbies a great (and easily accessible) place to start.

I know I would definitely be browsing that success forum every. single. day. A person's post in that section will most likely be their best and most insightful.

EDIT: Just add a stipulation that they have to be clear for at least a couple of months before they post. I read a lot of "I'm clear after only two weeks!!!" kinda thing.

Edited by tritonxiv, 06 March 2012 - 04:48 PM.

[crystal_willow]

so how do we make this happen?

[princessdaphne]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do this!!!!!! I don't think it should be a sub-forum in each forum, I think it should be all together in its own forum. I would read that every single day many many times. It would really give so many of us hope.