Cholinergic Urticaria Forum:
This site used to be operated with a blog section, and a separate forum. Although it worked okay, it was never really easy to manage, and many people would either view the blog and not the forum, or vice versa.
The blog used a different type of software from the forum, and trying to keep the two working together seamlessly was challenging (especially as hosting needs started to climb). In addition, while there are many great posts from people who suffer with cholinergic urticaria on the forum, user participation was incredibly low overall. Most people who registered made one post and never returned. Only a few people (around 15–30) actually returned regularly and contributed their time and help to others. Many times the forum would sit dead for days at a time, and this was after nearly 4-5 years of being active.
Why did this happen? Lots of reasons I suppose. I think a lot of people were probably apprehensive about having to register for the forum (too much time/aggravation). Some probably also felt they didn’t have a lot to contribute. Still others may have simply not cared enough.
This caused me to become discouraged and archive the forum for a while as I thought of a better solution, and merge this site with another site. The idea was that I could save money on hosting, save time on having to update so many websites, etc. I was also considering rolling out one consolidated forum covering many topics hoping that would spur more discussion overall.
In hindsight, I realize this wasn’t a great idea, which is one of the reasons I’ve moved this site back here. I wish I had set the forum up differently in the first place, and I hadn’t temporarily merged this site with the other. I think that if I perhaps let people submit content in a more “article” format, and then have comments open, it would have worked just as well–if not better than the old forum format. There were also issues with spam, trolls, and more on the old forum. Plus a few pointless threads had also made it through, and it was getting cluttered.
At this time, I am updating this site and completely re-arranging it, and I am unsure what I will do with regards to the forum. I do not plan to return to the old format, for the various reasons I mentioned above, but I am considering a few alternative ideas at this time to perhaps allow similar discussion in some way or another that benefits both the community and me (with regards to time management and costs). Perhaps I’ll allow people to submit a blog post/article, and leave comments on for a few weeks on each post. I’m still not sure, but I think this may work better since participation wasn’t that great in the past, and it may alleviate some of the burden on me of managing so many people/posts.
Again, I am still unsure and it may be a little while before I can get everything worked out, as I still have much work to do with this site and a few other projects. Stay tuned…
Update on My Hives
I still have my cholinergic urticaria totally under control. I can go and workout with no issues, and do anything and sweat like crazy. I do know that my diet was about 80-90% of the problem. I ate a really bad diet for a week to see what happened and already I could feel my stomach getting messed up, I got a few bumps on my fingers, and my body seemed as if it was wanting to get that itchy sensation. After cleaning it up, all returned to normal again after a week or so.
I have written extensively about my hives and diet on this site, so I’d recommend you looking at that if you haven’t already. I also want to give God the credit. He heard my prayers and showed me a way to cure my hives, and for that I am thankful.
NOTE: If anything with my hives changes, of course I will update this archives with a new post detailing it. But as long as things are good, then I probably won’t be writing much on it again. I’ve said all I have to say pretty much, which is enough content to fill a large book (but its all online and free).
I’m still gaining some muscle and getting in perhaps the best shape of my life. I have a long-term goal to continue this.
