10 Years Of GoutPal

[Keith Taylor (GoutPal Admin)]

2015 marks my 10th anniversary of helping gout sufferers.

At first, it was a way to find out more about my own gout, and pass on my knowledge. Now, I know exactly how to control my gout, and I’m focusing on ways to help you control yours.

To celebrate 10 years, I hope to focus even more on helping gout sufferers, and make this gout forum the place where you can get valuable, personal help. Last year, I introduced paid memberships. I now think this is the best way I can develop GoutPal support services to give you the best chance of controlling your gout quickly. I’m always open to suggestions, but for now, this is my plan for 2015.

Paid membership gives me the time to spend getting truly personal. At the moment, there are too many times where people have to wait for responses. With paid membership, I can offer response within a set time, or your money back. I can also spend more time being proactive in developing your personal gout treatment plans.

However, I do not want to exclude people who cannot afford it. Therefore, paid plans can be earned.

If you have logged in, you will see “My Points” near the bottom right of the page. You get points for posting new topics, for replying to topics, and even just for logging in each day. To celebrate 10 years of GoutPal, I will upgrade all free memberships with enough points to 2 years free membership. After 2 years, if you work with me to manage your gout, you will be in control, and no longer need me. Most gout sufferers will actually achieve this within one year, but I like to be certain.

I will explain details of the membership plans more clearly, and you will see changes to page layouts to reflect this. For now, I am not going to reveal the number of points you need to be eligible for new membership plans. I can tell you that I aim to upgrade free memberships to paid ones on 28th February 2015, which is my personal 57th anniversary.

Note that there is a fixed scale of points for actions such as posting new topics and replying to existing topics. However, I will also be awarding bonus points for special efforts, and deducting points for time-wasters. Things that impress me are:
– Interesting new posts with lots of relevant facts and pertinent questions.
– Personal experiences of your gout and how you control it
– Replies that help others, and add to the discussion
– Regular posting 4 or 5 days a week
– Bringing new people into the forum

On that last point, if you post something on facebook or elsewhere, with a link to my gout pages, tell me about it by replying here. Please only use spaces that you own: your own website, facebook, Google+, Pinterest, etc – never put spammy links on other websites, or you will not be welcome here.

I hope this is something you want. I firmly believe that posting regularly in this forum will help you control your gout. It also helps other gout sufferers who are too timid to post, but get benefit by reading the discussions.

Let’s beat gout together in 2015.

[Keith Taylor (GoutPal Admin)]

To stay updated about my 10 year celebrations of gout support, you should subscribe to my email update service. I’ve only just realized there was a problem with it, but all should now be OK. If you are already a subscriber, normal service is now resumed, and you will get more news about GoutPal 10 Years celebrations soon. If not, please subscribe now:

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[Keith Taylor]

Have you noticed the new points system?

You can see your GoutPal Points (GPPs) at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. I reset the points to zero the other day. 4 members were lucky to get points at around 100 times usual value. Let’s call that an unexpected early-bird bonus for @jason-smith1977 @wpack3 and @christopher-tran

No need for other members to be jealous – there’ll be lots of opportunities to earn bonus points. Your best chance comes from posting lots of interesting comments about your gout. Also join in with other members discussions. More opportunities for GPPs are in the pipe-line.

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