Stroke Network Highlights

by Steve Mallory

May is finally here! Springtime and the warm sunny weather is my favorite time of the year. I absolutely love seeing green grass and trees full with leaves. I'll have to remind my wife that it's time to hang the hummingbird feeder outside my window by my computer!

I want to tell Susan how great it was to read about her reasons for wanting to be a mentor to other stroke survivors. The interview that she did with Lin in last month's newsletter was excellent! I hope it was an example for others to follow. We need more members to try to find the time to help the newbie stroke survivors learn the ropes of becoming a veteran stroke survivor. Please don't get me wrong! I'm not making light of stroke! I'm not trying to glamorize becoming a veteran stroke survivor but I'm definitely praising someone, anybody, who takes the time to help someone else through rough periods. If you are interested in learning more how you can possibly become a mentor we offer guidelines on doing this at http://www.strokenetwork.org/support/mentor.htm.

Cool beans! Can of corn! Everyone has been using "catch phrases," like these, when they saw the latest addition to the member's benefits, the Members Map! What am I talking about? If you have to ask, you obviously don't frequent the message board or maybe you just missed my post where I told the frequent board members all about it! The Members Map is a world map where you pin the location of approximately where you live and then type a brief note with your name, email address and location. The note remains hidden until you mouse over the pin for the person on the map. At a glance, you can see where our members live and then you can possibly establish a relationship with whoever lives in your neck of the woods! It's the next best thing to sliced bread! Don't believe me? Read on and find out how to check it out. Seriously, the more members that pin their location, the more fun and meaningful that it becomes to belong to our stroke community.

I want to tell you about how to get the most out of this stroke support group. I think that most members that want stroke support want to "skip to the chase" and go directly to the message board. Well, that might sound like it makes sense but it's not the smartest move to just bookmark http://www.strokesurvivor.net. Let me explain what I am talking about. The message board is located at the above URL but the best thing to do is to go to the homepage, http://www.strokenetwork.org, and then click on the Members Area button. The reason for reaching stroke support by my method is because all of our stroke support services are listed. Trust me! I am the person who designed and organized the web pages. I did things for a reason. You might want to download the Tray Chatter for the chat room, find out about the Mentor Program or pin your location for the Members Map. You can only do these things by entering stroke support through the Members Area from the homepage.

Another thing I want to discuss, which can make your experience with us more pleasant is to go to the Message Board and click on the Help link. You would be surprised what information you might find out by doing this. This is probably one of the most important things that you do, if you frequent the message board.

The last organization highlight that I want to discuss are the additions to the message board, Gallery and Top Sites List. I discussed the Gallery, at length, in last month's newsletter and explained how to add photographs and special things, like your bio. We don't want our Gallery to stop where it is. If you have digital photograph, please read the instructions on the main message board that explains how to add a picture. Last month, the Top Sites List still needed to be upgraded in order to work properly. The upgrade is complete now and available for you to add a special site to the list. The purpose of the list is to have a common place where everyone can add a special web site that might be of interest to the rest of our community.

I have already created certain categories where sites can be added so that the special sites stay organized. For instance, I wanted to make sure that there was a category for Personal Web Sites. Everyone who has his or her own web page can add it in that category. If you want to add a site just go to the Top Sites Link, click on Control Panel and then the Add a Site link. You can add sites to our web ring, add a counter to your own web site (we provide the html how to do this), rate the site in question, place a web site vote on your web page (we provide the html how to do this), and more. If you add, a site you have to click on Control Panel and then on the site tab and you will see the links for everything I am talking about.

Again, you need to start at http://www.strokenetwork.org/ and then click on the Members Area button so you can properly receive our stroke support services!

The Stroke Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 492 Abingdon, Maryland 21009