Gout Pal Interactive

Sorry for some delays at the moment, but I’m moving home.

Boring affects on my gout sites are:

• Can’t access email at blueyonder. If you’ve sent anything to that address recently, please send again via goutpal.com. If you don’t have my private email address, send a message via my contact form (but see next point also)
• My internet access is hit and miss, so I can’t answer private emails everyday. Public emails are also slow (e.g. contact forms, forum private messages), simply because I don’t have much internet access time
• Comments may take a few days for me to approve, but if you register, they should appear straight away.
• Gout Forum posts may take a few days for me to approve, but if you register, they should appear straight away.

Most unfortunately, I will probably not have time to do any research. If your question is straightforward, I’ll try to answer it straight away. If not, it will probably get caught up in the backlog. If you don’t get an answer within a couple of months, please try again. Remember, it is always best, and quickest, to post your gout questions in the Gout Forum.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts

You see lots of gout information, but how much is written just for you?

You might not realize, but the whole of GoutPal.com is driven by your needs and desires.

I like to analyze visitor numbers, but mainly I respond to your requests - especially when you write them in the Gout Forum (now no registration required).

It is by far the easiest way to communicate, and I really missed it when my ISP let me down. Now that I’m back in business on a new server, I will continue to manually transfer old popular gout information. I will also try to catch up on the avalanche of emails I received during the time my server was crippled.

My priority will be to respond to your forum requests, but I am also interested in what my visitors find interesting, even if you leave no comments.

I plan to add a weekly and monthly summary of popular gout information from GoutPal.com. For the first week in April, these are:

Read the rest of this entry »

Rumours of my demise are exaggerated.

Not only am I still alive and kicking, but I’ve resurrected this blog.

There’s hope for a bright future on a new server. Thanks to all who’ve helped with this - I’ll write more soon.

In the meantime, there are a few bugs that have crept in during moving this site. They may also affect links on GoutPal.com.

If you spot anything, please let me know.

Also, please let me know what is most important to you. I always give priority to your needs.

We all need better advice on how we can find relief for gout. Yesterday, I reported on the new guidelines for managing acute gout. Now I need your help to test the guidelines, and see if we can improve them.

I have started 8 new topics in your gout forum to discuss each of these guidelines:

SORRY - OLD POSTS LOST

If you are interested in these topics, please start new discussions in the gout forum, and I will find the old information

So you’re one of those gouty webmasters looking for ideas are you? Or perhaps a gout-free webmaster looking for ideas? Here’s a good idea: shopping cart software.

Now this site doesn’t need one, you just get pure free gout information. But I’m building another site that will need it someday. And if I ever write that gout book, I’m going to need some good ecommerce software to sell it.

In fact, I’ve been put off selling anything online when I’ve seen all the problems associated with setting up a shopping cart on my own server. Will it be secure? Will it be reliable? Will it handle all the features I’ll need like selling egoods (my gout book will be an ebook if I ever get round to it), or monitoring affiliate sales.

Now I’ve seen the solution - Ashop Commerce. It has every feature I am going to need, but the best thing is the shopping cart software is hosted on their server, so no worries about security, downtime and all the other things that detract from getting on with my writing.

Speaking of writing, this Ashop ecommerce software allows me to write my own information about anything to support the shopping cart offerings. This is a real boom for me, as I hate offering anything for sale without the ability to add lots of enticing pre-sale information. I like the post-sale order tracking facility as well. Customers checking their own order status online saves hours of phone calls and emailing.

And now the best bit - you can try it for free. No, this isn’t one of those “give me your credit card” deals you get with so many companies who then keep blanking you when you try to cancel. You just try it free for 10 days with absolutely no obligation, other than agreeing to normal legal trading practices. OK, you can’t actually take a payment until you start paying for the service, but you can do all the road testing you need to ensure this crucial service is compatible with your business. I like that.

Please Note: I get paid a tiny amount for advertising products and service like this, which helps with Gout Pal running costs. Look on it as a bonus break from reading and worrying about gout. It’s still my honest opinion.

Get more information about this shopping cart software at www.ashop.com.au - great Aussie website and not a cricket bat in site sight.

I keep a lookout for gout research, or any type of interesting gout news. I usually mention it here on the blog, or in the gout forum first, but sometimes I put it straight onto GoutPal.com or into my newsletter.

Lately, I’ve been keeping various bits of gout news in different places, and losing track of it. Then I realized that the easiest way to keep track, and keep you informed at the earliest opportunity, is to post the details on the gout forum. I’ve enlisted the help of my good friend Al O’Purinol to post these little snippets for me.

One downside of this is that the jargon is very strong in a lot of these reports. When I do my articles, I try to replace some of the more obscure terms with better-known phrases. Now that you see the gout research abstracts in their original form, I am concerned that some of the jargon makes them very difficult to read.

Step forward a brilliant plug-in for WordPress called Hover. I’m using it to start a glossary of gout terms that you can see just by moving your mouse over the term.

EatonWeb Blog Directory

With the latest newsletter now lovingly dispatched, it’s time to catch up on all those jobs that have been put to one side. There’s emails, new gout articles, my gout diet progress, but also some housekeeping.

Those readers who have been with me from the beginning will know how I feel about website and blog advertising. If it is the only way I can cover my website costs, then I’m happy to go with it. After all, TV companies, newspapers, and many other information providing services, subsidize their content without compromising quality - why not advertise on blogs.

I’ve just been reviewing my advertising strategies, and I’ve found a way to get paid to blog. I think this is a great idea. At first I was worried that this might be obtrusive, but on reflection, I think that introducing different topics adds to the variety of a blog. After all, the world would be a dull place if all we talked about was gout.

As you know, I’m fond of expressing my opinions, so to get paid for blogging fits me well. You might not be interested every time I blog for money, just as not everyone is interested in every aspect of gout - just filter out what doesn’t interest you. If you are interested in websites, why not let me know using my contact form or the comment box below - I’m always looking for people who might be interested in the technical or commercial side of life on the Internet.

For more information please visit http://www.smorty.com

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

2008 Gout Forum Update

I’ve changed my Gout Forum to a new format that is more integrated with this blog.

The good news is that you don’t need to register before you post, so it’s a much easier place to discuss gout.

The bad news is that converting the old forum topics is a manual process. I’m gradually adding the most popular old posts, but it is a slow process. If you’ve seen something before, but cannot find it now, just add a new topic in the appropriate forum, and I will convert or summarize the old relevant forum posts.

To add new posts, just select the relevant forum, the click “Add A New Topic”, or replay to an existing topic.

Gout Related Forums

Gout Cures

What works for you? Discuss gout medications and treatments for pain relief or uric acid lowering.

Gout Diet

Discuss all aspects of gout food and gout diet.

Gout Related

Discuss how other conditions affect gout and how they can be affected by gout.

Gout Symptoms

Discuss gout symptoms, causes, diagnosis and triggers.

Please Help My Gout!

If you’re in despair, and don’t know where to turn, leave a message here. Don’t bother searching for the right place to post - just ask here.

Uric Acid

Discuss the nature of uric acid and how it affects gout.

Other Forums

Tech Stuff

Anything about using the GoutPal and Gout Pal Interactive websites.

Water Cooler

Got something on your mind that isn’t gout related? Talk about it here. Still no spam though!

Wish List

What extra would you like to see on GoutPal or Gout Pal Interactive? What should be removed. I appreciate all suggestions for improvements.

Original Gout Forum Post

You send messages every day asking about gout. I love these.

When I know the answer I’m happy to help. Quite often I don’t know, and I do some research. I’m happy with this as well because I learn more about gout.

Sometimes I don’t know the answer, and can’t find much about it. When this happens, I write about it here and ask for opinions.

Unfortunately, all this takes time. Occasionally messages sit unanswered in my inbox until I can answer them.

Now I’ve added a new way to discuss gout problems - my gout forum.

All the old ways to ask me about your gout problems are still available. You can still share your gouty arthritis experiences by commenting here or by the Contact Form above or any of the forms on GoutPal.com.