I don't know how you feel about this, but I'd like a little blurb in the info welcoming peopple who use the Mooncup, Divacup, and Insteads. The other communities geared towards these are very small and thus not nearly as helpful, so even though I use a Divacup, I came here and have been glad for it. Maybe something about how it is a place to discuss the pros and cons of having using various alternative menstrual devices? Just a thought.

:o)

There are Mooncup, DivaCup, and Instead communities?

I know there's at least a divacup community.

I think a link to the Museum of Menstruation's page about the history of cups on the userinfo page might be interesting.

I'm glad you posted, I was going to put up a post about the user info myself.

Firstly, glad to see you put up the last two polls, there's a third on stem length a while back and I've mislaid the link. Anyone got it?

The reason I asked for a poll on which cup people use was because while this community is called "the keeper", I have long suspected that Keeper users are very much in the minority. The poll proved me right. Considering that this is effectively the only menstrual cup community on LJ (I believe there's one for the Divacup but it's not really alive, and this one is so well-established it would be absolutely pointless setting up any other), I personally feel it would be far more appropriate if the user info, title, link list and icon reflected this. It's a pity we can't rename it to "menstrual cup", but I would certainly like to see the following:

* Change the icon to a picture of a Keeper and one of the silicone cups side by side, with the words "Menstrual cups".
* Change the community title to "Menstrual cup support".
* Put the Divacup, Keeper, Mooncup and perhaps Instead site links on the link list on the main page. I suggested that order because that was far and away the order of popularity here (OK, I didn't ask about the Instead in that poll, but this community is primarily based around reusable cups.)
* Change the user info to something like this:

This is the place to ask all your menstrual cup related questions. I'd like to keep this community for women only.

Menstrual cups are reusable bell-shaped cups worn internally, holding (instead of absorbing) monthly flow. The Divacup and the Mooncup are made of medical grade silicone, and the Keeper is made of natural gum rubber (latex). There is also a disposable cup available, called the Instead.

* For the website link, again I feel that it would be best to link to somewhere neutral. Is there a site somewhere that covers all of the menstrual cups?
* It would be nice to find a picture of all the different types of cup and put it up on the user info page. I've seen a few around when people were doing comparisons. It would also be handy as you could have a larger picture, and the first thing most people want to know is what the cups actually look like.
* A list of links would be useful on the info page. Obviously, start with the four cup manufacturers. MUM is always a good one to have, as are body-positive sites about menstruation and so forth. A list of relevant LJ communities, e.g. vaginapagina, menstrual_lib, is also handy.
* A FAQ might be a good idea. As anyone who is active on this community knows, there are certain questions that come up so often we're all fed up with them and could answer them in our sleep! You could maybe have a really brief list on the user info page, perhaps with links to the appropriate posts or sites.

One of the reasons why I personally don't like having this site officially dedicated to the Keeper when in actual fact most of the members are using other cups, is that the Keeper is so aggressive towards its competitors. It has bought up mooncup.com and puts comments on its site and in its literature about its competitors which are just this side of libellous, and completely incorrect (suggesting that silicone has problems attached to it which it actually doesn't, that sort of thing). I don't really like to support this kind of behaviour, especially since as a vegan I wouldn't use the Keeper anyway (and nor would many other vegans on this site).

This site is a really wonderful resource and I'm so glad you made it what it was. It's definitely worth the trouble, both that you've already taken over it and of working on it still further. Do you want a co-mod, by the way, just to help out with tidying up and design? I'm rather proud of the communities I've created. To show off my favourite, have a look at gothic_lit. I haven't looked through all of the Memories here yet but I'd be glad to help you with filing them.

Found the stem length poll. It might be worth putting an LJ-cut into this post, by the way; absolutely great post and I'm glad you put it up, but rather a long one.

The menstrual hut community would also be a good one to link here. I think that in the italicised information you posted above, it implies that the Instead is also bell-shaped (which I'm sure you didn't mean) and that the difference is that it's disposable as opposed to the other, reusable cups.

Quick note on the Keeper being aggressive towards competitors - I was on a yahoo group that was deleted (without notification) because the Keeper's lawyer contacted Yahoo and said that it was illegal use of their name and they wouldn't allow it. Granted, the "illegal" use was that the group was titled Keeper therefore, the Keeper company said that we were infringing on their copyrights. It ended up being changed to something dumb (MoonDivaKeeper or something), but I've wondered if the company would ever find this group and kick up a fuss - especially since so many of us don't use a Keeper and proudly recommend the DivaCup.

I actually posted two different links to pictures of the cups side by side (one was a cup and a tampon, one was the cup). I'll see if I can find them both because I noticed that only one is in the memories.

Btw, I think this is a great group - a lot of what you may hear could sound like criticism, but I think it's not meant that way. I think we all are just thinking up things to make it even better (since you did ask). Thanks for starting this community, Kelly!

Oops, yes, I think this is an absolutely wonderful group, sorry if it didn't sound like that!

Yup, I added the Instead as an afterthought and it doesn't quite tag on properly, good point. But I was only throwing out ideas, the main point being to mention all of the cups around and give a rough idea of what they're like. Any ideas about how to phrase it? How about:

Menstrual cups are worn internally, holding (instead of absorbing) monthly flow. There are three types of reusable cups available, and they are bell-shaped and worn low in the vagina. The Divacup and the Mooncup are made of medical grade silicone, and the Keeper is made of natural gum rubber (latex). There is also a disposable cup available, called the Instead, which is shaped more like a diaphragm and worn higher up.

Or is that too much detail?

I remember that discussion, but I don't think it's possible to change names of communities, and even if it were (like set up a new one and transfer everything to it), it would be a mammoth hassle and would cause no end of confusion. One good thing about having this place called "the_keeper" is that it's quite discreet on your friends list, which a lot of people will appreciate.

Aha, that was probably the picture I was thinking of. Is it the right sort of thing for an icon, or is it not square enough? As I remember it, it would certainly be a useful picture to post in the user info page.

I've also been thinking about the layout and colour scheme. I like having purple: it's a traditionally "womanly" colour and it feels appropriate, whereas red is a bit on the blatant side. If you look at the wallpaper I used for gothic_lit, for instance, it fits nicely with the gothic theme, which often uses red and black (not to mention that blood is all over gothic as a genre), but if you were to use it for this community it's too obvious, people would just think "yuck", I suspect. Myself, I'd go for a lighter and a darker purple as it is already, but use deeper, richer shades. Then perhaps cream instead of grey for the text background? I've been trying to find something suitable for wallpaper. Flowers would be nice, symbolic but not too overdone, provided you could find a good design. I'm currently rather enamoured of black tulips, they fit in with the purple colour scheme and they're beautifully shaped, but I couldn't find anything. I was thinking of something slightly abstract involving just the flower heads, rather than the conventional field of tulips which is rather boring. Obviously this is all completely a matter of personal taste. The only thing that's really important is that it's legible!

scratch the second "available" in the proposed user info, I really need to read things over before I post them.

You never even implied that this wasn't a great group. I was just reassuring the moderator just in case all of these suggestions made it appear that way :-)

Personally, I'd like the community to have no background - with no actual background and just a solid color, there's a better chance that everyone will like it. I agree that keeping it legible is important - no matter what color the background ends up, I'd suggest a white or light colored text box with a black, good sized font. That tends to be the easiest for anyone to read.

I wasn't suggesting changing the name. I was just mentioning that I've wondered about what would happen if Keeper discovers this LJ community like they found the Yahoo one.

The links I posted to pictures (I posted two separate links, one of which is in the memories, the other which I have to remember to go back and find so that it can go into the memories) were not mine. I'm not sure if it would be fair to put the page onto the user info page without first emailing the women who did the pictures on their website. I don't think they'd have a problem with someone "taking" their photo, but they might not like the bandwidth being used.

Found the picture of a Divacup next to a Keeper, and neither are trimmed (unlike the one in the Memories section). It's also an excellent post on comparing the two. I might have a play around and see if I can make an icon out of it, though I've no idea if my computing skills are up to it.

That's a great picture. It's not the one I was talking about, though *laughs* I had no idea there were so many pictures!

Or else this one? I'm not 100% happy with the text, but it's the best I've been able to do so far.

I like this one. I think I'd use a different text, but other than that, this is a great icon. I'd also put a small border on (in the same color as the text) just because I also like borders. *grins*

Did you make that icon or did you find the two pictures. If you made it, it shouldn't be too hard to move the cups to make space. If you didn't make it, let me know, at work I have access to a program that I can use (and I'm at work - I may or may not be able to fiddle this fternoon, but I can always do it this morning).

Poor Kelly - we've been going back and forth for ages in this post. When she comes back, she'll find a million and one posts between us! (I was actually going to offer to help with the memories, but while I would be happy to be a co-moderator and add to memories, I still haven't managed to get my own LJ memories done well, so I wouldn't be able to help with these ones, either).

However, I *think* (I could be wrong) that I saw somewhere that she'd rather we didn't post icons yet, but just discuss them. And then, if people agree we should get an icon, people can post icons to be voted on. So perhaps the icon portion of this discussion should be moved into our personal LJs or email?

Right, here's the latest effort. I don't seem to have much luck with decent text, but these icons are easy enough to make so anyone can fiddle around with that, it's the general layout that's the main point. Personally I think I prefer the first, textless icon (now invisible), as you get a better picture of the cups.

I think I'd use a combo of this and the one below. I'd use this style for the text (centered at the top) with the cups in this slightly smaller size, but I'd use a Lucida Casual bold. I'd use the cups at this size and have them sit tilted like the ones below (in opposite directions). And I'd probably use a border around them in either a color that matches whatever color the group ended up with or with a black border.

I love the solid white background, but I'm wondering if maybe you weren't right and that a color should be used - it would highlight the DivaCup more. I wouldn't use purple since that's the Diva color and would give those "in the know" the impression that the silicone cup is a DivaCup and not a Mooncup (I figure it could be either in this picture!)

You were absolutely right, here it is.

It's a Divacup, apart from the pic already being there it's easier to work with because the stem's shorter. I was starting to consider lopping a tiny bit off the Keeper stem just to make it easier to get in the picture!

As for borders, LJ automatically puts borders on (see the lavender/purple combination at the moment). If I put a border in the picture, it'll mean that bit less space for the actual content, and it's fairly squashed already. I'd leave it, certainly until the comm layout has been finalised.

As for background, again have a look at the current icon. It does look quite nice to have a white background, considering that the page itself is in shades of purple and grey. The other problem is that it might look a bit odd with the Divacup. Either you have a Diva which has got white behind it, which looks a bit strange against the colour, or you have the Diva so that it has the colour behind it, which again can look a bit odd, not to mention that I don't think I'd be able to do it. The Divacup site has both on its main page, let me know what you think.

I can see pros and cons to both versions. The text is more balanced on this one, but the cups are starting to get so small that the Divacup is indistinct. Both work fairly well, though, thanks for helping me develop them.

Revamped version of #2. Sorry for putting them up and yanking them down every five minutes, but I think I've got as far as I can and will now leave them.

P.S. Personally I prefer this one, anyway (the other one is now at the bottom of the post). I know ourika prefers the other one; what does everyone else think? I hope you don't mind our racing ahead already, kellybellynet!

Wow, this thread is a year old!

I didn't want to bother you over in your journal, so I figured that I would reply here.

I messed a bit with the userinfo page. One of the pictures wasn't showing up, so found a few others, made them all about the same size, and fixed that part up. I will find a few more photos (like the cups in hand or something). I had recieved a few emails about it.

I also neatened a few other things up.

Also, what is your email address? I used to have it, but a while ago I had to wipe my computer and I lost it. I occasionally get emails from members, and I'd like to pass them on to you.

I made it, I'm just using Paint. Go to www.keeper.com and it asks whether you want the Keeper or the Divacup. If you click on each image in turn and then click on View, it opens it up so that you can save it as an image. I've done another one with both cups on the bottom and larger text. I think you either have to have smaller text or smaller cup pictures, I can't see a way to have everything a decent size. I'll now post my latest attempt, it'll probably delete the first one I posted. For anyone wondering what that looked like, it's just the second one without the text.

The pic of a cup alongside a tampon and a full tampon is great.

I found it! Here's the other picture page post that I was thinking of for the memories.

http://www.livejournal.com/community/the_keeper/151812.html

LJ doesn't automatically put borders on my layout - it may add them on yours? I know that if you manage your friends list, it adds borders there. If you look here:

http://www.livejournal.com/community/the_keeper/160662.html#comments

You'll see that there's no border and it's just a solid white background on the icon. I don't see anything in shades of purple and gray, either. When I look at the comments page, it's all in white. Where are you seeing the purple and gray?

I like this icon a lot. I like that they're tilted in opposite directions and that there's enough room at the top to show text.

Of course, what we think doesn't matter so much as what everybody else thinks!

It adds the border and has purple and grey on the main comm page, where were you looking? That's the only place the community icon is going to be visible.

Actually, there's a way to set-up your friends page where you don't see the icon for the individual poster on your friend's page but instead see the icon for the community that they're posting in.

I sit corrected. Here it is, though it means the cups are a bit squashed.

Are you planning to join in this icon-making lark, by the way? (As opposed to the constructive criticism side of things.)

Useful to know about the comm icons, actually, I might set that up. I can't stand a lot of the icons around which move, they do my eyes in. Also it makes it easier to see what's from which community, though I've set up the colour

well, all I've got a comment for is the "women only" bit...

I don't see how having this community open to men would help anything...how they'd have anything relevant to say... Not that it would be a huge problem...but men have very rude comments in other "women only" communities I've visited...just a thought...

similar thoughts on the "women only" bit. but i would like to see a more trans-inclusive language. not everyone who menstruates identifies as a "woman." the spirit of this community is support, just like the title says, so i think this comm. should be open to people who have experience using cups, and/or have questions about cups.

within the last 50 entries, there was one person who had a question about having sex while wearing an instead. one of the commenters was a guy (i thought it was a vagina-owner until he said "my penis" or something like that) saying that it's not a problem when a female partner is wearing an instead during sex. then again, maybe it wasn't a guy, but a trans-identified person! who knows. :D anyway, i think this person's comments were helpful, even though they don't use the keeper. there are always exceptions to who should be included in a community once you set the boundaries. i think the point is to maintain the spirit of the community (which this commenter did, even though they don't fit the description that i suggested above) and i wouldn't be interested in men coming in here and saying stuff like, "don't have sex while wearing a cup. it sucks" or whatever. like, let us figure that out with our own partners before you coming in here and telling us what to do, know what i mean?

anyway. suggestions for user info:

heard about the keeper, the divacup, the mooncup, insteads [any other menstrual cup products, etc.] but not sure if you want to use them?

are you new to using a menstrual cup and have some questions that you’d like answers to? [put some examples in here to describe the topics that have been discussed thus far]

are you a menstrual cup user and would like to share some experiences? [examples]

then this is the place for you. this community provides support on using menstrual cups for those using them or thinking of using them for your own use. ***new [date]: memories have been updated, so check there first for your question or topic.

i think this is a great comm. and people are really supportive. i don’t think much has to change, except yeah, maybe the layout. :D i don’t really like it but i’m not well-versed in all this code stuff either. :D i think ourika and elletaria have some really good suggestions too. :) thanks for starting it up!

Did you know that you could earn commission from Mooncup?
It might be an idea if you set up an account and used that link on your community information page - any money earned could be used to pay for this account and make improvements. I myself have done this, have had 6 people buy from their site from my link and earned £22 as a result that will go into a paid account for menstrual_lib and something else...possibly pay for some samples to use at my store at festivals.
Heh, or if you don't want to do it yourself you could always link to mine :oP

The photos on the userinfo page are really useful, but the current info isn't correct. The caption says there's a pic of a Divacup in the hand, but there's only a pic of the Mooncup. Can we add a photo of the Divacup?

Hey! I'm not sure were else to post this, but your community and mine have similar interests, and I was wondering if you would like to be sister communities?

female_pride, if you want to check us out :)

Thanks for your time!

hi, I think you might want to add these two links on the userinfo page on where to buy the Mooncup UK in Germany and Austria:
Austria: www.mondtasse.at
Germany: http://www.mondtasse.de/index2.htm

One thing to add to the community info page, is a Swedish supplier: http://menskopp.se/ They sell the DivaCup, MoonCup and Keeper.