NEW BOARD POLICY: Moderated Discussion

[izzarina]

When in doubt, people, PM. It's easy.

Just don't tell us all to PMS. It may be easy but it's not all that fun

[Azalin]

Anybody here actually have a job?

Loren

I'm more worried about this guy in San Francisco who can't post 12 000 messages per day now that the Political thread is on hold. What is he doin'?

[Joseph E. Smith]

So no more prayers for the sick then?

I think prayers are perfectly OK. In addition to meditations, prayer groups, cone senders etc... etc...

[Loren]

I don't see why it should be difficult to apply a sensible policy sensibly and reasonably, rather than stupidly and literally. You've never had an issue here which suggests that questions about tendinitis and flute pasture are not at the center of Dale's concern. Thinking about the substance of Dale's concern and making reasonable judgments in each instance should get you there in almost all cases. What Dale is asking is neither obscure nor difficult to apply.

It doesn't seem hard to me, either. I'm not going to try to spell out a highly specific policy. I'm just going to moderate as best I can. We've got moderators to help via PM. I think people can see the difference between someone saying, hey, my hand cramps when I hold the flute this way (Answer: Don't hold the flute that way) and, on the other...uh...hand, gee, I have this pain in my abdomen that won't go away, what should I do?

Could we please not think and talk this thing to death? There are things that have gone on that I can't write about here.

Hi, Dale,

Here's your policy:

I respectfully insist that people not post about mental health topics, in particular, and not ask for or give advice on medical topics in general.

I think it's sensible and fair to take a policy on a plain reading, at
least for starters. Yours says
that we are not to ask for or give advice on medical topics
in general. On the face of things that excludes the questions I
asked on the fluteboard--cubital tunnel sydrome, for instance,
is often treated by surgery and in fact I went to two physicians,
one at Barnes Jewish, another at the orthopaedic clinic
at St. Louis U, to get advice, along with consulting
my colleagues on the fluteboard. They were, by the way,
more helpful than the physicians. It is, please note, not like:
'My hand cramps when I hold it this way' and the answer is not: 'Hold it another way.' It really is a medically-related topic, one about
which musicians sometimes know more than doctors.

Nonetheless I take it you don't think I shouldn't have asked
about this on the fluteboard, or that in the future I shouldn't ask
about related problems. Nor do you think that people shouldn't
advise me.

And I think there have been numerous other
discussions about medically related issues, and dental issues, too,
where suggestions and advice were given, that you do not
mean to preclude.

But then, obviously, you don't intend your
policy 'Don't ask for or give advice on medical topics in general'
to mean that we shouldn't ask for or give advice on medical
topics in general.

The question then arises pretty forcibly,

what does this policy which you insist we follow mean?

Bloomie points out that the policy is not to be followed literally
and stupidly, and I think you concur.

Now, not unreasonably,
I take the force of this to be that we CAN ask for advice on
medical topics, at least sometimes, and that we CAN
give advice, at least sometimes.

I also take it
to be part of what you have in mind that we, in giving advice
about medical-related topics, exercise appropriate care
to give reasonable advice that doesn't endanger anybody.
That's very sensible, no question.

So here is what I take your policy to be, in plain English, if I understand you.

Be careful in giving advice onboard about medically-
related topics, to give advice that doesn't endanger anybody.
Be aware that you often don't know the people you are
talking with, and that bad advice can be dangerous. Err
on the side of caution.

If somebody says something like 'I have a persistent pain
in my abdomen, what should I do?' be sure to tell them to
seek professional help quickly, for instance, to go to an ER.

Please refrain from giving mental-health related advice
onboard. Remember that all sorts of people are reading these
threads, along with whomever you are advising.

Also, please keep in
mind the option of having these discussions in PMs or
e mails. Moderators will moderate onboard discussions,
as they deem necessary.

This is a reasonably specific policy, it strikes me as a
good one, it means just what it says, and I believe,
having read your post and Bloomie's too, that it is what
you have in mind.

Best wishes, Jim

Okay we know Jim doesn't work.....

[missy]

I'm more worried about this guy in San Francisco who can't post 12 000 messages per day now that the Political thread is on hold. What is he doin'?

BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

(I'm sorry, I couldn't help it......)

[Cynth]

So no more prayers for the sick then?

Well, in that thread Steve started it said in the article that ...uh... er....oh dear....never mind. I'm sure they are just fine.

[Dale]

So no more prayers for the sick then?

At this time, I'd like to officially and sincerely apologize for deleting the "roll eyes" emoticon.

[Tyghress]

So no more prayers for the sick then?

At this time, I'd like to officially and sincerely apologize for deleting the "roll eyes" emoticon.

ROFLMFAO!!!!! Dale, please reread my PM.

[Lorenzo]

Oooh, don't ever do that to me, Lorenzo, quoting my three-year-old posts back at me! (Except the funny ones, I guess).

Okee dokee, I won't tell anyone what you said about my good friend Calvin last time we were discussing self-restraint. Hummm...that was only two years ago.

[Joseph E. Smith]

So no more prayers for the sick then?

At this time, I'd like to officially and sincerely apologize for deleting the "roll eyes" emoticon.

Any chance you could reinstate it? Or, do so allowing only moderators to use it?

[Cynth]

Anybody here actually have a job?

Loren

I'm more worried about this guy in San Francisco who can't post 12 000 messages per day now that the Political thread is on hold. What is he doin'?

Oh poor jGilder. He's been reduced to Morris dancing and drinking .
I hope he manages to survive!


Just kidding you a bit, Jack!

[Nanohedron]

So no more prayers for the sick then?

At this time, I'd like to officially and sincerely apologize for deleting the "roll eyes" emoticon.

Any chance you could reinstate it? Or, do so allowing only moderators to use it?

Allow me to suggest that the eye-roll emoticon be a perquisite of 7K club membership. Surely we are capable of restraint and maturity in our posts.

.....Oh, never mind.

[Loren]

Allow me to suggest that the eye-roll emoticon be a perquisite of 7K club membership. Surely we are capable of restraint and maturity in our posts.

.....Oh, never mind.

Damn dude, I just looked at your post count: Having to work for a living has really put me behind, it's gonna be years before I get the eye roll emoticon back

Loren

[Nanohedron]

Maybe Dale would make a special dispensation on the basis of chronologic seniority, instead of chronic prolixity. You'd qualify. I probably wouldn't.

[Walden]

Allow me to suggest that the eye-roll emoticon be a perquisite of 7K club membership. Surely we are capable of restraint and maturity in our posts.