Posted by Emme on August 8, 2002, at 8:09:53
Dear Psycho Babble People,
For a long time this has been a great board, with lots of support. I've benefitted a lot from sharing personal experiences. I've benefitted a lot from the more in-depth experience of people like Cam and Ritch/Mitch, IsoM, and Elizabeth, to name a few. And I've gotten some new suggestions on how to think about problems. My deep thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way. I hope I've given back even a little of what I've gained.
But I've also been worried about the loss of some really sharp people (I think IsoM is the most recent), and the capricious nature of some of Dr. Bob's blocks. But hey, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and Dr. Bob has a lot to keep up with, and some sort of limits on mean posts isn't a terrible idea. So I stayed with the board and have even been posting more lately. But the recent degradation in the quality of information is too much.
Is anyone besides me deeply concerned about Shawn T.'s abundant posts? This no-doubt well-meaning person seems to yank a bazillion articles and spin really elaborate theories on pretty much every aspect of psychiatry and psychopharmacology, and plops a theory into way too many threads. She/he gives appears to think that she/he can single-handedly answer all the scientific issues that researchers all over the world are devoting their careers to, and in damn short time to boot. Okay, admittedly, I don't have time to read the cited articles and pick apart the lines of reasoning. Most of us don't have the time. I just have this sneaky feeling (call it a hunch rising from my experience as a scientist), that if I did, I'd find some serious flaws. A post she made in response to one of mine more or less flies in the face of what happened when I went to see a specialist.
Another problem is that the tone of Shawn's posts are decidedly different from those of other really technical posters like Cam the pharmacist, Elizabeth and Ritch/Mitch, for example. (Sorry for not naming more.) All of these folks based their posts on personal experience as well as research, don't claim to have the answers to everything, and share their own problems/questions. Shawn T.'s posts have a distressing tone of assumed authority. Does she/he have a background in pharmacy, pharmacology, biochemistry, medicine, neurology....? If so, say so. I'm really worried that someone new to the board will take this person's advice and try something dangerous. Sure, it's very possible for a patient to know more than the doctor about some issues, and patients should be active and thoughtful in their treatment and know about the medicines they take. That's what we normally see on the board. But this is something altogether different.
Shawn T. is never rude or sarcastic as I recall. In that sense she/he is a good, peaceful member of the board. In general, I applaud curiosity. But while rude posts make the board feel unfriendly, I feel that Shawn T.'s posts are potentially dangerous. Plus, they are just plain annoying by the sheer number of them and I really don't enjoy reading the board anymore.
Sorry for the length of this post. Dr. Bob, if you intend to chastise me for this post, or block me, don't bother. It would be moot and mean nothing to me. This post is my explanation for why I don't intend to participate in the board at least for a long while. I'll think about it in several months or so. Unless you decide to ban me permanently. If so, then so be it. You are the one who oversees the board.
Emme
poster:Emme
thread:7091
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020725/msgs/7091.html