Post
by n2it » Thu Nov 05, 2015 4:43 pm
Normally, I ignore keyboard warriors but last night, I simply couldn’t help myself because one of the initial replies to my post was (and is) incredibly ignorant and asinine. The definition of asinine by the way is: “extremely or utterly foolish.”
When I asked why the chat feature is not being utilized the reply at issue that was received was: “Most people have better things to do.” So, because you are apparently a board “veteran” you are the self-appointed spokesman for everyone? And how dare a “newbie” call out a veteran of the board? (Newbies – I’ll address that term in a moment).
I’m not a narcissist by any definition of the word. But let’s get something straight; I am a very successful, middle aged man, very educated (and proud of it), successfully raised a child on my own (VERY proud of that), and have performed research for a number of years for very large companies. I live for empirical data.
After posting my question last night more than ten people, by my count, entered the chat room within five minutes of the post. The majority of which were guests to the forum. In fact, if you would take the time to notice the majority of the users on this forum are in fact guests who do not register. But that follows the normal trends of most free Internet forums.
The success of effective communication through the utilization of chat forums is overwhelming and is backed by numerous peer reviewed research papers, which includes of course empirical data. It is the very reason that almost all large (and even small) companies today include chat options on their websites with live representatives just a click away. All of your credit card issuers, your banks, etc… use this option and for a very good reason. It works!
I have no issue with text-only forums either as they offer a great resource tool. But here is the problem with text only forums (and I am going to use this forum as a prime example). Just a few minutes ago, I searched a specific product using the search engine on the site. The search returned 45 separate threads dating back several years. Actually, that search brought more returns, I just stopped counting at 45.
I reviewed numerous threads and what I found, which is typical, is what one will also find listed as a negative connotation in many research papers concerning this same subject. And that is that the search engine return results are based upon specific pre-programmed “key” words. As a result, there were numerous threads that were returned that actually had nothing to do with what I was attempting to research.
Now for a “newbie” (a term that some of you “veterans” so blatantly and negatively use) that can result in hours of research in an attempt to locate the answer that one is actually looking for. This of course is why these people start a brand new thread, only to have one of the so-called “veterans” to reply so arrogantly with, “try searching for the topic before posting.”
Proper etiquette would dictate that if you don’t like the topic of a new thread that you simply ignore it and move on. Let somebody else answer the question and you can go enjoy your morning or evening tea.
Just like the thread that I started concerning the chat function last night. (In fact, several members and visitors did not even realize that there was a chat function until reading my post.) But I guess some of you “veterans” of this board don’t have to follow that golden rule (you know being respectful and polite) and we “newbies” should just sit quietly with our tails between our legs. Not my style.
This forum is very fortunate that it has a chat function capability already implemented. And because it did not work for some of you “veterans” years ago does not mean it can’t work now with many fresh minds and ideas being circulated throughout the forums. At the beginning there was a literally a handful of you. Today because of SA awareness hundreds of thousands of people are being diagnosed with this debilitating condition yearly.
With that being said, I offer my suggestion and a relatively easy fix to the repetitive posts on this board. I would suggest to the administrator of this board (if in fact there is one as they have never answered my PM) is that a chat schedule be developed and implemented for members and guests alike. And if one wants to join and learn or offer their personal thoughts and knowledge than great. If not, than stay the hell out. That’s a pretty simple concept isn’t it?
There are many ways to develop said schedule. First and foremost there needs to be an active board administrator who then can then solicit other members to act as chat administrators. So as an example; there could be a regular chat forum held on Mondays at different intervals to account for time zone differences, which would discuss nothing but for example “mask leaks”. That topic alone would probably result in an incredible reduction of the endless threads on this board, which discusses the exact same mask leak issues.
Another night could be product comparisons. Another night could be sleep issues with partners, CPAP and surgery, etc… Now if I were the administrator of this board, I would simply categorize the chat sessions by the number of “hits” using the internal database of this forum that corresponds to each specific topic and those would be your daily chats topics. Take the top seven and that would be your first week. If there are more than seven topics than run the sessions for as many days as necessary and start then repeat. (There are many marketing firms that charge an awful lot of money for the advice that I am now offering for free.)
Now to speak directly to some of you so-called “veterans” do you see how we newbies can use our critical thinking skills? It’s called improving on ideas and while not remaining stagnant and stuck in the past. The Internet evolves on a daily basis.
Now to address the term “newbie” as was used as some kind of a negative connotation in this thread: Because I am a “newbie” to this board does not mean that I am ignorant to the topic on hand. For the last several months, I have studied everything that I could find on SA and CPAP that time would permit (which led me to this very board). This of course was a result of my diagnosis with severe SA.
After reading hundreds of posts, I can say with absolute confidence that I am more educated on certain criteria concerning SA and CPAP than some of you so-called board veterans. I have read some really disturbing advice coming from some of you. Especially the replies whereby you tell a “newbie” to ignore their doctor’s advice and change their prescribed settings when you have absolutely no clue as to why the physician implemented those individual settings in the first place. That is not only dangerous and egregious advice but you have probably made yourself liable in some states if in fact someone actually takes your advice and suffers ill consequences as a result.
In closing, there are many veterans on this board who do in fact offer great advice and do a wonderful service to others. And I personally thank you for that. I also would like to recognize Pugsy as being one of those veterans for which I am speaking about. You will never find a negative response from her. But what really impresses me with her is that when she doesn’t know something she states it, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer…” Or she just doesn’t join the thread. That’s a real board veteran.
Finally, to you Mr. or Mrs. LSAT, I also took the time to research your many postings. And I found quite the pattern with your responses on many threads. I’m not going to make you look more asinine than you are by copying and pasting them to this thread but it seems as though you suffer from some personality issues. Maybe it’s your CPAP settings…
However; my advice to you sir or madam is to simply ignore the threads where you have nothing of value to add. And this forum will be a much happier place for it.
To the rest of the forum members, my apologies for the lengthy response but sometimes in this world people need a reality check. There are just way too many negative people in this world today.
I will look forward to speaking with many if you again in the future either through threads, chat, or PM’s. And I hope that if there is a board administrator that they will consider the idea of scheduled chat sessions with specific topics. If you’re reading this please contact me and I will volunteer some of my time to the cause.
As a final note, I will not be replying to any of you cyber bullies or keyboard tough-guys now or in the future. My time is much too valuable.
Have a wonderful evening and good luck to all of you.
_________________
| Machine | Mask | |
 |  |
How much more bizarre can the pharmaceutical commercials get?
