To all that have read my posts from last week

Now that things have blown over from last week I wanted to take a timeout to apologize to any users that I may have offended. My first post on here was somewhat controversial. I felt that I had good information, and I thought the way I wrote it was with satire. After seeing people's reaction to it, I deleted the post. I didn't do this out of fear or however you wanted to interpet it, I did it because I realized I offended some CPAP users. I realize that what I wrote wasn't funny, but mean spirited in some ways.

After trying to gain a new first impression, I was being dogged by a small group of users online. I tried in the beginning to take this in stride, but failed miserably. I ended up erasing some of my posts out of embarrassment. First off, I didn't want to reflect poorly on my field. Secondly, talking the way I did was completely out of character, and I felt that it needed to be resolved immediately. If I could take back all my posts last week I would of glady done that. WHat is done is done. While I don't expect everyone to be forgiving, I hope everyone will atleast not judge my field on my words, but by the results that have been demonstrated time and time again.

I realize that this forum is more for users than techs, so from now on I am going to keep most of my opinions to myself. I may from time to time offer some advise, and I will leave it up to the user to decide what to do with it. I hope that everyone can appreciate the fact that starting a topic to 37,000 plus people, admitting that I was fool isn't something that I enjoy doing, but I do know it is neccessary. All I ask is that you judge me not by what I said last week, or even by this note. I just ask that you allow me to have a fresh start from this point fourth. I even promise not to get into little cat fights with "nobody".

Thank you.

Polysomnoman

Good for you for trying to set the record straight but best advice I can offer is to not take yourself too seriously.

But, it is a good thing to take newcomers seriously and to let them feel they are welcome & can start their learning
process without fearing too much ridicule or retribution for any classic newbie or naive type comments. We all had
to start somewhere.

Once again, welcome to the zoo, you have already had some success in that dept

Cheers

DSM

I'm glad to see you taking this step.
We're a pretty diverse group of folks and for the most part, forgiving. We're also not a bunch of children to be talked down to. Where you progress from here, is now up to you.


Den

I guess you are not a "bot" afterall.....lol....

The drama llama would approve!

Fair enough... lets move forward.

Apology accepted. Whether "you" are will depend entirely upon you.

You haven't hurt the "field's" reputation at all. I don't believe the attitude you demonstrated is in any way representative of the majority of sleep techs. At least not the ones I've encountered. That's why some of us doubted (maybe some still do!) that you are a real sleep tech.

Your personal reputation is another issue entirely, of course... Good luck repairing that. You've made a good start today.

But I predict your true nature will be revealed in subsequent posts.

I agree with Den:

Wulfman wrote:I'm glad to see you taking this step.
We're a pretty diverse group of folks and for the most part, forgiving. We're also not a bunch of children to be talked down to. Where you progress from here, is now up to you.


Den

I'll reiterate what I said in one of your previous topics this month, polysomnoman:

"Nah, I don't think polysomno-man is a troll. I think he really is a well-meaning sleep tech who wants to help people, and has found his way to the "helping-est" apnea message board out there.

Doesn't mean his opinions are gospel, any more than ours are."

polysomnoman, now that you've done some chillin, welcome back to this forum again.

I appreciate your apology and humility and hope the rest of the forum will be gracious towards you. Some of them will not. You'll have to figure out how to deal with that.

For the record, I found nothing excessively offensive in what you wrote. I do think there is a lot of ignorance on most forums, this one being no exception. The problem I have with some professionals is that they do not perceive that the ignorance goes both ways. Patients may not have the medical knowledge that professionals have (though some health care professionals are also patients), but you need to understand that the field of sleep medicine is failing patients miserably. When health care professionals fail to present solutions that actually work, you can hardly expect patients to sit quietly by while you guys do some more studies. I'm taping my mouth right now. I would LOVE to have a workable alternative to that. Do you have one? No, I thought not. You don't, and neither do any other professionals that have voiced their opinions. The standard answers are FFM and chin strap. I've tried both, and both have failed me. It is clear to me that the medical profession either cannot or will not solve the problem. That means I have to do it.

I am often appalled at what RTs and RPSGTs on the so-called "professional" forums write, particularly about their patients and their practice. Many of them freely and unguiltily admit to unclean practices. When scolded by other professionals, they actually defend their dirty habits. And almost all of them think of patients not as people but in terms of whether the patient is making their lives more difficult or not.

I hope you will stick around. I'm sure I could learn something from you, provided that you think of me as a fellow human being, and not just as another problem of the day.

Welcome back...missed ya.

Slate's clean for me, Polysomnoman. Welcome. We'll look forward to some constructive information and advice from you in the future.

Wow. That took guts. Well, said PSM. I missed your original post but have followed most of the "fallout" and couldn't help but think "that easily could have been me." I've been in that boat (trying to use satire but only managing to p*ss people off) and offer these thoughts....

As Den said, this group is largely a forgiving one. Not all members are, though, and I can tell you from experience that some will never forgive you for whatever it is you said or whatever attitude they perceived you were using. Some will just stop talking with you, as some have done with me. Please don't misunderstand... when I was at my "worst," I earned the negativity I received. Didn't mean to, had no thought of being nasty, but in retrospect, it was easy to see why people thought what they thought. But regardless of anything you say or how well/eloquently you apologize (as you did), some will always be convinced that their perception is the right one, in spite of the fact that they don't know you from Adam. Be a duck... let it roll off your back, don't beat yourself up about it and "converse" with those who have decided to let the past be past. If you don't, you'll end up with emotional black'n'blues that will help no one and hurt you.

Please don't just lurk in the shadows. We appreciate the HELPFUL input of the sleep specialists very much. As the saying goes, though, the proof is in the pudding; don't be a stranger, but be careful how you word things. Try to preview any posts in the light of someone who doesn't know you. Aim for clarity, and don't expect others to "know" what you meant by what you said. If you do use satire or sarcasm (which, IMO, when rightly used can be brilliant and hysterical), consider using the smilies. A smartass comment followed by or will more than likely communicate you aren't being mean-spirited.

Don't be mean-spirited.

Don't be condescending. We're here for a reason, the majority of us are reasonably intelligent, we can read, and we're interested in our therapy. For the most part, we wouldn't be here if we weren't. In other words, please don't talk down to us. We don't appreciate that... we get enough of it from others and come here expecting a "safe" place. There's a difference between offering information to someone and being condescending about it. It just takes a little extra care in the way that you word things.

Take a look at this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35298&st=0&sk=t&sd=a It's a great example of the range of experience and understanding we have here. Some members (like me) followed every word (all 46 pages!) simply because it was a fascinating discussion, not because we actually understood what was being said (I sure didn't). But the primary ones in the discussion understood it very well, and not all of them are trained sleep professionals. The range of education and experience of our members is incredible, and your participation will only make it more incredible, as long as you approach those of us who aren't trained in your field like the intelligent adults that we are.

PSM, welcome to the forum.

Marsha

I missed the whole thread and all the hub-bub, but I think anyone who shows humility like that on a forum, or anywhere else, should be given a second chance. Just be mindful and things usually work themselves out.

Welcome back! The more the merrier.

Been there - done that. There will always be a select few who will never respond to a post from you again and it doesn't matter what you ever do or say,so don't be suprised. There are also those that responded to this post with well meaning words that are full of hot air and like to hear themselves talk. I wish you well my friend.

OOoops - I see Songbird already said it pretty darn good but I will leave this anyway. Maybe we can start our own little click here .