CPAPtalk.com

nobody wrote:It's not just his one phone post in which he's having such trouble. He's made a couple of spam posts since and can't even be bothered to use capital letters at the beginning of sentences. Yeah, that's gonna make me want to use that DME...not! If the people working for it aren't smart enough, or just can't be bothered, to use correct English then how good will their service actually be? Probably not much better than the one I have here, where they think these machines work by magic

We-elll... I guess, given my penchant for typokinesis and homonymitis, I'm willing to cut a little more slack in that department.

Lack of capitals can stem from text messaging.

Welcome to our group, allot of people here are letting you have it aren't they,
MUFFY, I think you were very rude, I have a learning disability Are you going to let me have it because I didn't
put the coma or the .... in the right place or spelled a word wrong, Never mind maybe it's just me, With my
problem it just set me off.

Mike@TibroMedical wrote:

DoriC wrote:

Mike@TibroMedical wrote: Awesome! I am starting to think that due to my patient base being all old people that this is why I've never run into pt's that are eager to learn. We have a much younger generation on this site, all of which are comfortable with using a computer. LOL my grandparents hate their computer, they only use it when they HAVE to.

Excuse Me Young Man!! You just lost points with me! My husband and I are both active and involved seniors and although we are not computer geeks by any means, we do use our computer daily for all sorts of business and pleasure, and were very "eager" to learn how to adapt to cpap therapy. In fact, I found this forum before we even received the DX or equipment. I now try to pay back here in whatever small way I can. We live in a 55+ adult community, pop.1500,avg age is 65-85, and almost everyone I know has a computer, some have laptops as well so they're not fighting over who gets to use it. BTW, our teenage granddaughters(see photo) would never refer to us or anyone else as "old people who don't want to learn". They know differently and have better manners than that. Apology accepted!

If you feel the need to take offense to something that wasn't ment to be offensive, that's your right. know it was nothing more then me assuming that was you in the picture. It actually made me think of a boy I set up 2 weeks ago 14 and he's on a bi-pap.

the bull eye's fell off my shirt anyone see where it went?

nevermind found it!

Even if your "assumption" was correct, your remarks were still offensive to me, my granddaughters and to your own grandparents. If you look back at my earlier posts I was thinking you'd be a welcome addition to our family with insight into both sides of the cpap world. As it stands now, you're still a work in progress with some pretty rough edges, but I hope you'll keep an open mind and come here to learn as I do every day.

Mike@TibroMedical wrote:...... all the sudden people want to break there foot off in my ass? really? I'm the one that should be defensive, I got the cpaptalk.com world ready to hate on me. but thats cool it's worth so far.


...........

Heck, I always feel honored when a member tries to kick me in the head or anywhere else. At my age, any attention is appreciated - good or bad.

Going down the highways and byways of sleep apnea recovery I have been forced to interact more than usual with a generation a lot younger than myself. If I am selling something, my basic premise is that the customer is always right, or nearly always right, and I try to avoid disagreeing if possible. But I do not lie. Today what I see is trained robots who are very defensive of their product, even if they know very little about it. And they will lie, and never even think it should be different.

They can be polite, and still put you down.

On this forum we have all generations, so what is acceptable to some will not be acceptable to others. What is abuse to some will not be abuse to others. We are a microcosm of the world, and we have to get on so we can help each other with this bastard of an illness we all have.

cheers

Mars

I've just spent an enjoyable morning reading this thread. I thought I'd throw in my remarks:

• Welcome, Mike.
• Grammar used to peeve me. Now it doesn't. It's much like botany - Latin names for plants change every six months. The Modern Language Association changes its rules all the time. So long as you're getting the point across clearly and succinctly, I'm happy. That said...
• Don't expect to go very far without a proper education. That includes grammar. Proper use of grammar will only improve your ability to communicate well with others. If you ever sense that you're reaching a glass ceiling at your work place, and you can't put your finger on why you're not advancing, chances are the discrimination could be linked to your poor mastery of grammar. Personal grooming is the other thing.
• These are my guesses about who you are given your responses to feedback on this forum. I'm probably way off base, but please understand, this is how I'm currently perceiving you. Please let me know just how far off base I am:
  1. You're 27 years old and relatively new to the DME situation. This is your first 'real' job.
  2. You are over six feet tall, slim, and have a high metabolism.
  3. You are not dyslexic.
  4. You're current pressures are 21 and 16. (Bummer, dude.)
  5. You were educated in public school.
  6. You have an associates degree in RT.
  7. I'm only joking here, but you really like your wii.
• There are clearly many things wrong with the current US medical health/medical insurance system. A lot of people have already made excellent suggestions as to what should change. I won't add anything here.
• It's not that the insurance companies and DME's are guilty of fraud. It's more that they bilk the US government and taxpayers legally because medical corporate lobbyists have made what they do legal. However, just because something is barely legal on paper doesn't make it ethical or moral in the real world.
• Medical corporations should themselves be bound by legislation similar to a Hippocratic oath - putting the health of patients before profit. They should be allowed to just barely break even - not make insane profits and platinum parachutes for five people at the top.
• Mike - It might be interesting to push the envelope at your office: see how your boss would react to the following and report it back here:
  1. Starting (and hosting at your office after hours) a sleep apnea users group.
  2. Start a required education program that explains the benefits of using the machine, partially based on some of the replies you got on this thread. Show participants what the software can do and explain why they should buy the software.
• My dad would be 82 today, if he were alive. His generation created the desktop computer. He owned one of original 128K Macs. He was on one of the teams that actually helped developed the original C language upon which all other C's and javas are all based. To perceive all people over 65 as being computer Luddites would be incorrect. I suspect my father would be alive and healthy today if he had been properly diagnosed as having sleep apnea, but the diagnosis is a relatively recent phenomenon. He probably would not have gotten cancer, nor would his memory have become cheese. (Not Alzheimer-related.)
• Everyone - Mike took the initiative to find out how and why, partially because he is a bipap user himself. Let none of us forget that.

momadams wrote:I'm with Nobody on this one.
It's been fun following this thread, but the grammar, spelling, apostrophe-sprinkling and now "sunshine blowing" have really pushed me beyond my limits of tolerance.
Bye.
Shari

You obviously don't work, live in a multicultural society. Grammar, spelling apostrophes don't matter in communications, the content matters. I don't blow off my work colleagues ideas simply because their English isn't perfect and they don't blow off my input because my French isn't perfect.

Mike@TibroMedical wrote: Awesome! I am starting to think that due to my patient base being all old people that this is why I've never run into pt's that are eager to learn. We have a much younger generation on this site, all of which are comfortable with using a computer. LOL my grandparents hate their computer, they only use it when they HAVE to.

Well you young whipper snapper at 60 I am programming the websites you use. My parents (in their 80's) use the net all the time, in fact my father taught programming until he retired. If my mother could manage and understand all her diabetic meters, give herself injections why do you think your seniors can't manage to read a machine? How about some adequate training? It is my bloody machine I paid $2000 for it. No way is some young brainless techie going to tell me I am not allowed to look at the data.

BlackSpinner wrote:

momadams wrote:I'm with Nobody on this one.
It's been fun following this thread, but the grammar, spelling, apostrophe-sprinkling and now "sunshine blowing" have really pushed me beyond my limits of tolerance.
Bye.
Shari

You obviously don't work, live in a multicultural society. Grammar, spelling apostrophes don't matter in communications, the content matters. I don't blow off my work colleagues ideas simply because their English isn't perfect and they don't blow off my input because my French isn't perfect.

Mike's problem had nothing to do with multiculturalism. The grammar/spelling/capitalization were just laziness and a sign of disrespect for the audience.

BlackSpinner wrote:

Mike@TibroMedical wrote: Awesome! I am starting to think that due to my patient base being all old people that this is why I've never run into pt's that are eager to learn. We have a much younger generation on this site, all of which are comfortable with using a computer. LOL my grandparents hate their computer, they only use it when they HAVE to.

Well you young whipper snapper at 60 I am programming the websites you use. My parents (in their 80's) use the net all the time, in fact my father taught programming until he retired. If my mother could manage and understand all her diabetic meters, give herself injections why do you think your seniors can't manage to read a machine? How about some adequate training? It is my bloody machine I paid $2000 for it. No way is some young brainless techie going to tell me I am not allowed to look at the data.

Yes to that! Good post!

Welcome Mike,

I guess I just have been working with college students too long, the grammer isn't bothering me. It doesn't look like we've scared you off yet so I'll answer your question.

Do I monitor my data for insurance reasons? Absolutely not, although I had to provide my DME with a report one time because they lost my card. My insurance company requires proof of compliance before they will pay for anything (that's my monthly supplies) It's become a little bit of a joke with my RT because she'll leave me a message "they want their report - so which machine have you used more this period?" I own 2, one for home one for travel.

Do I monitor my own data because of my DME? Only partly - the DME gave me a PLUS. When I started having problems she said she'd download my data and send it to my doctor. I told her that it wouldn't do any good, a PLUS only records compliance data. She told me I was wrong - but she seemed truly embarrassed when she had to admit I was right. their person in the billing office told her all we needed to do was get the doctor to write a script for either a PRO or AUTO and my insurance would pay for that machine. She also used the compliance report to "prove" that I must have the wrong mask, so she was able to trade out my mask well after the 30 day exchange period.

Do I monitor my data because my experience with my doctor has been totally worthless - BINGO! My first appointment, he did agree with me that my pressure was to low. The next one he just prescribed sleeping pills - "your fine where you are". Next appointment, more pills, no progress. So I went out and got myself an AUTO (might as well have all the options in case I need them later) First night it became very obvious what the problem was, I was leaking like a sieve. Since then I got the software and used it as guide to help me with my theraphy. As for my doctor - last time I saw him was Early October, he said he'd set up my next appointment in January. He must of meant January 2010 because I'm still waiting on the appointment card.

BlackSpinner wrote:

momadams wrote:I'm with Nobody on this one.
It's been fun following this thread, but the grammar, spelling, apostrophe-sprinkling and now "sunshine blowing" have really pushed me beyond my limits of tolerance.
Bye.
Shari

You obviously don't work, live in a multicultural society. Grammar, spelling apostrophes don't matter in communications, the content matters. I don't blow off my work colleagues ideas simply because their English isn't perfect and they don't blow off my input because my French isn't perfect.

Yep.

If this were an English course or grammar forum, I would think the use of proper English is important.

But it's a fricken CPAP forum!! ... is that a word? ... "fricken"? ... what about these dots? "..." what about these smiley faces?

ok...so What is reaLLy important here...Mik'es use of grammer and Speling? Or the fact that he might be interested in learning what we all get from tracking our efficacy data and why we do it, so that just maybe, he can help some of his clients be successful xpap users? If he can help just ONE person be successful with their therapy, then he has helped to save a life. Give him some credit folks...those of you who are worried about grammer and spelling. I'm sure there are some language arts forums where you can be more helpful with your criticism of spelling and proper grammer rules.

Mike-I track my data so that I can know if my therapy is working. If I wake up feeling crappy in the morning, I want to know why, and what I can do to fix it. If i were a diabetic, I would be tracking my glucoses throughout the day and adjusting my insulin as needed...within set parameters. I do the same with my bipap therapy, and for the most part, my numbers are good and I feel good.

Cindy

preemiern wrote:ok...so What is reaLLy important here...Mik'es use of grammer and Speling?

The use of grammar and spelling are not important in themselves, but in that they affect others' understanding of what we have posted, they become critical. If a post is unintelligible because the spelling and grammar are poor, or even if the poor spelling and grammar frustrate the reader to the point that they can no longer bother reading the post, then they are important. They also materially affect our mental image of the poster, and if a poster comes across as un-intelligent or un-educated due to poor grammar, their advice and opinion are far more likely to be ignored.

If I were a professional posting on a forum consisting of customers and potential customers, I'd be very careful how I worded each post. I'm also curious to know how posting from a cellphone affects one's grammar? I'm quite capable of posting from a cellphone using correct punctuation, spelling and grammar, and that from an old fart who shouldn't be computer literate according to some.

Colin

ColinP wrote:

preemiern wrote:ok...so What is reaLLy important here...Mik'es use of grammer and Speling?

The use of grammar and spelling are not important in themselves, but in that they affect others' understanding of what we have posted, they become critical. If a post is unintelligible because the spelling and grammar are poor, or even if the poor spelling and grammar frustrate the reader to the point that they can no longer bother reading the post, then they are important. They also materially affect our mental image of the poster, and if a poster comes across as un-intelligent or un-educated due to poor grammar, their advice and opinion are far more likely to be ignored.

Colin

So should we just ignore your post? According to Merriam, "unintelligent" and "uneducated" are accepted as solid words and therefore should not be hyphenated. And what about style? Should this forum use Chicago Manual of Style or AP Style? Just plain silly!

Obviously if someone is too unintelligent or uneducated to get their message across to the reader, then it is detrimental to the poster but the same may hold true for the reader and if the reader is too unintelligent or uneducated to interpret the meaning of a post. WHat I'm trying to say is that there will always be a gray (sp?) area between what is meant by the writer and what is understood by the reader. IMO, Mike's text is pretty well understood by me an I'm not extraordinarily intelligent (or unintelligent). I disagree with some of what Mike had to say and I commented on that but to whine about grammer and spelling seems to me ... well, just plain over-educated and unintelligent.

DreamStalker wrote:Mike's text is pretty well understood by me an I'm not extraordinarily intelligent (or unintelligent).

That's right... DreamStalker only has a PhD.

Man, your argument was going really GOOD, right up until that sentence... But the rest of it is a darn nice argument IMO.