Posted by Margi (207.228.121.25) on April 10, 2000 at 16:18:02:
I've been thinking a lot this weekend about Graham's and Gary G's comments. Lots of good points raised, but also excellent responses from Bob P, Ted, etc., etc.
For a new person coming into this board, it's like walking into a room where a discussion has been going on for about two years. A lot of subjects HAVE been discussed ad nauseum and there definitely IS a group of people that have been here a long time. We are a pretty complex group but each and every member is important to the survival of the group.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it was Gary G who suggested the ability of re-titling responses to posts (Bob P comments that he can easily skip by stuff he is not interested in reading because of this). It used to be that every response held the same title as the original post - and I think it was also Gary who suggested the NT thing (no text) - another time saver. We NEED the Gary G's, Simon's, Graham's, Michel L's of Clusteropolis. Just as much as we need the Bob P's, Jonny's, Jack's and Drummer's (etc., etc.)
Ted's right though - there IS nothing new in cluster treatment out there - but you can rest assured that if something new IS discovered, this board will catch fire and that new treatment will be dissected and tested and, after a while, archived. Asked and answered. And when something REALLY hot gets brought up, DJ will make it a button at the left, for quick reference. DJ's right - the message board is only one facet of the website - it IS the meeting room, the gymnasium, the playground - whatEVER - but it is also sometimes the science room and we have an AWESOME library now. This evolution of ch.com is natural. I remember a time when DJ only archived posts about once a month - now it's almost every other day...we have reached soooo many more sufferers. DJ's dream. Way cool. It's natural that folks have become friends over the time spent together here. Friends play and laugh. I admit to being one of the ones most guilty for the joking on the board but I still don't see the crime there. But even though the "jokesters" mainly post humourous stuff, each and every one of them has brought to us scientific stuff at one point or another: Bob P and his seratonin research, Drummer and his research into Dr. Goadsby's work, Jack and his smoking correlation, etc., etc. What's the harm in these folks kicking back and having a little fun? I have YET to see a post asking for support go unanswered.
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Margi