Posted by Racer on January 23, 2004, at 11:53:56
In reply to Re: site's shadow, posted by Dr. Bob on January 22, 2004, at 10:22:32
>
> > Maybe these things can never be stopped, but awareness and trying to bring them out of the shadow might do some good.
>
> I agree, awareness would be good. But I do worry a little about accusations...
>
> BobAwareness would be good, but in the context of an anonymous public forum, I think it could be quite dangerous to a lot of the same people who can benefit most from this site. Accusations, of any sort, can resonate within the individual's pathology and create very real damage. Suffering real damage from interaction on a virtual forum seems contrary to the foundational purpose of these boards.
Mind you, I pretty well stick to the 2000 board, so I probably don't deserve a vote on this.
On the other hand, I had an experience on another, totally unrelated board that hurt me pretty badly at a very vulnerable time. I'll tell you about it as an example of the sort of real world damage I'm talking about. Way back, remember when? I was in the depths of a very, very serious depression, and without health insurance. My only resource was the county MH clinic, where the pdoc handed me a sample pack of Serzone and said to take it. I asked what sort of drug it was. She told me, "It's an anti-depressant. Just take it." Online, the side effects worried me a very, very great deal, especially since one of the top SEs listed was hypotension, often a serious problem for me. I posted on the other board that this was a concern, did anyone know anything about it? (This is when I found out about boards like Babble, so I posted the same question on several.) The first response I got was "Stop whining and just take the drugs, you weenie" -- devastating. Now my deepest fears were set loose, that I wasn't depressed, I was so totally worthless I couldn't even do what I was supposed to do to get better, when it was as easy as taking a pill. Whoever wrote that probably didn't care that another individual somewhere was suffering much more than that deserved, it was probably just a hurtful comment made at a bad time, or because of his own pathology. Whatever it was, it wouldn't have been possible face to face for most people.
That's one reason moderation -- in both senses -- is so important in the context of a forum of this nature. Dr Bob provides one sense of the moderation, serving as an authority figure who can impose consequences for unacceptable behavior. Personally, I think consequences are a good thing, but then I'm middle aged. Many of the long time posters to these boards provide the other sense of the word, by reminding newcomers and each other that sometimes we need to consider the greater good, to think of restraint as a form of enlightened self-interest. Also a good thing.
Maybe the Shadow on this site is a valid learning tool for many of us, but maybe this isn't the best possible context for learning from Shadows?
poster:Racer
thread:303568
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20040112/msgs/304631.html