Rants and Raves become NOT for newbies

[losingjusme 12]

yup, me stirring the pot again...

another forum i belong to has "the playground" which is a lot like RnR. in order to even view the threads you have to be a member for X months and have X posts.

any thoughts on making RnR like that? things get quite heated over there and you need a tough skin... even though the header is prefaced with the disclaimer, it's been taken VERY personally by some newer members lately.

[Hilary 0]

yup, me stirring the pot again...

another forum i belong to has "the playground" which is a lot like RnR. in order to even view the threads you have to be a member for X months and have X posts.

any thoughts on making RnR like that? things get quite heated over there and you need a tough skin... even though the header is prefaced with the disclaimer, it's been taken VERY personally by some newer members lately.

Aw come on!! Thought Rants and Raves was for opinions and discussions about general topics etc. It makes very interesting reading most of the time and who knows even us newbies may have a useful comment or amusing thought to add. Why should newbies be excluded because they haven't posted enough about banding or aren't yet banded? I'm not ultra sensitive and won't go crying to mum if I don't like what someone says, but I may tell them directly if I feel its needed or throw my opinion back in for debate too.

[marjon9 6]

In the year that I've been around something close to this point has come up a couple times before. People wanted to hide the Rants & Raves thread so that it would not come up along with the other general "New Posts," and that type of thing. This was all for the purpose of protecting newbies who are coming here for advice and support, and who might be scared off by Rants & Raves.

In my view, I believe it is a good thing that this has never been done. I'm generally not in favor of protecting people from something that I think they should not see because it might be too much for them. This feels paternalistic and condescending to me, and I know I never would have wanted that type of protection when I came here as a newbie.

So, that's how I see it. I know others have a different view.

[losingjusme 12]

i hesitated posting this. there are just some who cannot/will not keep RnR in RnR and that's sad.

[pippinje 0]

i hesitated posting this. there are just some who cannot/will not keep RnR in RnR and that's sad.

I am a newbie and RnR is my favorite! I think there are just some people who wear the world on their shoulders and take things way to personally. We can't please everyone! I would personally stop visiting the site as much if I wasn't allowed in RnR. Then again, I don't get my feelings hurt by things that total strangers say either.

[Titslereaux 1]

I support anything that prevents those threads from the threat of being locked. I only started participating now that my consultation is nearing and think it's more childish to shut down a post that's under the RnR section than any of the mud being slung. May we know the other board address you belong to?

[losingjusme 12]

titslereaux (are you related to otto titslinger? )

its a low carb board - lowcarbfriends.com

[Daisalana 33]

Not a time limit, but another forum I belong to, to be able to view the RnR portion, you have to e-mail admins and get added to the list. You don't have to be xxx days old, you just have to let them know you want to see it. I thought it was a great idea. You can see the main thread, but when you click on it, it says if you want to join, contact ___.

[marjon9 6]

This is the most reasonable and balanced solution I can think of. I think that newbies should be limited to Rants and Raves only for the first six weeks. After that, if they want information about the lap band, they can check with me.

[Titslereaux 1]

No relation to Otto.

[losingjusme 12]

mark

BRILLIANT!

[DonHoll1 0]

I don`t think anyone should be excluded from any thread. Level of maturity has nothing to do with how long you have been banded , or on this site. Donna

[suecasb 0]

I say leave it like it is..nothing breeds paranoia like people talking behind locked doors. This is a place for sharing information of all kinds. Let's keep it that way.

[insubordination 0]

I honestly think that being in an exclusive club will come across as even more smug than R&R (which I attempt to take in the spririt its meant in).

[transformer 1]

I don't think any threads should be locked. I choose to read some posts and not others based on my preferences and I believe that new visitors to this site can do the same. Just like the television or the radio--if you don't like what you see/hear, turn it off! There's no need to censor everyone. :censored: If you don't like the thread--leave it! That's why a superior being invented the "Back" arrow.

From what I've gathered, there's a reason why "old timers" are venting their frustrations by poking fun at some "newbies." It's difficult for me to believe, but some folks actually seem to have had a foreign object surgically implanted into their bodies on purpose (sometimes at their own expense!) without learning anything beforehand about how it works, what to eat, how fills are done, etc.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to attend valuable pre-operative classes on nutrition, how the operation would be done, and what to eat and expect post-operatively at our doctor's offices could find it a bit disconcerting that "newbies" post things like "I was banded yesterday and I just ate a 16 ounce steak. Now I feel terrible. Do you think I hurt my band?" or "If I eat tuna before I eat ice cream will I still lose weight?" I exaggerate a bit, of course, but you get the idea. :faint:

Of course, we should probably take exception with their doctors rather than the newly banded person themselves because it is the doctor's fault if they are not well educated about life as a banded person in the first place. You would think, though, that there was some psychological counseling done with these patients before surgery so they would realize that the whole point of the operation is to totally transform your eating habits and your lifestyle--not to continue eating the same fast-food crap, be a total couch potato, and still expect to lose weight rapidly. :doh:

It's one thing to write in that you're going through a rough patch and need some support and quite another to write in listing everything you're doing that goes against medical advice and you can't imagine why things aren't going well for you! :violin:

The one benefit of having a thread on Rants & Raves that calls attention to the questions that aggravate the experienced bandster is that it might make someone think twice before posting questions that have already been answered repeatedly under the support, complications, fills, food, or other threads. Newly banded people can find tons and tons of support on this site without ever having to visit the Rants & Raves thread. They can also read posts about the stupid things other people have done so they can avoid following in their misguided footsteps.

Besides, if we can't whine about what bugs us on Rants & Raves, where can we?