Hi, Dale,
Here’s your policy:
I respectfully insist that people not post about mental health topics, in particular, and not ask for or give advice on medical topics in general.
I think it’s sensible and fair to take a policy on a plain reading, at
least for starters. Yours says
that we are not to ask for or give advice on medical topics
in general. On the face of things that excludes the questions I
asked on the fluteboard–cubital tunnel sydrome, for instance,
is often treated by surgery and in fact I went to two physicians,
one at Barnes Jewish, another at the orthopaedic clinic
at St. Louis U, to get advice, along with consulting
my colleagues on the fluteboard. They were, by the way,
more helpful than the physicians. It is, please note, not like:
‘My hand cramps when I hold it this way’ and the answer is not: ‘Hold it another way.’ It really is a medically-related topic, one about
which musicians sometimes know more than doctors.
Nonetheless I take it you don’t think I shouldn’t have asked
about this on the fluteboard, or that in the future I shouldn’t ask
about related problems. Nor do you think that people shouldn’t
advise me.
And I think there have been numerous other
discussions about medically related issues, and dental issues, too,
where suggestions and advice were given, that you do not
mean to preclude.
But then, obviously, you don’t intend your
policy ‘Don’t ask for or give advice on medical topics in general’
to mean that we shouldn’t ask for or give advice on medical
topics in general.
The question then arises pretty forcibly,
what does this policy which you insist we follow mean?
Bloomie points out that the policy is not to be followed literally
and stupidly, and I think you concur.
Now, not unreasonably,
I take the force of this to be that we CAN ask for advice on
medical topics, at least sometimes, and that we CAN
give advice, at least sometimes.
I also take it
to be part of what you have in mind that we, in giving advice
about medical-related topics, exercise appropriate care
to give reasonable advice that doesn’t endanger anybody.
That’s very sensible, no question.
So here is what I take your policy to be, in plain English, if I understand you.
Be careful in giving advice onboard about medically-
related topics, to give advice that doesn’t endanger anybody.
Be aware that you often don’t know the people you are
talking with, and that bad advice can be dangerous. Err
on the side of caution.
If somebody says something like ‘I have a persistent pain
in my abdomen, what should I do?’ be sure to tell them to
seek professional help quickly, for instance, to go to an ER.
Please refrain from giving mental-health related advice
onboard. Remember that all sorts of people are reading these
threads, along with whomever you are advising.
Also, please keep in
mind the option of having these discussions in PMs or
e mails. Moderators will moderate onboard discussions,
as they deem necessary.
This is a reasonably specific policy, it strikes me as a
good one, it means just what it says, and I believe,
having read your post and Bloomie’s too, that it is what
you have in mind.
Best wishes, Jim
Oh that’s right, missy. I bet a recipe means a whole different thing to you—and here we just munch on those snacks never thinking of the agonizing people have done over them!