A moderation question

I think the WRITTEN TOS for OH state that anything posted on the MB has to be related to weight loss or weight loss surgery.

However, the poster who starts daily devotional threads and daily gratitude threads on the MB gets to keep her posts, as well as a number of other people who just title their thread Off Topic - Whatever. A lot of off topic threads stay on the MB.

So I've concluded that the TOS are applied differently to different posters and responders, and have very little to do with fairness or equality.

And very soon the Pro-OH contingent of hairy little dogs and kittens will come along and point out that OH gets to apply the TOS any way they want to and if we don't like it we can just flounce off.

And very soon the Pro-OH contingent of hairy little dogs and kittens will come along and point out that OH gets to apply the TOS any way they want to and if we don't like it we can just flounce off.

Much to my chagrin, the yappy dogs and mewling kittens are right.  The TOS can be applied anyway TPTB see fit and we can just flounce away if we don't like it.  Yet this place is not like a public utility and we are not bound to be here.  So it seems like they are using **** poor business model upon which they operate.  It would seem in their best interest to appeal to a broader customer base than yappy dogs, mewling kittens, or paranoid bad girls.  Perhaps they are tryng to be an academic study of FAIL like New Coke.  I guess if you can't be good at what you do, there is always the option of being a great bad example.  It seems rather obvious that is what their business plan is all about.

                                                           

It's so sad to me. Most of the long-term, experienced WLS success stories are gone, along with a wealth of information. I can barely stand to look at the Main Board, it's mostly just a group of newbies and happy-clappies patting each other on the back under the guise of "kindness and support".

I had a college professor that described that as a "gathering of idiots", and that's what it seems like to me.

I'm not convinced they have a business plan, more like they're just trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. A dumbing down to reach a mass audience and avoid offending anyone.

Ah well. We can choose to flounce off or not. Clearly, OH doesn't care one way or another. 

If they are trying to avoid offending people, that dog don't hunt. Or that ship has sailed.  Pick your cliche.  Or perhaps they are just an extension of Survival of the Fittest.  If someone follows the happy-clappy pablum that it is OK to chew a Flintstone or two and take Tums, one can only hope that they haven't reproduced and get  to be bonafide Darwin Award members.  Otherwise, we'll see a whole new generation of the Farkle family.

                                                  

My utilization of this place has shifted from education to amusement.  I don'****ch much TV so I can't claim any guilty pleasure from Dance Moms or Toddlers and Tiaras.  I have OH

Yeah,  same here.

I'm just glad that when I was researching and gearing up for WLS, and when I was a newbie there were a lot of experienced folks who offered excellent guidance and advice, and I knew when I asked a question I would get honest information, not just a pat on the head and an *atta girl!*.

Now that I'm 2.5 years out and starting the regain battle, I wish some of those folks were still around to talk to.

I cringe when I see a "Should I get a BAND or a BYPASS?" thread on the MB. I never thought I would miss the Surgery Wars!!!

Definitely!  I have a great deal of respect for Centennial. Yet when I got my DS, they were woefully unprepared for aftercare.  If it hadn't been for the vets, I might be a malnourished vegetable in a local nursing home if not pushing up daisies in the local memorial garden.  I also needed support which I got in the form of honest information.  I respond to the brutal truth much better than lofty platitudes.  Meanness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

I'd forgotten you went to Centennial. Who was your doctor?

Houston.  He's the only one who does the DS, and he doesn't do but one a week if that often.  Centennial seems to be rather regimented over the use of their operating rooms.  The DS ties one up that could be used for several lap bands in the same time period.  

Oh, well, I guess I can't tell everybody how to run their business even if I do think my ideas are brilliant.

I had Olsen.

I really like Centennial Bariatrics, but it seemed like all the questions I had post WLS came during non-business hours, like when I was standing in front of the fridge trying to figure out what to eat, or when I was at the drug store trying to figure out what vitamins to buy.

That's why OH was so helpful to me - I could go online anytime and either ask the question or search and see what had already been said about it. A lot of people asked questions and brought up issues I never even thought about.

The only thing Olsen and his nutritionist could say to me was eat fat free string cheese, no peanut butter, avoid almonds, things like that. Hell, I got to the point where I couldn't choke down another piece of FF string cheese and if i didn't get a spoonful of peanut butter I was gonna die. And what's wrong with almonds??? I think medical professionals are great up to a point, but theres no substitute for the experience of real people who have walked down that path and learned some stuff.....

I thought mice like cheese!

Yeah, I totally get what you're saying.  I was the first DS.  My teaching was a joke.  At my pre-op education session there was a lap band and an RNY patient.  They got tons of advice.  I got, " We don't know what to do with you."  I just glad I got my education before this place got so sunshine and lollipops.

Now I can just come on here and have fun.  I do dish out some advice, but I hardly consider myself in the same league as many who are no longer around.  I know I'll forget some but I'm glad Val Groce is back to posting more along with Ms. Batt, Major Mom and Larra.  Is there a Facebook sleeve group?  I can find some older vets there as well as other places.  Plus, I am extremely lucky that my PCP gets the DS and treats me based on my labs and reactions and not just some DS recipe.  Houston gave me crap at first about my PCP 'cause he really does care about his patients.  Yet now that he's seen how I work with my PCP, he'd love to send all his DS patients to him.

I do like Olsen and Dyer, too.  You ever make the holiday re-union?  Wear your helmet at the next one and I'll sit with you as we tear the joint up.  Hey, I've been booted from classier events.  Like Tupperware parties.