Closing of Threads

[DcS]

A thread about closing a gap between teeth was closed recently, and the reason it was closed was the following:

"Closing due to horrible vibe that is not professional or collegiate."

First off, I never read any FAQ or forum rules where posts had to be either professional or collegiate in order to be legit. I'm not sure how a group of dentists/dental students getting a laugh out of a sham of a website proves to be unprofessional. It's fun to get a laugh every now and then that only we as dentists can get from some things like that site. Why you chose to close the thread I don't agree with and think the policing was a little out of hand. If that's the case, there are numerous threads on this site that should be closed, such as the one discussing salary (which, similar to the other 20 threads about salary, is just bickering about sources and heresay etc etc). If you are going to close threads for lame reasons, at least be consistent.

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[cbc]

I agree, my thread was closed recently too, in Clinical Rotations "Got yelled at by Lab Tech?" No one said anything that violated TOS, but it was still closed. Moderators are just closing topics just because it's not good to their taste, and that's why this site is becoming less popular nowadays.

 

[adamlc18]

So where are people going then if they are leaving the site? Not that I am leaving this board, but I am always interested in finding new boards. What else is there besides this site and the student portion of dentaltown?

 

[DrMom]

Due to problems with people bashing other professions (ie DO vs MD, MD vs DDS/DMD, MD vs PA...I could go on ad nauseum), we have decided to be more proactive with these kinds of threads as they are completely unprofessional and unnecesssary. I cannot speak to the specific ones you mentioned, but that is the underlying issue. I hope that helps you out a bit.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Thanks for your post. I understand your concerns, and will say that there were guests with concerns from the other side of the spectrum exactly opposite to yours.

Rarely do I touch a thread unless it is brought to my attention. Before being a moderator here I'm a guest just like everybody else, and a dental student to boot.

 

[ItsGavinC]

First off, I never read any FAQ or forum rules where posts had to be either professional or collegiate in order to be legit.

Feel free to PM me anytime you have any questions regarding this or anything else.

 

[trypmo]

Hey Gavin, I see an "S" has recently(?) been tacked onto your "MOD" there...

 

[ItsGavinC]

Hey Gavin, I see an "S" has recently(?) been tacked onto your "MOD" there...

Yes, it allows me to help out in all of the Dental forums, not just this one. The forums are growing in number so quickly that it's tough to answer everybody's questions and respond to all the concerns that arise, hence the spreading of duties.

 

[north2southOMFS]

"Thanks for your post. I understand your concerns, and will say that there were guests with concerns from the other side of the spectrum exactly opposite to yours."

What exactly is the other side of the spectrum? Have you seen this toothgap.com website, it is like a complete joke of dental treatment. If the other side of the spectrum is in favor of this website, then I can't imagine they are actually dental students or dentists, and if they are they are incredibly poor ones. And if the other side of the spectrum is to be serious in every post and make all of them completely professionally related, then those people need to get a life or maybe DONT READ THE POST IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT! No one is making them read it.

Weak Gavin..........Weak.

 

[grtuck]

Congrats on the "S" status gavin!


grtuck

 

[cbc]

I don't understand this, only because of the following reasons. The rules do not state that giving generalizations to professions violates the TOS. Yes, it might be somewhat "unprofessional" to have discussions regarding professions. But that's why students come here, to talk about unprofessional issues that you can't otherwise bring up to your residents, attendings, patients, and other students. What else is the point of this board, to discuss issues you can speak to others in real life? The exact reason I come on here is to read/discuss about things that I will never hear in real professional life.

I mean I've read on here how ob/gyn residents/doctors are aggressive burnouts. I've read that surgeons are not friendly at all to students. I've read that PAs are going to replace family med someday. I've read that lawyers are bloodsuckers. These are the threads where I will never hear in real life because they are "unprofessional" that help me make decisions and behave in certain ways to become a better student, yet these are the threads that get closed down. Of course these are "generalizations," so intuitively they don't apply to everyone in that profession, but it's still useful to know about the generality.

Yet certain ppl who initiate personal attacks, those are the most useless, yet those threads take forever to close and those users never get banned.

Due to problems with people bashing other professions (ie DO vs MD, MD vs DDS/DMD, MD vs PA...I could go on ad nauseum), we have decided to be more proactive with these kinds of threads as they are completely unprofessional and unnecesssary. I cannot speak to the specific ones you mentioned, but that is the underlying issue. I hope that helps you out a bit.

 

[DrMom]

I don't understand this, only because of the following reasons. The rules do not state that giving generalizations to professions violates the TOS.

Generalizations about other professions isn't a problem. Bashing other professions is & we've decided to be more proactive on threads moving in this direction. Lee Burnett put a sticky about this type of thing in the pre-osteo forum (I believe...if not, then in osteo). There was a similar sticky in the allied health forums before they all got combined.

Controversial topics are welcomed, as long as the debates avoid attacking other professional groups. We're not wanting to squelch the discussion of topics that aren't so easy to have in everyday real life.

 

[aphistis]

Generalizations about other professions isn't a problem. Bashing other professions is & we've decided to be more proactive on threads moving in this direction. Lee Burnett put a sticky about this type of thing in the pre-osteo forum (I believe...if not, then in osteo). There was a similar sticky in the allied health forums before they all got combined.

Controversial topics are welcomed, as long as the debates avoid attacking other professional groups. We're not wanting to squelch the discussion of topics that aren't so easy to have in everyday real life.

In that case, DrMom, you and Gavin are talking about completely different circumstances. I appreciate your interest in limiting destructive bickering, but the thread in question hasn't even come close to any of the offenses you've listed in your posts here. Y'all mods and Dr. Burnett might consider getting together at some point soon to figure out how to enforce this at least superficially consistently.

Gavin, I appreciate your comments about the relatively classy atmosphere in here, but c'mon. How about letting us have a little harmless fun once in a while without pulling the Big Brother act?

 

[cbc]

So is there a difference between discussing negatives of a profession and bashing a profession? Rarely there is. My concern is, if we are only allowed to discuss the positives of all professions and specialties, we are only getting half of the picture there. Most students are interested and discussing the negatives of a particular profession to figure out whether they would still like to pursue it or not.

Generalizations about other professions isn't a problem. Bashing other professions is & we've decided to be more proactive on threads moving in this direction. Lee Burnett put a sticky about this type of thing in the pre-osteo forum (I believe...if not, then in osteo). There was a similar sticky in the allied health forums before they all got combined.

Controversial topics are welcomed, as long as the debates avoid attacking other professional groups. We're not wanting to squelch the discussion of topics that aren't so easy to have in everyday real life.

 

[DrRob]

I posted the toothgap website as a joke - in response to question that I thought was a joke and at a point in another thread when I felt that the tone of the thread was getting to serious.

I will only post on remarks on grades, points, studying, and boards from now on!

 

[DrMom]

There is definitely a difference. Pros and cons are different than attacks.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Due to the expression of feelings here, I'm reopening the original thread in question. Please keep in mind, however, that there were plenty of expressions to the opposite that were sent to me, and those are what I based my actions on.

I'm a 100% believer in letting the users moderate themselves, and only took action on the thread due to comments from users. Who is to say that their comments and feelings aren't as valid as the feelings posted here? While they may not post a thread here about it, that doesn't mean that I won't get multiple PMs today asking me why I reopened the thread. Any way you slice it I get pegged as the bad guy.

I'm not a fan of any environment where people don't feel comfortable posting questions or browsing, and obviously there are multiple viewpoints to each situation. It seems there ought to be a happy medium, and for me that is my taking action only when it is deemed necessary by the guests (with the exception of moving ads to the For Sale forum).

Thanks.

 

[DDSSlave]

Spongebob did answer the question completely in an early post stating that, no the OP has to go to the dentist. There's nothing else you can say to the original question. Without all the humor, that would have been one short and boring thread. Obviously someone eventually suggested to the OP resin bonding or veneers, which are good suggestions, but were not answers to the narrow confines of the original question.

I think if this teaches anything, it should show predental students how stressful dental school is at times, the importance of keeping your sense of humor, and most importantly to be able to not take yourself so seriously nor take jokes made on your behalf personally. Everyone makes dumb mistakes in dental school, and when everyone starts laughing you need to learn to laugh too.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I think if this teaches anything, it should show predental students how stressful dental school is at times, the importance of keeping your sense of humor, and most importantly to be able to not take yourself so seriously nor take jokes made on your behalf personally. Everyone makes dumb mistakes in dental school, and when everyone starts laughing you need to learn to laugh too.

Here, here.

 

[Omahahahaha]

I agree that sometimes our moderators have some type of control complex going, but I think it's funny when these people with less than ten posts come here at tell us that we are "the blind leading the blind", and that their product or website is "AWESOME"!!

This guy posted over on the pre-dental forum that, "I just got this email to this great new site!"

Right...., there was no email. Just admit it. You're trying to give your site some pub. That's fine, just be honest about it.

 

[psiyung]

Student Section of dentalcom.net - a new site!

No censorship like on DentalTown and no favoritism and crude comments - at least not yet.

It's a cruddy site. Fix it up and I "may" visit from time to time

 

[smiledds]

I haven't been on SDN in awhile but I felt the exact same way as the OP. I assume it was my post that cause the post to be closed. I apologize if my post offended anybody. But I felt the post was still in good taste. And no personal attacks were thrown. And I see the humor now.