Do you consider SDN to be a form of Social Media?

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Do you consider SDN to be similar to social media?

  • Yes

    Votes: 81 75.7%
  • No

    Votes: 26 24.3%

  • Total voters
    107
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965978

I guess in a very literal sense it’s technically defined as social media.

But I feel like SDN has a lot of parallels to the more mainstream forms of social media like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

-People fight about useless things (including yours truly)
-People brag about their MCAT, interviews, acceptances, etc
-People exaggerate their accomplishments to gain some self worth
 
I guess in a very literal sense it’s technically defined as social media.

But I feel like SDN has a lot of parallels to the more mainstream forms of social media like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

-People fight about useless things (including yours truly)
-People brag about their MCAT, interviews, acceptances, etc
-People exaggerate their accomplishments to gain some self worth

I guess i'm using SDN wrong. I'm only here for the memes, comics and the occasional funny threads :cat:
 
I guess in a very literal sense it’s technically defined as social media.

But I feel like SDN has a lot of parallels to the more mainstream forms of social media like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

-People fight about useless things (including yours truly)
-People brag about their MCAT, interviews, acceptances, etc
-People exaggerate their accomplishments to gain some self worth
I am here to help myself and my students a bunch with a post every other day. When other people post, I provide information or sarcasm, whatever they deserve.
 
No, but also yes. Some parts of the site are more like social media than others. The lounge is the most social media like place on this forum. The SPF is kinda like social media these days too.
 
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I consider it a social media, because unethical posts here can lead to revocation of one's acceptance. You decide.
 
Many of the posts I read from neurotic, OCD premeds make me think its more like asocial media

7283CC22-77AD-46E0-9609-D15955F0484B.png


As opposed to this tweet full of wisdom?
 
View attachment 261001

As opposed to this tweet full of wisdom?
Hey, with the Trump Unversity Medical School and Golf Resort opening up at a non-extradition Carribean island soon, premeds should be happy with the man. There even be a Moscow branch campus I hear
 
Isn’t it obvious? The Chinese are using the power of rising sea levels to threaten the economic security of Southeast Asia and Ociana. Once they control all of those trade routes, they will just turn off global warming.
View attachment 261001

As opposed to this tweet full of wisdom?
this is how potentially helpful and insightful posts degrade to social media lol
 
SDN is an anonymous forum which is a big credibility problem. You don't know who anybody here is. If this site somehow became non-anonymous, then I think it could actually be useful. There are those handful of users that can be considered objective and credible based on the consistency of knowledgable posts but I highly doubt most everyone else is who they say they are or have accomplished what they say they have accomplished.

I'm sorry but adcoms and trauma surgeons are way too busy to be taking time out of their busy schedules to come onto an anonymous forum and answer each of these threads and that too on a regular basis. I don't buy it.

I would take any information here regarding "getting into medical school" with a grain of salt. I came here to get school-specific information and some verification regarding what medical school is like based on what I have already been told. I'm satisfied with that but a lot of the extra stuff you find here on the pre-allo forum is either comical or mostly exaggerated and/or unrealistic.

I would be all for turning SDN into a legitimate non-anonymous forum.
 
SDN is an anonymous forum which is a big credibility problem. You don't know who anybody here is. If this site somehow became non-anonymous, then I think it could actually be useful. There are those handful of users that can be considered objective and credible based on the consistency of knowledgable posts but I highly doubt most everyone else is who they say they are or have accomplished what they say they have accomplished.

I'm sorry but adcoms and trauma surgeons are way too busy to be taking time out of their busy schedules to come onto an anonymous forum and answer each of these threads and that too on a regular basis. I don't buy it.

I would take any information here regarding "getting into medical school" with a grain of salt. I came here to get school-specific information and some verification regarding what medical school is like based on what I have already been told. I'm satisfied with that but a lot of the extra stuff you find here on the pre-allo forum is either comical or mostly exaggerated and/or unrealistic.

I would be all for turning SDN into a legitimate non-anonymous forum.
I believe the anonymity serves it’s purpose for those genuine informational interactions. It would be a liability issue to have people who are on admissions committees giving advice directly to premeds who will be applying to their school. It lends way to the potential for recruiting and biases etc. pre-secondary or pre-interview.

As for consistency of information, that can be an unreliable method of determining who is who. I know if you look at my post from a year ago they’re all complete trash but I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now after a year of SDN wisdom I feel like I fairly well refined my advice/tone But I’m still fairly inconsistent because I’m always learning/getting better. I know a lot of us here have gone through those same processes.
 
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SPF is a right wing social media echo chamber for a handful of ppl with fringe ideas
I agree that the SPF is SDN's cesspool, but oddly, for every person on the left who makes a claim like yours, there is also someone who claims that the SPF is left wing social media echo chamber for a handful of ppl with fringe ideas!
 
SDN is an anonymous forum which is a big credibility problem. You don't know who anybody here is. If this site somehow became non-anonymous, then I think it could actually be useful. There are those handful of users that can be considered objective and credible based on the consistency of knowledgable posts but I highly doubt most everyone else is who they say they are or have accomplished what they say they have accomplished.

I'm sorry but adcoms and trauma surgeons are way too busy to be taking time out of their busy schedules to come onto an anonymous forum and answer each of these threads and that too on a regular basis. I don't buy it.

I would take any information here regarding "getting into medical school" with a grain of salt. I came here to get school-specific information and some verification regarding what medical school is like based on what I have already been told. I'm satisfied with that but a lot of the extra stuff you find here on the pre-allo forum is either comical or mostly exaggerated and/or unrealistic.

I would be all for turning SDN into a legitimate non-anonymous forum.
This is a common misconception. Firstly, SDN has a two part verification system for people like me, When I joined, I was not only asked for my email addy, but also my webpage. The Faculty and Adcom members here are the real deal.

Second, people do have free time, and it's really easy to whip out one's cell phone and make posts. Surgeons aren't busy 24/7

I and others would never be able to post here if the forums weren't anonymous. Malignant trolls are very real, and you can see their pathology almost weekly, especially when people have to wait for results from applications or after interviewing. it breaks people.

I agree the angst and neurosis is very real, hence the mindset of posters who ask things like " I got a B in Orgo..am I doomed?" We set them straight.
 
There was a guy who posted some racist stuff here and his acceptance was rescinded.
Can confirm. But I believe that he posted smack on the school's FB page, not here.

SDNers have emailed me in a panic that they were ID'd by their Admissions deans and were told to knock the school bashing. And yes, Admissions Deans have the time to monitor SDN. My own wily old Admission Dean does.
 
So I prefer just following this easy @gonnif rule and highly recommend it, since everything you post in the internet stays there forever.

To extend this topic a bit, assume all social media may be searched and seen by Adcoms so always be professional. One of the admission directors at a particular school is doing her doctorate ins social media and medical school admissions. This is a much larger issue for medical residents in applicant selection with many medical specialty academies and GME (residency) programs issue guidelines and, in some cases, strict agreements on social media use while in a program. The reason for this has been patients and families have started to look up doctors who are treating them. A case then was a 3rd year peds residents was treating a young girl and the next day the parents came in screaming to take that doctor away from my daughter or I will sue. Turned out the parents were freaked about a photo from a drunken frat party taken some 10 years earlier was posted on a social media site with this doctor tagged.

In the meanwhile there have been a slew of studies done on this to the point that AAMC has guidelines for applicants (first in list)
Aspiring Docs
The Impact of Social Media on Medical Professionalism: A Systematic Qualitative Review of Challenges and Opportunities
Influence of social networking websites on medical school and residency selection process. - PubMed - NCBI
Med school applicants might want to rethink that last tweet - amednews.com
Medscape: Medscape Access
Medical students’ and residents’ use of online social networking tools: Implications for teaching professionalism in medical education | Ferdig | First Monday
Journal of Education in Perioperative Medicine - Society for Education in Anesthesia

Some medical schools have added an internet background search step usually post-interview, per-selection as due diligence to find any obvious issue. With automation and software this is easy to do.
 
To extend this topic a bit, assume all social media may be searched and seen by Adcoms so always be professional. One of the admission directors at a particular school is doing her doctorate ins social media and medical school admissions. This is a much larger issue for medical residents in applicant selection with many medical specialty academies and GME (residency) programs issue guidelines and, in some cases, strict agreements on social media use while in a program. The reason for this has been patients and families have started to look up doctors who are treating them. A case then was a 3rd year peds residents was treating a young girl and the next day the parents came in screaming to take that doctor away from my daughter or I will sue. Turned out the parents were freaked about a photo from a drunken frat party taken some 10 years earlier was posted on a social media site with this doctor tagged.

In the meanwhile there have been a slew of studies done on this to the point that AAMC has guidelines for applicants (first in list)
Aspiring Docs
The Impact of Social Media on Medical Professionalism: A Systematic Qualitative Review of Challenges and Opportunities
Influence of social networking websites on medical school and residency selection process. - PubMed - NCBI
Med school applicants might want to rethink that last tweet - amednews.com
Medscape: Medscape Access
Medical students’ and residents’ use of online social networking tools: Implications for teaching professionalism in medical education | Ferdig | First Monday
Journal of Education in Perioperative Medicine - Society for Education in Anesthesia

Some medical schools have added an internet background search step usually post-interview, per-selection as due diligence to find any obvious issue. With automation and software this is easy to do.
This is the same kind of backwards logic that leads to 12 year-olds getting 30 year drug convictions...People need to stop people-ing.
 
damn... i am so happy i have always been a nerd, and the only thing that ANYONE would find if they search my media is pretty kitten videos, and vegan recipes... hahaha

especially because i was dumb enough to use my real name in SDN....
 
damn... i am so happy i have always been a nerd, and the only thing that ANYONE would find if they search my media is pretty kitten videos, and vegan recipes... hahaha

especially because i was dumb enough to use my real name in SDN....
Same here. Had my name as my username (like full first middle initial last...fun stuff) but if you message the help desk they can change it.
 
Same here. Had my name as my username (like full first middle initial last...fun stuff) but if you message the help desk they can change it.
Honestly I don’t care . I feel like whatever I can say here I should be able to say in person , you know ?
 
This place gets a bad rep sometimes because of some neurotic people but aside from those and the troll threads (I will admit some are funny) this place has been great for me. I’ve gotten so much information from this site and knew everything that was required and would look competitive by the time I started premed. My school advisor the first time I saw them was surprised at how much I already knew and had already gotten started on. The school specific threads with the early start on secondaries is a fantastic resource. The MCAT threads were helpful as well. I love SDN!
 
SDN is an anonymous forum which is a big credibility problem. You don't know who anybody here is.
I would be all for turning SDN into a legitimate non-anonymous forum.
If someone has a badge, that identity has been confirmed.
Our opinions and advice can be clear and honest here (something not possible if we were speaking beneath the weight of our honorifics).
 
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If someone has a badge, that identity has been confirmed.
Our opinions and advice can be clear and honest here. Something not possible if we were speaking beneath the weight of our honorifics.

not sure if there's a glitch here but you're missing a lot of banners (admin, verified expert, physician etc.). just fyi
 
not sure if there's a glitch here but you're missing a lot of banners (admin, verified expert, physician etc.). just fyi
Upgrades in the system sometimes come with some unexpected glitches!
It's been kind of nice to be "just a member" again for a bit, though.
 
damn... i am so happy i have always been a nerd, and the only thing that ANYONE would find if they search my media is pretty kitten videos, and vegan recipes... hahaha

especially because i was dumb enough to use my real name in SDN....
I really hope the people who search me up like harry potter.
 
I love Grimm !!! And Harry Potter !!! And a lot of other nerdy stuff . Hahahahaha
I'm literally enrolled at Hogwarts taking courses like Potions and DADA and stuff like that. Adcoms will be pleased to know that my grades there are phenomenal.
 
I'm literally enrolled at Hogwarts taking courses like Potions and DADA and stuff like that. Adcoms will be pleased to know that my grades there are phenomenal.
It’s not even a joke....

 
It’s not even a joke....

Is this a bad time to mention that my great grandmothers on both sides considered themselves “healers”🙂? (AKA witches ?🙂
 
If someone has a badge, that identity has been confirmed.
Our opinions and advice can be clear and honest here. Something not possible if we were speaking beneath the weight of our honorifics.

I don't doubt that part. But that still doesn't tell me anything about YOU. Being an anonymous forum, anybody including the adcoms can hide behind biases or political stances. Not saying any of you guys do that but a lot of our personal beliefs can trickle their way into the advice we give others based on how we view certain issues, the world, or the world of medical school admissions.

Case in point, I was perusing SDN maybe five years ago and the wise LizzyM was offering advice about socioeconomic status and med school admissions along the lines of medical school is not for the economically disadvantaged students and medical school was basically for "rich kids." There is no truth to that assessment, but depending on where you live in this country or what you believe, that assessment might seem correct to you.

That's what I mean by anonymity.
 
I don't doubt that part. But that still doesn't tell me anything about YOU.
You learn about each of us in the same way you learn irl, by hearing what we say and how we respond to others.
Does my specific faculty appointment add much more?
 
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