Is SDN dying?

[dozitgetchahi]

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Thread volumes are way down on these forums vs just 1-2 years ago.

Barely anyone is posting about interviews/match stuff in the IM/subspecialty forums at this point.

When I was an IM resident, this was a thriving forum with lots of posts from other residents (and some attendings). What happened? Is everyone over at Reddit/FB Physician Community?

(PS: I understand that SDN was always more about premeds and getting into medical school etc, but this lack of energy on the specialty forums is definitely a new thing.)

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

From the pre-med and med student sections, I would say no.

For the resident/attending level stuff, it does look slower than it once was.

Part of this is the rise in social media. Lots of people do Reddit/Facebook/Twitter now, none of those existed when I joined and I think only FB when you did.

I looked at the FM area of Reddit a few times, it's OK but often sucks. People complain about SDN being an echo chamber at times, that place is nothing but.

We do have an Attending Physician area that sees decent traffic. If you're interested, verify as a Physician and then shoot me a PM and we can work on that.

 

[bronx43]

I do agree that reddit and social media is taking away a lot of traffic from niche forums like SDN. Also, there are only so many rotating topics regarding specialties, income, midlevel encroachment that one can handle before it becomes dull.

 

[Calizboosted76]

I still prefer SDN over all of the above mentioned. I have been MIA though since starting residency.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

Reddit is pretty awful whenever there is an R President IMO it just turns every subreddit into the SDN sociopolitical forums

 

[dozitgetchahi]

From the pre-med and med student sections, I would say no.

For the resident/attending level stuff, it does look slower than it once was.

Part of this is the rise in social media. Lots of people do Reddit/Facebook/Twitter now, none of those existed when I joined and I think only FB when you did.

I looked at the FM area of Reddit a few times, it's OK but often sucks. People complain about SDN being an echo chamber at times, that place is nothing but.

We do have an Attending Physician area that sees decent traffic. If you're interested, verify as a Physician and then shoot me a PM and we can work on that.

Yeah, a lot of the medical forums at Reddit are…not what I want to use for a variety of reasons. Reddit has a very distinct readership and vibe. I use it for other things (hobbies etc), but I don’t really want to talk medicine there.

I used to use the FB physician community a lot, but I didn’t like the lack of anonymity. (Once when I switched jobs, a doc at my new practice greeted me with “oh you’re Dozitgetchahi, like the FB community Dozitgetchahi? I was so excited when I realized we’d be getting you!”…not exactly what I was hoping for). Plus there is a certain “echo chamber” vibe there too that I didn’t really appreciate. It was hard to speak my mind about certain things because random other docs would be taking offense to it etc (can’t speak out about stupid things that specialty x tends to do with rheum pts, because random docs in that specialty would show up to “defend their honor” in the most ridiculous sense). There was just a lot of other idiotic stuff going on in the FB community too. I remember a thread with tons and tons of comments that was about how to buy Botox as a doc and inject your own face with it…as well as threads where doctors posted pictures of their own daughters and asked if they were good candidates for plastic surgery etc. Just a lot of “wtf” moments on that forum. SDN is much more reasonable that way.

I may do the validation thing at SDN, but I donno. Again, I like (relative) anonymity. I’ve had janky stuff happen with my private info before (identity theft and a lot of other unrelated weird stuff), and I’m just not sure how much I want to divulge to unknown people.

 

[Entadus]

^Agree that the quality of discussion on SDN is better /more consistent than in other places.
I'm disappointed the volume of posts is down. I mainly log on for the nostalgia nowadays.

 

[anonperson]

Thread volumes are way down on these forums vs just 1-2 years ago.

Barely anyone is posting about interviews/match stuff in the IM/subspecialty forums at this point.

When I was an IM resident, this was a thriving forum with lots of posts from other residents (and some attendings). What happened? Is everyone over at Reddit/FB Physician Community?

(PS: I understand that SDN was always more about premeds and getting into medical school etc, but this lack of energy on the specialty forums is definitely a new thing.)

Forums in general are a dying breed. Not just SDN. But they offer the best ability to converse and follow along on conversations.

It's unfortunate because Reddit is typically a wasteland that precludes the ability to have any reasonable conversations with their upvoting garbage and posts getting deleted. Not to mention the typical Redditor fits a certain stereotype.

Facebook is too open. I don't even have a Facebook account and I probably have an irrational dislike of Zuckerberg to be honest.

I've been on SDN since undergrad. I'm 7 years out of fellowship. Will continue to be here until I die or the site shuts down, no joke.

The posts in general are usually pretty good.

I've actually been meaning to post my experience getting sued and the whole process. I was dropped with prejudice so I think it would be useful in the general residency forum

 

[CopaceticOne]

We do have an Attending Physician area that sees decent traffic. If you're interested, verify as a Physician and then shoot me a PM and we can work on that.

Is this for IM or all specialities?

 

[gutonc]

Is this for IM or all specialities?

Any specialty.

 

[CopaceticOne]

Any specialty.

Where is this mythical area located?

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Where is this mythical area located?

Its hidden unless you have access to it.

 

[sloh]

I don’t think SDN is dying. The signal to noise ratio is much higher here compared to other platforms. Usually, threads aren’t created or threads die quickly if it’s a topic that has been covered ad infinitum. There’s just less activity these days bc a lot of the low hanging fruit has been picked already. I still check in and read regularly.

 

[end stage fibro]

Forums in general are a dying breed. Not just SDN. But they offer the best ability to converse and follow along on conversations.

It's unfortunate because Reddit is typically a wasteland that precludes the ability to have any reasonable conversations with their upvoting garbage and posts getting deleted. Not to mention the typical Redditor fits a certain stereotype.

Facebook is too open. I don't even have a Facebook account and I probably have an irrational dislike of Zuckerberg to be honest.

I've been on SDN since undergrad. I'm 7 years out of fellowship. Will continue to be here until I die or the site shuts down, no joke.

The posts in general are usually pretty good.

I've actually been meaning to post my experience getting sued and the whole process. I was dropped with prejudice so I think it would be useful in the general residency forum

agree with all the above posts and especially this one. i feel like this forum and r/medicine are the only two places where you can get long form discussion on medical opinions. I feel that especially SDN has a doctor's lounge feel and I look forward to seeing what the usual suspects in the peanut gallery have to say on a topic.

the practicing physician forum- if its the same one with the car thread- is not what i would characterize as lively.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

the practicing physician forum- if its the same one with the car thread- is not what i would characterize as lively.

Also, who exactly posts there? Is it the same attendings that post on the rest of SDN? Or are there other “secret” folks who only post there?

 

[gutonc]

Also, who exactly posts there? Is it the same attendings that post on the rest of SDN? Or are there other “secret” folks who only post there?

Yes.

 

[MDMechEngr]

OP: The answer is YES.

 

[tantacles]

Thread volumes are way down on these forums vs just 1-2 years ago.

Barely anyone is posting about interviews/match stuff in the IM/subspecialty forums at this point.

When I was an IM resident, this was a thriving forum with lots of posts from other residents (and some attendings). What happened? Is everyone over at Reddit/FB Physician Community?

(PS: I understand that SDN was always more about premeds and getting into medical school etc, but this lack of energy on the specialty forums is definitely a new thing.)

Nah, it's always been kind of like this. Very intermittent. Because lots of people want to come on here to get advice about getting into medical school, but they don't want to stay on and contribute once they're out.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Nah, it's always been kind of like this. Very intermittent. Because lots of people want to come on here to get advice about getting into medical school, but they don't want to stay on and contribute once they're out.

It wasn’t always this bad. There used to be at least the annual posts about IM/subspecialty matching, and often much more. Lately there is none of that.

 

[MDMechEngr]

It wasn’t always this bad. There used to be at least the annual posts about IM/subspecialty matching, and often much more. Lately there is none of that.

100%.

 

[C Smith]

I have seen other sites like SDN are also having less activity.

 

[darklabel]

Nah, it's always been kind of like this. Very intermittent. Because lots of people want to come on here to get advice about getting into medical school, but they don't want to stay on and contribute once they're out.

Not all of us can give others useful advice though.

As an attending for a few years now its hard to give advice to pre-meds or even medical students. Idk what I'd have to offer as I'm in private practice and have been out of academia for some time.

Plus primary care isn't exactly the belle of the ball around here.

 

[tantacles]

Not all of us can give others useful advice though.

As an attending for a few years now its hard to give advice to pre-meds or even medical students. Idk what I'd have to offer as I'm in private practice and have been out of academia for some time.

Plus primary care isn't exactly the belle of the ball around here.

I didn't say you should. I just say most don't.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

Not all of us can give others useful advice though.

As an attending for a few years now its hard to give advice to pre-meds or even medical students. Idk what I'd have to offer as I'm in private practice and have been out of academia for some time.

Plus primary care isn't exactly the belle of the ball around here.

Honestly I know exactly what you mean but I also think pre-meds, medical students and trainees could use MORE advice from PP docs these days if anything.

 

[amoxicillin_resistant]

Thread volumes are way down on these forums vs just 1-2 years ago.

Barely anyone is posting about interviews/match stuff in the IM/subspecialty forums at this point.

When I was an IM resident, this was a thriving forum with lots of posts from other residents (and some attendings). What happened? Is everyone over at Reddit/FB Physician Community?

(PS: I understand that SDN was always more about premeds and getting into medical school etc, but this lack of energy on the specialty forums is definitely a new thing.)

I feel like a lot of the funny or interesting posters just get banned

I really like seeing cluster A/B type posters (RIP vox)

 

[gutonc]

Honestly I know exactly what you mean but I also think pre-meds, medical students and trainees could use MORE advice from PP docs these days if anything.

Totally agree. And...they won't listen to us because they're all going to be academic superstars.