Persistent need to argue

[deleted915325]

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Has anyone else noticed that certain individuals on SDN have an insatiable need to argue? Sometimes I feel like myself or others make a completely innocuous post only to logon later in the day to an strong unnecessary rebuttal or attack from another member. I often feel like these actions are repeatedly committed by the same individuals time and time again. Its almost like there is an SDN clique that tries to relentlessly push their perspective in an abrasive "I know all" manner. I used to want to knee-jerk argue with these people but nowadays its more so just annoying, as I want to try to avoid contributing to the hostility towards other members.

I wanted to start a discussion as to whether anyone else finds this to be a pervasive theme and whether or not you think it is good or bad for the general culture of SDN. Personally, I think it should be more collaborative and encouraging of collegial discussion--which it certainly is on many threads--but on many others, I often find a more hostile "I am better than you and will prove it" tone. Further, I am starting to be able to tell when the discussion will devolve based on the members who have commented previously.

I've always felt that diversity in opinion is a virtue, but I fear the current goal of some members is to suppress diverging perspectives at all cost. What do you think?

 

[Espressso]

Has anyone else noticed that certain individuals on SDN have an insatiable need to argue? Sometimes I feel like myself or others make a completely innocuous post only to logon later in the day to an attack from another member. I often feel like these actions are repeatedly committed by the same individuals time and time again. Its almost like there is an SDN clique that tries to relentlessly push their perspective in an abrasive "I know all" manner. I used to want to knee-jerk argue with these people but nowadays its more so just annoying, as I want to try to avoid contributing to the hostility towards other members.

I wanted to start a discussion as to whether anyone else finds this to be a pervasive theme and whether or not you think it is good or bad for the general culture of SDN. Personally, I think it should be more collaborative and encouraging of collegial discussion--which it certainly is on many threads--but on many others, I often find a more hostile "I am better than you and will prove it" tone. Further, I am starting to be able to tell when the discussion will devolve based on the members who have commented previously.

I've always felt that diversity in opinion is a virtue, but I fear the current goal of some members is to suppress diverging perspectives at all cost. What do you think?

I think someone is going to argue with this post.

 

[deleted859689]

Has anyone else noticed that certain individuals on SDN have an insatiable need to argue? Sometimes I feel like myself or others make a completely innocuous post only to logon later in the day to an attack from another member. I often feel like these actions are repeatedly committed by the same individuals time and time again. Its almost like there is an SDN clique that tries to relentlessly push their perspective in an abrasive "I know all" manner. I used to want to knee-jerk argue with these people but nowadays its more so just annoying, as I want to try to avoid contributing to the hostility towards other members.

I wanted to start a discussion as to whether anyone else finds this to be a pervasive theme and whether or not you think it is good or bad for the general culture of SDN. Personally, I think it should be more collaborative and encouraging of collegial discussion--which it certainly is on many threads--but on many others, I often find a more hostile "I am better than you and will prove it" tone. Further, I am starting to be able to tell when the discussion will devolve based on the members who have commented previously.

I've always felt that diversity in opinion is a virtue, but I fear the current goal of some members is to suppress diverging perspectives at all cost. What do you think?

Whenever I feel the need to argue or dispute the post, I ask myself if it’s worth it. Most of the time it’s no, and I move on.

From reading your posts and other people’s responses to your posts, I don’t get why you feel so triggered when someone comes up with a counter point/argument. SDN is literally opinionated advice. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion even if it’s different than their own.

like for me, I don’t get why people bash people who want to go carib even if they already did their research and knows the numbers. Just let them be if they already made their decision.

Honestly, a wide range of opinionated advice is what makes SDN a great resource for those with questions in any field of medicine. Don’t feel attacked when someone else doesn’t think the same way you do.

 

[deleted915325]

Whenever I feel the need to argue or dispute the post, I ask myself if it’s worth it. Most of the time it’s no, and I move on.

From reading your posts and other people’s responses to your posts, I don’t get why you feel so triggered when someone comes up with a counter point/argument. SDN is literally opinionated advice. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion even if it’s different than their own.

like for me, I don’t get why people bash people who want to go carib even if they already did their research and knows the numbers. Just let them be if they already made their decision.

Honestly, a wide range of opinionated advice is what makes SDN a great resource for those with questions in any field of medicine. Don’t feel attacked when someone else doesn’t think the same way you do.

Many thanks for your input! Please note that this post goes beyond my own experiences and also is based on what I've observed as a whole

Looking forward to additional perspectives and insight from others' experiences 🙂

 

[You shall know the Truth]

You can support your point with evidence, tear down their argument, become offended, do nothing about It or complain. I would not let this get you flustered there are more important things

 

[deleted407021]

Same thing happens on Reddit and twitter. It’s just how terminally online people behave.

 

[EmilKraepelin55]

You think this is bad? Do you even Facebook? Lol in all seriousness, I get where you are coming from. It would be nice to have civil disagreements and discussions with people on SDN or any other platform for that matter. At least, for the most part, you get well reasoned disagreements most of the time from users of SDN. But like any other platform that has human users, one’s expectations should be tempered when it comes to rational and calm discussion online.

 

[Mass Effect]

One thing I notice is posters who engage in debate and when someone refutes anything they said, they come back and say "calm down" while simultaneously posting in all caps and/or things along the lines of "I'm not trying to argue" or "why are you arguing?" These posters tend to read way too much into what other posters are saying and are generally hyper-sensitive individuals who see any disagreement as an attack.

OP, I suspect this is a reaction to the thread in which a pre-med asked for advice on deferment and another poster disagreed with your take. Is that the kind of thing you're referring to? Because my take is that there were no attacks or arguments in that thread, just disagreement.

That said, I do agree that there are trolls from time to time who are incredulous at the slightest thing that goes against their belief system. Those individuals are usually reported to the mods.

 

[deleted915325]

Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" to never criticize, condemn, or complain. Many people are simply unaware that they are hyper-critical people. It's not just people online.

Great book

You think this is bad? Do you even Facebook? Lol in all seriousness, I get where you are coming from. It would be nice to have civil disagreements and discussions with people on SDN or any other platform for that matter. At least, for the most part, you get well reasoned disagreements most of the time from users of SDN. But like any other platform that has human users, one’s expectations should be tempered when it comes to rational and calm discussion online.

I totally agree about traditional online social networks. For the most part, I really do appreciate SDN and find a lot of the advice and feedback very valuable. Outside of people who use it regularly though, I find it generally has a negative reputation. This is partly because of some of the comments and arguments that often ensue when someone makes a post asking for earnest advice and are not looking for their thread to turn into a heated argument. It will likely never happen but I would personally like to find a way to curb some of that so the site can reach a broader population. Essentially, I think SDN has a lot more value than those other platforms since the population of members is more educated and capable of civil discussion. Unfortunately, I feel like people often misuse this site as displacement for their frustrations of real life (who knows, maybe I'm subconsciously doing that here).

I deleted all social media during my 3rd year of undergrad. Greatest decision of my life. Haha

Haha deleted mine too. Maybe that's why I'm out of touch with how others view this forum lol

 

[EmilKraepelin55]

I deleted all social media during my 3rd year of undergrad. Greatest decision of my life. Haha

Just one month ago, after 10 years, I deleted my FB. It has been so liberating not to see some of my friends and family opine about COVID19 conspiracies, pseudoscience, and other anti-intellectual garbage. It sort of whittles down one’s soul and sense of purpose to see that everyday. I’m also an incoming M3 about to take boards, so it’s kept me focused lol.

 

[deleted688779]

This used to be me on Reddit, I found myself spending hours and hours trying to make my point and argue. I wasted so much time, I became more stressed, and I felt like the world is doomed or I was part of the unpopular minority. Then I realized I'm spending all this time and effort arguing with someone who 1) might be some bot, troll, or someone with an agenda to polarize the demographic or 2) won't change their mind even if a truckload of evidence hits them or 3) both our points are equally valid in our respective situations and perspectives.

Now I just browse, roll my eyes, move on when I see something triggering. I think it would help to reduce your time spent on these sites. Maybe I'm just jaded now but I strongly believe that you won't be able to change someone's view over the internet no matter how hard you try.

I also think Reddit (aside from the small info subs) might be one of the worse things to happen to the internet.

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Same thing happens on Reddit and twitter. It’s just how terminally online people behave.

This terminally online phenomenon is real and definitely messes with some peoples' perception of reality. I think it is best to conduct yourself online as you would offline.

 

[DrStephennmnm]

Some people just like to argue for arguments sake. Sometimes you just gotta be the grown up and say "ok" and move on because these people will stop at nothing to get the last word in and tend to have all day

 

[CaptainZeki]

This terminally online phenomenon is real and definitely messes with some peoples' perception of reality. I think it is best to conduct yourself online as you would offline.

I agree. Its also just very easy to get away when you are behind a screen, and in a comfortable environment. Guess people's twitter fingers run loose often on sdn/reddit

 

[Lawpy]

 

[ciestar]

One thing I notice is posters who engage in debate and when someone refutes anything they said, they come back and say "calm down" while simultaneously posting in all caps and/or things along the lines of "I'm not trying to argue" or "why are you arguing?" These posters tend to read way too much into what other posters are saying and are generally hyper-sensitive individuals who see any disagreement as an attack.

OP, I suspect this is a reaction to the thread in which a pre-med asked for advice on deferment and another poster disagreed with your take. Is that the kind of thing you're referring to? Because my take is that there were no attacks or arguments in that thread, just disagreement.

That said, I do agree that there are trolls from time to time who are incredulous at the slightest thing that goes against their belief system. Those individuals are usually reported to the mods.

Im in agreement with you on this one.

 

[Small Cell Carcinoma]

Yeah it's called being a contrarian. In the context of an anonymous forum it's a subspecialty of trolling. These people generally do not even believe the stance they are taking, but nonetheless enjoy pushing controversial or absurd opinions for the rise it gets out of others.

 

[deleted480308]

Has anyone else noticed that certain individuals on SDN have an insatiable need to argue? Sometimes I feel like myself or others make a completely innocuous post only to logon later in the day to an strong unnecessary rebuttal or attack from another member. I often feel like these actions are repeatedly committed by the same individuals time and time again. Its almost like there is an SDN clique that tries to relentlessly push their perspective in an abrasive "I know all" manner. I used to want to knee-jerk argue with these people but nowadays its more so just annoying, as I want to try to avoid contributing to the hostility towards other members.

I wanted to start a discussion as to whether anyone else finds this to be a pervasive theme and whether or not you think it is good or bad for the general culture of SDN. Personally, I think it should be more collaborative and encouraging of collegial discussion--which it certainly is on many threads--but on many others, I often find a more hostile "I am better than you and will prove it" tone. Further, I am starting to be able to tell when the discussion will devolve based on the members who have commented previously.

I've always felt that diversity in opinion is a virtue, but I fear the current goal of some members is to suppress diverging perspectives at all cost. What do you think?

There is an “ignore” feature. Use it if you find someone that objectionable

 

[Lucca]

No, and another thing! ....

yes, we're the worst

 

[libertyyne]

Some people have strong opinions . Others just like to argue for the sake of argument. Sometimes people get stuck in terrible thread asides.
I think online discourse in general is fairly adversarial. Im occasionally guilty of this myself .

If you remove the arguments there would be a lot of bad information and advice that would go unchecked .
Many of the conversations that are had in this thread need a diversity in opinion like step 1 p/f shuttering of rotations etc . I don’t think the discourse would be as interesting or through without argumentation.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Whenever I feel the need to argue or dispute the post, I ask myself if it’s worth it. Most of the time it’s no, and I move on.

From reading your posts and other people’s responses to your posts, I don’t get why you feel so triggered when someone comes up with a counter point/argument. SDN is literally opinionated advice. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion even if it’s different than their own.

Interesting that you picked this hill...

 

[Espressso]

Some people have strong opinions . Others just like to argue for the sake of argument. Sometimes people get stuck in terrible thread asides.
I think online discourse in general is fairly adversarial. Im occasionally guilty of this myself .

If you remove the arguments there would be a lot of bad information and advice that would go unchecked .
Many of the conversations that are had in this thread need a diversity in opinion like step 1 p/f shuttering of rotations etc . I don’t think the discourse would be as interesting or through without argumentation.

I think this is spot on. For a forum like this, you kind of need people to push back on ideas consistently in order to filter out the bad takes and shine light on the good information. Obviously, like any anonymous online forum, there are trolls that troll hard. But still, I'd say SDN has more good than bad when it comes to it.

If there is a special someone that grinds your gears on here with the constant arguing, ignoring it is the way to go, as others have mentioned. But overall, I think the consistent push back you see in threads makes this site worthy of my time. I definitely noticed this back in the pre-md/do forums when I was in my gap year/application cycle.

 

[slowthai]

So this subthread was in response to the "Is everyone on here a gunner?" thread on /r/medicalschool. Consistently, I have seen takes like this on reddit and twitter. Why does SDN have this reputation? Like people hate this site, lol. This has been the best resource I have depended on for my medical career.

Reddit has a downvote system, so bad takes are taken care of pretty fast. Posts/comments with a lot of downvotes are a lot less likely to be seen. On here, people kind of have to respond directly to the inaccurate or bad information, and that can come across as antagonistic depending on how the person does it. I will say that people can be insulting in how they correct others, which should not be the case imo. Sometimes I try to be funny with my responses, but I don't insult or belittle people. I definitely think that as tempting as it is to be sarcastic, it can come across as condescending, even if what was said was completely true. Delivery and tone are almost as important as the content imo. It's better to have the person you're responding to actually receive what you've said than for it to fall on deaf ears.

 

[asdf123g]

Has anyone else noticed that certain individuals on SDN have an insatiable need to argue? Sometimes I feel like myself or others make a completely innocuous post only to logon later in the day to an strong unnecessary rebuttal or attack from another member. I often feel like these actions are repeatedly committed by the same individuals time and time again. Its almost like there is an SDN clique that tries to relentlessly push their perspective in an abrasive "I know all" manner. I used to want to knee-jerk argue with these people but nowadays its more so just annoying, as I want to try to avoid contributing to the hostility towards other members.

I wanted to start a discussion as to whether anyone else finds this to be a pervasive theme and whether or not you think it is good or bad for the general culture of SDN. Personally, I think it should be more collaborative and encouraging of collegial discussion--which it certainly is on many threads--but on many others, I often find a more hostile "I am better than you and will prove it" tone. Further, I am starting to be able to tell when the discussion will devolve based on the members who have commented previously.

I've always felt that diversity in opinion is a virtue, but I fear the current goal of some members is to suppress diverging perspectives at all cost. What do you think?

This forum has really bad groupthink and really ostracizes people with unpopular or different opinions. Many of the more 'popular' posters seem to go unchecked. "One rule for me, another for thee." Just my opinion.

 

[Mass Effect]

View attachment 307732

So this subthread was in response to the "Is everyone on here a gunner?" thread on /r/medicalschool. Consistently, I have seen takes like this on reddit and twitter. Why does SDN have this reputation? Like people hate this site, lol. This has been the best resource I have depended on for my medical career.

People don't hate this site. It's actually wildly popular and is perhaps the most populated student forum out there. Anyone who thinks there are only 30 - 40 people posting here is out of their mind. I hypothesize that 90% of the people who bash this site post here anonymously. It's just not cool to admit it.

 

[<L>]

View attachment 307732

So this subthread was in response to the "Is everyone on here a gunner?" thread on /r/medicalschool. Consistently, I have seen takes like this on reddit and twitter. Why does SDN have this reputation? Like people hate this site, lol. This has been the best resource I have depended on for my medical career.

Reddit has a downvote system, so bad takes are taken care of pretty fast. Posts/comments with a lot of downvotes are a lot less likely to be seen. On here, people kind of have to respond directly to the inaccurate or bad information, and that can come across as antagonistic depending on how the person does it. I will say that people can be insulting in how they correct others, which should not be the case imo. Sometimes I try to be funny with my responses, but I don't insult or belittle people. I definitely think that as tempting as it is to be sarcastic, it can come across as condescending, even if what was said was completely true. Delivery and tone are almost as important as the content imo. It's better to have the person you're responding to actually receive what you've said than for it to fall on deaf ears.

I've been using SDN for around 15 years on and off and let me tell you this site used to be WAY more abrasive. Though I do think part of it comes from the fact that "everyone has a right to their opinion" isn't really a thing in medicine. This isn't college anymore. If you're spewing bad info you're going to get told.

Reddit medical forums have their own type of groupthink that comes from the community they cultivate over there. There's a lot of threads that are basically "bitch sessions" and any opinion that isn't "OMG residents are oppressed and the GME is a gigantic ponzi scheme!" gets downvoted way too quickly. I've found SDN far better at portraying factual information.

Now that said, there are some topics here that get blown up and out of proportion a little too often. The amount of time spent kvetching about midlevels on the allo board in particular is exponentially out of proportion to how much I deal with that problem in the real world.

 

[slowthai]

People don't hate this site. It's actually wildly popular and is perhaps the most populated student forum out there. Anyone who thinks there are only 30 - 40 people posting here is out of their mind. I hypothesize that 90% of the people who bash this site post here anonymously. It's just not cool to admit it.

More:

These statements have a lot of support. I've seen so many posts like this over the years.

When they say the same 30-40 people, that person is probably talking about the most popular and prolific posters on here.

So many times I've seen people say stuff like "I haven't used SDN since premed lol. Place is for arrogant [insert your favorite expletive]"

 

[Neopolymath]

This site is great precisely because bad posts don't just disappear and get addressed. It's not the other posters' problem if some takes are so bad they get eviscerated. The idea that all opinions are equal and deserve equal time is contextually bunk and proven daily on mainstream media trying to be "fair". If one posts their opinion on this website then they are giving permission for others to reply. It's the working definition and concept of a message board. If one doesn't want to be "nitpicked" perhaps it should be phrased and labeled as a general thought etc. Frankly, a lot of the supposed nitpicking on here could be mitigated with better posting by the initial person.

Also, the world is filled with "omg stop yelling at me and chill dude bro" type people ANY time someone disagrees. Who is the one overreacting, really? Don't be this person online or in real life.

 

[Mass Effect]

More: View attachment 307741
View attachment 307745

These statements have a lot of support. I've seen so many posts like this over the years.

When they say same 30-40 people, that person is probably talking about the most popular and prolific posters on here.

So many times I've seen people say stuff like "I haven't used SDN since premed lol. Place is for arrogant [insert your favorite expletive]"

Not sure about your point. If people don't like SDN, they can pursue other forums. I maintain that 90% of those who complain are right here posting among us.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

No, and another thing! ....

yes, we're the worst

You forget to tell the OP that they're going to be a bad doctor

 

[deleted978973]

More: View attachment 307741
View attachment 307745

These statements have a lot of support. I've seen so many posts like this over the years.

When they say same 30-40 people, that person is probably talking about the most popular and prolific posters on here.

So many times I've seen people say stuff like "I haven't used SDN since premed lol. Place is for arrogant [insert your favorite expletive]"

This website is extremely toxic no matter how you look at it.

 

[slowthai]

Not sure about your point. If people don't like SDN, they can pursue other forums. I maintain that 90% of those who complain are right here posting among us.

My point is what I originally said, that a significant number of people do indeed hate SDN, or at least view it in a negative light.

 

[Mass Effect]

My point is what I originally said, that a significant number of people do indeed hate SDN, or at least view it in a negative light.

K.

 

[longhaul3]

I think the average user has terrible perspective about the information they read and the reliability of the posters. I assume this is by far the most popular medicine-related forum site on the internet, and a large percentage of premeds who are serious about med school probably come and at least read it. They are impressionable and take whatever they read here—especially from a handful of high-volume, self-important contributors—as absolute dogma. (This is demonstrated in every thread about "will adcoms do X" as if any random anonymous faculty member who shares a thought here is representative of anyone else). These users then go on to get into med school and become the same med students they venerated the whole time they were premeds and start peacocking around with their own incomplete perspective, having been shaped the whole time by their experience on this site.

Meanwhile we're all just random people on the internet. The same people who would crucify you for using Wikipedia as a source of evidence in an argument go hook line and sinker for strangers' uninformed opinions on the internet and turn around and start parroting them as dogma like an automated email reply. If you read carefully (or maybe not even that carefully), you'll notice that a lot of posts on this site, especially the premed section, are literally copied and pasted. I swear some posters have a word doc with their repertoire of 7 posts that they just copy-paste endlessly.

Then there are the people who always have to have the last word or always insist that the other person is incapable of understanding their argument. News flash: if a bunch of doctors and near-doctors can't understand your argument after 10 posts, you're probably not explaining it clearly.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

This website is extremely toxic no matter how you look at it.

Nah

 

[slowthai]

For what it's worth, I think people also just consider strongly stated opinions to be toxic a lot of the time.

 

[<L>]

This website is extremely toxic no matter how you look at it.

Seems like a "you problem".

 

[deleted480308]

This website is extremely toxic no matter how you look at it.

An optional place with occasionally useful advice that doesn’t allow name calling, sexually explicit posts or racism is not “toxic no matter how you look at it”

 

[Alkaidius]

I’ve found that as long as you aren’t asking a common question, you start your posts with something like “in my opinion”, and you are able to give something that resembles evidence to a post you are making, you’re fine! Take one step out of that and you’ve got someone just drooling for a chance to chew you up lol.

 

[Cornfed101]

As long as you aren't considering going to medical school in the Caribbean you deserve to have an open and constructive conversation. If you are considering going to med school in the Caribbean I can't defend you in good conscience.

 

[Rogue42]

I didn't even read this thread or any of your past threads;

But the answer to your posed question is, "yes." There are a group of individuals on here who are nothing more than average medical students who think they are the king/queen of SDN and medical school knowledge. They believe they know all. At times, I wonder how they rack up the amount of posts they have while maintaining their "all-knowing knowledge of everything" while also simultaneously being the top of their class, high board scores, and top research.

But alas, at the end of the day, I ignore them because I know they are no better than anyone else here.

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

My point is what I originally said, that a significant number of people do indeed hate SDN, or at least view it in a negative light.

SDN is the medical version of college confidential: a useful source of information that veers toward a conservative assessment for most things. It has a pretty good number of attendings/seniors/PDs who are willing to share their experiences, and IMO, is a bit easier to navigate than reddit. You're not going to like everyone or everything from 1 site, but if you derive some benefit from it, it's worth using it. If you don't like something, then just don't use it. People tend to use reddit to vent a lot, but I'm sure many posters visit.

The only issue I have with SDN is that the premed forum posters often know little about MD/PhD programs and give misinformed advice to applicants. (The actual PS forum is super helpful though)

 

[Freeinfinity]

Has anyone else noticed that certain individuals on SDN have an insatiable need to argue? Sometimes I feel like myself or others make a completely innocuous post only to logon later in the day to an strong unnecessary rebuttal or attack from another member. I often feel like these actions are repeatedly committed by the same individuals time and time again. Its almost like there is an SDN clique that tries to relentlessly push their perspective in an abrasive "I know all" manner. I used to want to knee-jerk argue with these people but nowadays its more so just annoying, as I want to try to avoid contributing to the hostility towards other members.

I wanted to start a discussion as to whether anyone else finds this to be a pervasive theme and whether or not you think it is good or bad for the general culture of SDN. Personally, I think it should be more collaborative and encouraging of collegial discussion--which it certainly is on many threads--but on many others, I often find a more hostile "I am better than you and will prove it" tone. Further, I am starting to be able to tell when the discussion will devolve based on the members who have commented previously.

I've always felt that diversity in opinion is a virtue, but I fear the current goal of some members is to suppress diverging perspectives at all cost. What do you think?

Yep. But I feel this is true in general for anything you post online in any forum and not just SDN. If the response seems legit with a good amount of reasoning, I would respond. If it isn’t, and it looks like it’s done in a very dismissive way to try to get under my skin, I just ignore it. More important things to focus on.

 

[slowthai]

SDN is the medical version of college confidential: a useful source of information that veers toward a conservative assessment for most things. It has a pretty good number of attendings/seniors/PDs who are willing to share their experiences, and IMO, is a bit easier to navigate than reddit. You're not going to like everyone or everything from 1 site, but if you derive some benefit from it, it's worth using it. If you don't like something, then just don't use it. People tend to use reddit to vent a lot, but I'm sure many posters visit.

The only issue I have with SDN is that the premed forum posters often know little about MD/PhD programs and give misinformed advice to applicants. (The actual PS forum is super helpful though)

Agreed. I have to be honest, my thumb has gotten tired from all the scrolling on reddit, lol. Not on there as much as I'd like to be these days

 

[Goro]

View attachment 307732

So this subthread was in response to the "Is everyone on here a gunner?" thread on /r/medicalschool. Consistently, I have seen takes like this on reddit and twitter. Why does SDN have this reputation? Like people hate this site, lol. This has been the best resource I have depended on for my medical career.

Reddit has a downvote system, so bad takes are taken care of pretty fast. Posts/comments with a lot of downvotes are a lot less likely to be seen. On here, people kind of have to respond directly to the inaccurate or bad information, and that can come across as antagonistic depending on how the person does it. I will say that people can be insulting in how they correct others, which should not be the case imo. Sometimes I try to be funny with my responses, but I don't insult or belittle people. I definitely think that as tempting as it is to be sarcastic, it can come across as condescending, even if what was said was completely true. Delivery and tone are almost as important as the content imo. It's better to have the person you're responding to actually receive what you've said than for it to fall on deaf ears.

Ahhh, reddit. The cesspool of the Internet.

What I've noticed about SDN in the 8-ish years that I've been here is that there are people who come here not for relastic advice, but for affirmation of their poor choices or notions. They do NOT take kindly to being disabused of bad ideas or risky behavior, and lash out accordingly.

There is a subpopulation that has a more enabling mindset. When a poster is given realistic advice, those people chime in with a mindset that goes something like "how dare you destroy a person's dreams!!!"

Then there are those fragile souls who can't take any any hint of criticism. These are people who are so thin-skinned that light passes right through them. I can't imagine how they're going to survive seeing patients die or having to deliver a Stage IV Ca Dx.

The trolls seem to pop out at distinct times. I suspect that these are people who crack under the strain of waiting for IIs, or waiting for WL movement.

I fully agree that SDNers can be quick to exasperate. But have a little sympathy. We have posters who may have done 1000s of hours of research, but can't lift a finger to look at the stickies, or use the search function. You get tired of the zillionth "I got a B in Physics. Are my chances doomed?" or "Am I too late? It's June 2nd! posts.

I consider Facebook to be far more polarizing that SDN. But I suppose the Russians have though of using trollbots on here, in order to screw up US medical education.

As mentioned sagely above by sb247, one can always use the Ignore function.

 

[hallowmann]

People don't hate this site. It's actually wildly popular and is perhaps the most populated student forum out there. Anyone who thinks there are only 30 - 40 people posting here is out of their mind. I hypothesize that 90% of the people who bash this site post here anonymously. It's just not cool to admit it.

SDN is literally the site that most people actually get reasonable information about this process. It functions like any normal forum, in that everyone posts and it doesn't matter how unreasonable it is, it isn't hidden if its not against the TOC. That's abrasive to some people, but I grew up in the age of the first online forums/chatrooms so it all seems pretty standard to me.

I think the vast majority of people that complain about SDN on other sites are people that use it or used it as pre-meds. Pre-allo has the most users and has the most ridiculous posts, posters, posits, and unrealistic thinking. People who's only experience on SDN is pre-allo could certainly walk away thinking the whole site is useless. That said, even pre-allo has a lot of useful information if you filter the noise.

Before med school, I used the site a ton to assess chances of interview/getting in, weigh pros and cons of Carib and DO schools, prepare for interviews (school-specific threads are crazy useful and the interview feedback back then was also useful), and then actually prepare for moving, studying for steps, learning about different specialties, and the residency application process.

I can pretty clearly say that this site ultimately pointed me towards my field and taught me how to attain it, which is something that would have been hard to do without it (didn't even know my specialty organization existed, let alone knew it was important to go to its conference).

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These statements have a lot of support. I've seen so many posts like this over the years.

When they say the same 30-40 people, that person is probably talking about the most popular and prolific posters on here.

So many times I've seen people say stuff like "I haven't used SDN since premed lol. Place is for arrogant [insert your favorite expletive]"

Reddit is a bit of a sounding chamber (more so than standard forums). Unpopular posts get hidden, you can have endless subreddits to fit your own very narrow interests/views, etc. Its not a surprise to see a bunch of posts like that, but as far as useful info, its much easier to glean off of this site than Reddits. Its simply too hard to navigate, and for as much as this forum is cluttered with less useful info, Reddit feels worse at times.

I feel like it simply serves a very specific purpose. If there is one specific thing you would like more info about or want to talk to people about, Reddit is way you can make that happen. SDN over a greater breadth that is more easily accessible, so even if you don't know what information you actually need, you can find it or stumble upon it. Most of my knowledge or understanding of how things work in med school/residency were from reading threads about other topics where side info comes up and that info is shared.

I also think that there is a large population of foreign grads or US-IMGs, and this forum doesn't really cater to them. There are more of them in the Carib than probably DO students. For them to actually want to stay on this site, they'd have to accept that most view either their decision as the wrong one or their position as dire, which is an exaggeration, but only a slight one. Knowing a ton of US and non-US IMGs (personally and being related to many), I can pretty fairly say that the majority of info on here is closer to the truth with greater accuracy than some of the other forums.