start helping people

[rustybruce]

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After looking through a couple of recent threads, I get the feeling that this forum has become useless. When I was thinking about residency 2 years ago, these threads would spend much more space helping people. Not insulting them for being ignorant or confused.

Start answering people's questions and stop being sarcastic. This especially goes for the frequent fliers because I remember back when someone was helping you. Quinn, you were quite nervous about being a DO and getting an MD offer. There are others out there like you who are just looking for help, not riducule.

Rusty.

 

[spyderdoc]

After looking through a couple of recent threads, I get the feeling that this forum has become useless. When I was thinking about residency 2 years ago, these threads would spend much more space helping people. Not insulting them for being ignorant or confused.

Start answering people's questions and stop being sarcastic. This especially goes for the frequent fliers because I remember back when someone was helping you. Quinn, you were quite nervous about being a DO and getting an MD offer. There are others out there like you who are just looking for help, not riducule.

Rusty.

Interesting how you want us to be nice, then throw out accusations to one of our beloved moderators...
But you do have a good point. we should all be collegial, friendly and try not to insult others....
It seems that the people that start the flame wars are trollers looking for trouble...
Respectfully,
Mark

 

[roja]

What on earth spurred this? In general, the vast majority of people offer up very good advice and try and help people out.


Of course, we joke with each other, but that is just real life.

If someone was rude to you, I certainly hope you don't take it out on all of us. Most of us come here to have fun and to help other people out.

 

[southerndoc]

Troll alert.

 

[Sessamoid]

After looking through a couple of recent threads, I get the feeling that this forum has become useless. When I was thinking about residency 2 years ago, these threads would spend much more space helping people. Not insulting them for being ignorant or confused.

Start answering people's questions and stop being sarcastic. This especially goes for the frequent fliers because I remember back when someone was helping you. Quinn, you were quite nervous about being a DO and getting an MD offer. There are others out there like you who are just looking for help, not riducule.

Rusty.

I don't see you answering the question about which programs are "no go" and why. Any particular reason you chose to start this thread rather than answering that question?

On the other hand, I only have to look down the list of recent threads to find over a dozen valid questions that have been given good answers or at least interesting discussioins.

 

[rustybruce]

I love that constructive criticism is taken as trolling. Roja, nobody has been rude to me. Southerndoc-What?! Perhaps the Quinn reference was a bit much but you need only look as far as the "not to go" EM section for unnecessary sarcasm.

Just help people. You can still have fun without intimidating or disenchanting medical students. I personally would not want to be a new intern at a place where I was criticized for being inquisitive. I know all of you are at excellent programs where almost anyone should and would feel welcome.

And Sessamoid, adding to that thread would only hide my response in a mass of sarcasm.

Programs that didn't fit what I wanted: (of course this is personal, and sometimes petty--all are great programs)

UF Jacksonville: too busy, poorly designed ED, too much intern responsibility--didn't like Jacksonville as a city.

Highland-thankful for interview but the hospital is too small. Also, the other residents (non-EM), though smart, aren't the caliber of other places as far as ED intern teaching potential. Also disliked Oakland but love SF and commute isn't bad.

Stanford-Great program, great people, terrible commutes.

So there you go. I liked everywhere else I interviewed (15 total) and even ranked one of these in my top 5. The negatives are valid points to discuss, consider, and disagree about.

 

[DrQuinn]

rusty-

I gots no beef with you. But you have to realize that threads that are posted so bluntly as "Not to go EM Programs" isn't as helpful as "Post your review of a program here" thread. Trust me, when the interview season rolls along, there will be lots and lots of good useful threads. I think on any online forum, its much harder to get the "real down and dirty bad rumors" of a program. You're more likely to find "I thought Christiana was a great program, good rep, etc" threads. Which is why the no go em program thread has deteriorated (into a good conversation) while the other threads "What about King/Drew" had good posts and have now settled to the bottom of the thread pile.

The EM forums here are the most active, useful, and friendly on basically all of SDN. It is one of the few that I frequent. In no other thread will you find pre-meds, meds, residents, and attendings post on such a collegial level.

Rusty, I suggest if you have a question that needs to be answered, just post it. You will always get a few humorous/non-serious answers, but you will most likely get the information you seek.

Q

 

[VienneseWaltz]

I'm sorry, I know better than to feed a troll, but:

You can still have fun without intimidating or disenchanting medical students.

I find this particularly interesting because the sense of humor on this forum is what I like best about it. I'm "seriously interested" in about 7 specialties right now (I'm allowed, I'm MSII), and one of the reasons EM is among them is the personalities it seems to attract--I am far from disenchanted or intimidated by the frequent fliers. Quite the opposite, I am impressed by people in a demanding field who maintain a sense of humor (and hey, they even have time to post on SDN as residents).

I notice a lot of people who post unsolicited criticism (calling it constructive or whatever) and then seem surprised when others are annoyed. How do some of these people get through life without realizing why other people don't respond well to them? I'm not singling out the OP, as he or she is in vast company around here ...

 

[Sessamoid]

Highland-thankful for interview but the hospital is too small. Also, the other residents, though smart, aren't the caliber of other places as far as ED intern teaching potential. Also disliked Oakland but love SF and commute isn't bad.

I assume by "other residents" you meant other non-EM residents? When I first read it, I thought you meant the EM residents. Who actually likes Oakland anyway?

Sometimes a mass of sarcasm is the best place to hide. 🙂

 

[The White Coat Investor]

2 years? And only 10 posts? At least we're saying something.

 

[Sessamoid]

2 years? And only 10 posts? At least we're saying something.

I'm assuming the OP had a different user name before this one. Still, 10 posts since January....

 

[rustybruce]

Same name...and I'm pretty sure 10+ means between 10 and 50. Let's keep this thread about me, shall we?

 

[Febrifuge]

rusty: It's about context. It's about how these inquries are made. It's about questioners taking responsibility for the way in which--

Just help people. You can still have fun without intimidating or disenchanting medical students.

Oh, okay.

I, Febrifuge the pre-med ED tech guy, do hereby promise to 1) help people and 2) be nice. I will ask questions in a collegial fashion, and be grateful for the advice of the people I'd like to eventually have as my peers, and let them know it. And even if they josh and kid a little I won't get intimidated or disenchanted by them, because I know how this stuff works and even when I am clueless about a subject (or many subjects), I do not lose my grip on the ounce of experience I have, and certainly not on my language and people skills.

Conversely, when people ask questions or express opinions in strange, abrupt ways that seem out of character with the rest of the discussion, or start threads for no reason I can discern, I will give people the benefit of the doubt. I will wait at least ten posts to get the sense of the thread before piling on. And I will only be sarcastic if I feel it's the most effective and appropriate way to make my point.

X ______________ 13 Sep 2004

Anybody here a notary public? 🙄

 

[pseudoknot]

The EM forums here are the most active, useful, and friendly on basically all of SDN. It is one of the few that I frequent. In no other thread will you find pre-meds, meds, residents, and attendings post on such a collegial level.

I just wanted to say that I wholeheartedly agree. I'm a graduate student, thinking about going to med school after I finish here, and I've been lurking in this forum for a while because EM appeals to me. This is a very informative and entertaining resource thanks to people like Quinn, Sessamoid and roja; it's too bad that a few people lately are offended by the sarcasm, but that's one of my favorite things about this community. Don't change a thing!

 

[DrQuinn]

I just wanted to say that I wholeheartedly agree. I'm a graduate student, thinking about going to med school after I finish here, and I've been lurking in this forum for a while because EM appeals to me. This is a very informative and entertaining resource thanks to people like Quinn, Sessamoid and roja; it's too bad that a few people lately are offended by the sarcasm, but that's one of my favorite things about this community. Don't change a thing!

Love your avatar...
Look past the flesh, look through the soft
gelatin of these dull cow eyes and SEE YOUR ENEMY!
Q

 

[DrQuinn]

Same name...and I'm pretty sure 10+ means between 10 and 50. Let's keep this thread about me, shall we?

Like I said before, I got no beefs with you.

You are/were right. When I was a DO student, I was concerned about my situation. I posted a lot here on SDN to get advice. I got SOME, but at the time the EM forums weren't heavily browsed. The Moderator at the time was barely around. Spyderdoc has done a bit and I hope I've contributed, but the EM forums have really blossomed (to a Tanner Stage 4 anyways) in the past... two years, since myself and about 5-10 other regular posters have continued to stay aboard after graduating medical school.

Trust me, if you post a thread with a legitimate question that doesn't involve "blacklisting" or blatant negative thoughts about a program, you will get the answer.

I don't like "negative" threads about programs just because, well, we are all colleagues, and I cringe at any demeaning or slanderous posts about any EM residents or residencies. As moderator, I'll let them fly, but I won't participate in them. I will, however, make sarcastic comments. I feel the rest of the EM forum regulars feel the same way.
Q

 

[pseudoknot]

Love your avatar...
Look past the flesh, look through the soft
gelatin of these dull cow eyes and SEE YOUR ENEMY!
Q

And right now, here I stand because of you, Mr. Anderson. Because of you, I'm no longer an Agent of this system. Because of you, I'm unplugged. A new man, so to speak -- like you. Apparently free.

 

[Halcyon]

This forum has been immensely helpful to me. Some of the BEST advice I've received has come from the interns/residents on here. I've repeatedly asked one resident on this forum many many times for help and he has helped me out more than my own friends. It's all in how you look at things...
😀

 

[Febrifuge]

Exactly.

There is no spoon.

 

[beriberi]

Rustybruce--

Excellent point (it must be or everyone wouldn't be so defensive).

I posted a question a while back about how much money you could make in Emergency medicine (since that info seems only available by word of mouth). There was a lot of sarcastic verbal high-fiving and not a single answer in the thread.

Beriberi

Striving to keep my posts meaningful.

 

[Sessamoid]

Rustybruce--

Excellent point (it must be or everyone wouldn't be so defensive).

I posted a question a while back about how much money you could make in Emergency medicine (since that info seems only available by word of mouth). There was a lot of sarcastic verbal high-fiving and not a single answer in the thread.

Beriberi

Striving to keep my posts meaningful.

I finally found that thread you're talking about. Your thread got sidetracked because you used the term "provider", which is somewhat anathema to us physicians, and it should be to you too since you're one as well now. "Provider" is a term corporate medicine/HMOs etc like to use to indicate to us that we are somehow interchangeable with NPs and PAs. Most of us will rankle at the term.

Also, most of us aren't in it that much for the money, so questions termed the way you asked it sound a little money-grubbing to us. Kinda distasteful. Asking somebody to "one-up" a story about some guy you heard making a stupid amount of money is kinda icky. Once it got sidetracked, we went into usual joking mode, and it wasn't some kind of snub against you, despite what you may think. You never followed up on the post, so I assumed you found your answer somewhere else or lost interest.

 

[NinerNiner999]

Now why would this thread be started? A complaint about not helping anyone and nothing but sarcastic answers has now become a thread alluding to personal insults and is, with irony, also not helping anybody. Either this thread is flamebating or otherwise useless in my opinion. Sessamoid and others have genuinely researched old threads and topics to help several people who have griped on this thread, yet the frustration continues. Come on Rusty, give us some help here and cut this thread. Or, if you're feeling especially helpful, give us some posts with advice and answers, get that post count up to >50. Better yet, just reply to this post with some more frustration - that outta be good for at least >20.

bump.

P.S. Sorry to all of the "regular SDNers" for my inflammatory response, but like Lionel Richie said - I'm dancing on the ceiling...

 

[Seaglass]

I think we'll cut you some slack this time. We won't make it like that "PGY-1" thing.

 

[jpgreer13]

It's PURPOSE that binds us...

 

[kungfufishing]

and all this time I thought those restraints were genuine leather

 

[roja]

Hint: it doesn't chafe as much.