Posted by lil jimi on August 18, 2016, at 20:43:02
In reply to Re: ghost story » Clearskies, posted by Tabitha on August 17, 2016, at 14:46:13
Hi Clear, Hi Tabitha,
You guys have rung Jim's clock and I am now awake (albeit only for short intervals) in the year 2016 PB:When Jimi and a few friends left their then silver, shining Metropolis that PB was in 2005, the society of PsychoBabble was so big, so multifaceted that neither their departure nor absence could have been noticed anymore than any big city notices any given dozen or so rabble getting out of town.
Here, once, the multitudes of suffering psychos babbled. And Dr.Bob's oversight reigned supreme.
Flashing forward into 2016: the multitudes are just dozens and it sounds like the Doctor checked out. Positive correlation of independent variables: Bob here; lots of posters: Bob gone; fewer posters. An accepted implication: Dr.Bob's absence contributed to, if not caused the population decline. It would be a necessary but not sufficient condition for the decline. This seems inescapably plain.
Why is the PBabble number of participants so dependent on Dr.Bob's presence?
I like Dr.Bob as much as any Babbler, maybe more than most. I got banned a few times, but never with (his) malice. I mean, he's cool. But I am missing a sense of the casual relation between 'him' and people coming here or not coming here.
I mean Tabitha is right: operationally this is the same place, it runs and functions the same. Only smaller. And without so much Dr.Bob, maybe. Which what makes me wonder why such a difference in population?
Possible variables intervening after Dr.Bob steps back and before mass departures? A king reigns in the fortress giving stability, bringing prosperity; king fades; security weakens; huns ransack; people flee; haunted castle remains OR frontier town springs up with marshall holding the reigns; town grows; commerce, etc; sheriff leaves; outlaws raid, then, ghost town. Other factors came to make things less habitable? Maybe?
To be accurate this metaphor fails because PBabble is not a ghost town nor haunted castle. As thin as it is you could say it's a ghost of its former self, but it is functionally healthy. It even seems vital.
At its foundation, we have to remember PBabble's chosen audience isn't exactly the most stable, if you know what I mean? Maybe they'd spook easy-like?
I'm thinking about the psychic cost, the psychological expense on Dr.Bob to run PBabble. I see the technical effort and it's time and energy as dwindling to insignificance compared to the personal involvement and emotional toll of having the whole of PsychBabble on his mind, and as his responsibility. All the time. Multiply that by people holding him responsible for people's well-being (he is a doctor), mostly when he is not responsible. Add people blaming and/or threatening him.
Can we expect Dr.Bob to shoulder that burden indefinitely? Can he get to have a personal life in the care free way like everybody else And stay hooked up to the whole PsychoBabble? Without him, he has created an incredibly complete resource for psycho pharmacological information and support. The reference section is deep.
I expect self-preservation alone makes one be more (and more) hands off then.
Sounds like it's not too bad to have a smaller PBabble. Easier on Admin anyhow.
I still wonder at the population's ups and downs as only suspiciously connected to Dr.Bob's active board-posting administrative presence.I'm going to look in the archives.
Take care
poster:lil jimi
thread:1091319
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20160101/msgs/1091421.html