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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 14 of 14. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
Sorry not sure what 'open' is so at the risk of being lost in the admin board...
Do you think that the students board should be restricted to those willing to register with a .edu (or international varient) email address - or do you think there should be no restriction on posting, other than that this board is intended for the discussion of student issues (where the interpretation of 'student' can be more liberal)?
I have been having a conversation with Dr. Bob about the students board and thought a poll may be useful...
The board description reads:
'This is a message board for mutual support and education. It focuses on university student issues. Posting is limited to those registered with university e-mail addresses...This doesn't mean just students; other university community members are also welcome to participate'.
Now my thought here is that 'university student issues' aren't just restricted to those with 'university email addresses'. And also: why restricted to UNIVERSITY student issues as opposed to student issues in general? Also: university email addresses enable Dr. Bob (in a moment of boredom) to track down ones real identity, and of course compile stats regarding affiliation etc...
Of course, maybe people have other ideas regarding the students board. Here is a link to the start of the conversation
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20040927/msgs/395938.html
Posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:51:08
In reply to POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
okay, so maybe not the start of the conversation exactly...
sure you'll figure it out...
Posted by Dinah on October 5, 2004, at 19:53:53
In reply to POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/psycho-babble-open/
There is a polling feature there, but I thought only Dr. Bob could start polls?
Posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 20:34:08
In reply to Open is Babble's Yahoo group » alexandra_k, posted by Dinah on October 5, 2004, at 19:53:53
Thanks Dinah, I did wonder what people were talking about when they mentioned 'open'. I shall have a look. At the mo, I guess this just is the poll :-)
Posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 20:57:12
In reply to POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
Yeah, okay, so I found open and it seems that I can do a proper poll.
Unfortunately I am feeling technologically challenged at the moment so I shall go home and watch some TV. I will try to get around to it soonish. Anybody feel like deleting my good old fashioned poll posts???
(Not looking at anybody in particular, of course)
Posted by Larry Hoover on October 5, 2004, at 22:24:22
In reply to POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
One problem might well be that non-US academic addies might not appear to be academic addies. For example my academic email ends in trentu.ca The only link to university is the u.
Lar
Posted by Gabbix2 on October 6, 2004, at 19:54:45
In reply to Re: POLL about academic email addresses, posted by Larry Hoover on October 5, 2004, at 22:24:22
Students are students. Someone with three children taking a program at a local career college is under as much stress and pressure as a student at university, and they are much less likely to have on campus support systems at a small college. Time management, exams, and essays are universal student concerns they deserve to have access to on-line support.
Posted by Gabbix2 on October 6, 2004, at 20:05:47
In reply to Restriction is elitist smells of the old boysclub, posted by Gabbix2 on October 6, 2004, at 19:54:45
Also, it might be helpful for current students to recieve advice from former students who no longer have University e-mail addresses no?
gabbi-gabbi esq.
Posted by gardenergirl on October 7, 2004, at 3:11:27
In reply to Restriction is elitist+smells of the old boysclub, posted by Gabbix2 on October 6, 2004, at 20:05:47
Here is exactly why I do not wish to register using my uni-provided email address.
That address was provided to me in order to faciliate communication between the school, my department and me. The address includes my last name and first and middle initials, and thus it is quite identifying. I have it forwarded to my IRL yahoo account, which I use for all my IRL emailing. This account also has a formulation of my name as the ID, and also goes out to public forums as part of my duties with my professional organization.
When I started on Babble, I set up a Babble ID on yahoo in order to keep my Babble persona coompletely separate (at least electronically) from my IRL persona. If I were to re-register using my uni-address, that separation would be violated. That separation is necessary, IMO, for my privacy and more importantly, in order to feel able to post freely and unselfconsciously.
I believe I could learn from and offer a lot to the students board, but I cannot accept the current restrictions. I would like to see it opened up at least for a trial period. As a university student myself, I really do not feel like part of a group that needs protection and/or a "safe haven". Rather, I view the students board as a place to talk about student related issues, just as the relationships board is for relationship issues, the books board is for books and other media, etc. Need I go on?
Please lift the posting restriction on the student board.
gg
Posted by alexandra_k on October 7, 2004, at 17:33:27
In reply to POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
Those all seem to be good points. Maybe it is a toss up between over-inclusion (in the sense that people may post who aren't students) versus under-inclusion (where students don't post because of the restriction).
But now I am begging the question regarding why it is that the board is for uni students rather than student issues in general.
Shall I do a proper poll, or is this good enough to get a general opinion? Isn't there anyone who would like to have a go defending the restriction? Nobody on students board seems to care as yet...
Posted by gardenergirl on October 7, 2004, at 20:17:11
In reply to Re: POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 7, 2004, at 17:33:27
I wonder if they know this poll is here?
gg
Posted by alexandra_k on October 7, 2004, at 21:03:38
In reply to Re: POLL, posted by gardenergirl on October 7, 2004, at 20:17:11
> I wonder if they know this poll is here?
> ggI thought the one here could be useful for people who are not posting to the students forum. There is a duplicate poll that I posted to the students board but there have been no responses as yet.
Posted by gardenergirl on October 7, 2004, at 21:30:04
In reply to Re: POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 7, 2004, at 21:03:38
Cool, didn't see that one.
gg
Posted by craig getty on October 10, 2004, at 15:45:17
In reply to POLL, posted by alexandra_k on October 5, 2004, at 19:48:51
Sorry if this posted twice. I'm feling technologically challenged today.
Here's my two cents...
1. I don't think it should be restricted to people using an edu address as many students do not use their edu address. (Do high schools even give edu addresses these days? Certainly the poorer ones don't). Plus, an edu address means nothing - someone who was a student 15 years ago can still have one. And anyway, a person who was a student 15 years ago, could still have something valuable to contribute to someone who is a student today.
2. What is your definition of student? Is a working mother who can only afford to take one non-accredited adult education night school class to be excluded from discussion where they could have valuable input, such as techniques for effecitve studying or how to deal with teachers who have difficult personalities?
3. Hypothetical: Someone is a student who must drop out of school for a period of months or even years due to depression. Since they are no longer technically "a student" should they then be banned from posting?
4. Another hypothetical: A parent (who is not a student) is concerned about the behaviorial changes in their child, who is a student. Wouldn't it be to everyone's (i.e. society's) advantage to let parents have a dialogue with other actual students for clues about what's up with their kids and how to help them?
5. If Dr. Bob wants to track down statistical information on people's real identity, he should just ask. If peope are willing, they will give - otherwise, they won't. I always though PsychoBabble had personal privacy as one of its primary values.
That's how I feel. Perhaps I'm missing some major point about what the Student Board is about. It seems to me that many of the posts could/should also belong on one of the other boards. Right now, as a student myself, it's just an added step for me to check both the student board and the regular Psycho-Babble board. I actually think that the student board and all other boards should have a feature where the poster has the option of posting on 2 or more boards at once. That way a student issue about medication can go on the Psycho-Babble Students Board and the main Psycho-Babble Board; or a student issue about altenative meds can go on both appropriate boards; or posts about student (student-professor!) relationships; student with substance abuse problems (you get the idea). That way it would expose the post to more people and increase the number of posts and probability of helping the poster.
Sure, gathering statistics can be an important priority, but I think a higher priority should be what will best help the people posting.
Unless, the goal is to form a very specific, exclusive chat board like the ones on yahoo. Under this model, we must assume that students aren't interesting in hearing from anyone else. If that is the case, then why not make further subgroups: high school students, college students, grad school students.....student who live at home versus those who live on campus? etc. Even specific chat groups on yahoo don't require you to prove that you "belong" in that chat group.
Craig
This is the end of the thread.
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