A note on the various kinds of threads that get posted here

It must be the librarian in me (I used to be one) but sometimes I just can't resist the urge to make classes and categories out of stuff.

For example, I found myself the other day thinking about and jotting down, just for the heck of it, the kinds of threads that get posted here on this forum on a recurring basis.

So here are, off the top of my head, what seem to be the repeating categories of threads that regularly appear here:

O requests and pleas for help ("I was just diagnosed with PCa and ...") ("My husband was just diagnosed with PCa and ...")
O requests for information ("Does anyone know about this drug and how effective it is?")
O reports on recent medical advances ("The FDA announces the release of this new drug ...") ("New breakthrough in treatment ...")
O cancer-related topics (sometimes about PCa, other times not) ("Cancer genome in families...") ("Social views toward cancer changing")
O medical topics more generally ("Hospitals becoming hi-tech") ("Medical schools updating training")
O personal reports from members, how we're doing ("My PSA went down") ("Starting treatment next week")
O personal reports from members, actually personal ("My grandson did this the other day!") ("We're going on vacation!")
O person-to-person (Member A posts message to Member B, but we all see it)
O humor threads, especially Friday
O forum policy, especially as explained by the mods, including warnings to tone it down
O Off topic. Occasional threads on lots of non-cancer stuff, posted to amuse or inform, and to take the edge off some of the seriousness that can build up around here.

So, does it look like I have got them all, or maybe most of them? If you can think of any I have omitted, feel free to mention them in a post below.

This is certainly not a superimportant topic, to be sure, and, yes, maybe I do have too much time on my hands to be posting about the kinds of threads we have here, but maybe it's also sort of revealing to do this, as it sort of suggests to us the kinds of things we think about around here.

looks like a good list. As a poet sometimes I like to look at the negative space - what we don't post about. For example, there hasn't been a "Happy Father's day" thread in a long time.

Interesting...

Alephnull -

Thanks for the kind words!

And I totally agree with your mention of the philosophical quandary about having a category/non-category for nothing!

Maybe its best to leave nothing in a kind of limbo.

But what a minute! If it's in limbo, is it somewhere or is it nowhere? <grin>!

I also think any man who raises a child is a father. I stumbled into the role by helping my former girlfriend raise her daughter from the age of four until she was an adult. I’m grateful for the the opportunity. With the kid being a girl it wasn’t too difficult until she hit 13, and then I had to be the bad guy sometimes. Lol.

Thanks, Rob

Some threads request opinions what, for me, differs from requesting information.

Let's see, mattam suggests that "nutritional stuff" should be a category, as threads on diet and nutrition appear here a lot, and make for useful, if sometimes controversial, conversations.

Good choice. I think he's right about that.

Wings of Eagles mentions "philosophical threads" as a candidate, and even references "... the ones that make you think … like what the xxx!!! did logo just say?" (Maybe Logoslidat should have been assigned his own category?)

And jmadrid thought of having a category for opinions, as opposed to requests for information. A reasonable possibility, although, as garyi then notes, sometimes it may be difficult to tell the difference.

So, some good suggestions for rounding out the originally proposed list.

Any more, or shall we assume that the list is about nearing completion?

Thanks for the additional input!

oldbeek -

Yes, a thread category something like "Treatment side effects: reports on and feedback requests for dealing with" would be a worthwhile addition.

halbert -

I can see three possible uses for this list.

O as a reminder for those of us already here of the kinds of things we talk about, already summarized in the list: the scope of our usual discussions here

O as an information item available to new people who come here, giving them an idea of what we talk about here

O as a source of ideas for anyone who might read the list and think "Oh, I hadn't thought of that, I believe I'll post a question on that topic."

There are likely other ways to make use of this list.

So, would the moderators want to reference this list in the information provided to newcomers?

AJMan -

At this point, as far as I'm concerned what to do with ball on this proposed list is now in the moderators' court, if they're interested in including it, perhaps with modifications they may deem fit, in something like forum welcome literature.

I'm okay with it either way, whether they want to use it or not.

But you're right, it might be a bit of work to implement use of the list categories some way in searches, but first let's see what the mods' thinking is.

Hello 81GyGuy,

That's a wonderful, comprehensive assessment of the thread categories ... your sharp thinking at work, once again!

Through the years, I have also appreciated posts that have a GLOBAL or CULTURAL aspect ... comrades writing in from across the globe --- sharing a treatment that is or is not available in a particular country --- asking what medications might be approved in other countries --- and these posts lead to a GLOBAL or CULTURAL form of camaraderie, global education, and learning about treatments and medications available across the globe.

I guess when we have posts from all over the globe, I get a deeper sense of how we are ALL in this together. When I visit Mayo Clinic a couple of times each year, I see patients from ALL OVER THE GLOBE --- 150 foreign countries each year, I have been told. It is in THAT MOMENT, seeing patients from every culture you can imagine, that I am humbled.

The first time I visited Mayo Clinic a few years ago, I met a fellow prostate cancer patient. He was from Cypress. He became very emotional, telling me how much he VALUED the expertise he was finding here in the United States. He told me that his journey of thousands of miles, to reach a clinic here in the United States, meant the world to him.

Conversely, we have comrades here, who have traveled across the globe to seek out new treatments, scans, or medical expertise.

I just appreciate the fact that this website DOES have a cultural and GLOBAL sense of comradeship, as well.

Thanks for your thoughtful posts, 81GyGuy!

Handshake from across the miles,
CYCLONE ~ Iowa State University