Posted by lissa on July 15, 2001, at 21:24:35
In reply to Re: Dealing with particular posters---2, posted by Shar on July 13, 2001, at 0:05:14
Dear Shar,
I think your post raises some important questions about what sort of humor is acceptable on psycho-social-babble.
It concerns me that we are singling out Dreamer, in particular. She is certainly not the only one on psycho-babble who is unapologetically "out-there." I like her spontanaeity; I also like how she encouraged AKC to contribute and to be more spontaneous. I understand the concern about Dreamer's apparent hypomania, but I also feel her posts are a bit contrived for purposes of humor; i.e., I sense her thoughts really aren't that disconnected and that she could easily write sentences which logically followed one another if she put her mind to it. She writes like that to be funny and to add some life to the board.
Don't get me wrong, I see where you are coming from and I take the message of your post to be "people like this should not be encouraged"; also, that you are concerned that Dreamer is not seeking the help s/he needs. As I see it, over time, maybe s/he will feel more open and put up less of a front of humor, giving more details about his/her situation and asking for support. Until then, some will skip over her posts and others will chime in where they sense some resonance to their own senses of humor or situations.
As for me, my sense of humor tends to be very idiosyncratic and I will try to keep it to myself more. I feel bad that I keep confusing Willow, who is from a different culture (though, I realize there are probably many from my own culture who would not appreciate or understand my posts).
It is difficult for me, however, to see where to draw the line between acceptable humor and the unacceptable within such a diverse group. Dreamer is, by far, not the only playful, creative type among us. We are a diverse crowd in terms of our cultural backgrounds, the severity of our illnesses, our levels of education, our senses of humor, and the extent to which we are sensitive and will be offended.
I feel it would be a loss to restrict humor too much on psycho-social-babble. The group uses that board for very different purposes: 1. for humor and socializing; 2. the more serious purpose of presenting problems and seeking support (and also offering support). Maybe something should be included in the FAQ or just posted on the board about humor for those who use the board more for the second purpose (2). If I am going to post something silly again, for instance, I will indicate in the subject line an [H] for humor.
Best Wishes,
Lissa
poster:lissa
thread:1558
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20010315/msgs/1565.html