Posted by twinleaf on November 9, 2008, at 12:40:59
In reply to Re: Research project » twinleaf, posted by Racer on November 9, 2008, at 11:21:25
I guess we will just have to have a friendly disagreement on some of these points.
Unfortunately, we all have a recent example of Bob causing pain to this community. Several posters have pointed out how careful and parsimonious Bob is with his words. This is certainly true, but, to me this is not a source of reassurance. During the extremely painful and stressful rupture which occurred here in March '08, when some long-time members began to attack and hurt others members, Bob was begged for help. He did not respond for several weeks. When he finally did, it was in a two-line reply about some tiny detail. There was never a word about what had happened, nor any guidance or leadership. There was no recognition of the fact that a few people had gotten abused verbally. The reason the crisis resolved was because a number of Babblers worked together to calm things down. While I realize that most of the responsibility was ours, I do think a few calming, thoughtful words from Bob would have helped a lot. A number of people were so badly hurt that they left (some have probably returned with new names). In that instance, I felt that Bob avoided responsibility altogether. Since then, he has always seemed to me to hide behind small sentences which impart little to no information. And, if he has already avoided his responsibility to us once, he may well do so again. I am not implying that he acted in such a way as to purposefully hurt anyone; I am sure he did not mean any harm. it's just that he has a rather silent, minimalist style of communication which he apparently cannot alter even if circumstances clearly require a different set of responses.
You are right that, strictly speaking, we "don't know enough to draw any any conclusions".(that's my principle objection!) .But, in the absence of any details, we have to make the best estimates we can about what is going to happen. Each of has to do that- it's part of taking good care of ourselves). I do think that it is reasonable to assume that, if the study involves Babble, at least some of the study participants will have to be here. It's reasonable, also, that there could be a control group who will not be here. If this weren't the case, why would he make an announcement about it? If the study involved reading Babble, or studying the archives,(a unique source of wonderful case histories- much better than what you usually find in journals) there's no need to say anything.
I guess I should have spoken for myself only. I will feel like a second-class citizen of Babble if I have to deal with study members who know things that I don't know about the study.
I agree completely on one point- if the study members eventually find Babble a valuable resource , that would be wonderful. I don't think there's ever been a problem about welcoming anyone here. We all need one another and are enriched by knowing everyone who chooses to share parts of their lives here.
poster:twinleaf
thread:861412
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20081003/msgs/861767.html