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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 25 of 54. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Phillipa on October 7, 2009, at 13:41:51
Sorry guys I do think this is true. Phillipa
Posted by 10derHeart on October 7, 2009, at 17:25:36
In reply to Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by Phillipa on October 7, 2009, at 13:41:51
It must still exist in the present, as we are both posting to it right now :-) If it were only past, I suppose it wouldn't exist. I don't think that is going to happen. Many things in life can change without completely disappearing.
I just think it's anxiety-producing, sometimes, for things, people, places, to not "feel" like they used to feel. It is for me, anyway. But I believe those feelings can be tolerated and won't last forever. Change is hard, but does not necessarily destroy. Reshaping sure does hurt sometimes, and it is at the least, uncomfortable! That's kinda (partially) how I see Babble.
Babble consists of US. We hope it always consists of new people, too. That slows sometimes, and yes, it appears slow now, as well as overall posting.
As long as there are people with mental health concerns who want to find and speak to one another (and sadly, there will be always, as far as I can imagine) Babble can exist. I say, be patient, have faith, keep posting. It's all you/we can do, really.
Posted by BayLeaf on October 7, 2009, at 20:00:18
In reply to Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by Phillipa on October 7, 2009, at 13:41:51
When Babble began, it was ahead of it's time. Now, it's....well, archeologists are involved.
The way I see it is that it should return to part of it's core. The Meds board is still the best place I know of for peer med info. (I'm by no means an expert on this sort of board!)
The internet seems to thrive on niches and galactic entities. Babble's Meds board is a niche. If Bob focused his efforts on that, I think he could increase Babble's activity. That's his area of expertise after all.
Not one giant med board - separate med boards, divided by whatever schema the smart peeps wanna use.
And those poor souls desparate for med help may tolerate this text-based blast from the past.
Just my thoughts. B
Posted by Phillipa on October 7, 2009, at 20:14:37
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past » Phillipa, posted by BayLeaf on October 7, 2009, at 20:00:18
And I agree. For you both if looking back in achieves there was also a time when people posted last names also. 10der knew you'd reply. Facebook is taking a lot of folks some on my page. And the new site. Ago. Phillipa
Posted by BayLeaf on October 7, 2009, at 21:52:36
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by Phillipa on October 7, 2009, at 20:14:37
"And the new site. Ago."
Huh? What new site?
Posted by Deneb on October 7, 2009, at 22:01:41
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past » Phillipa, posted by BayLeaf on October 7, 2009, at 20:00:18
That is a really good idea! Focus on the niche that is Babble, which are meds. We need to attract more med experts to Babble. Dr. Bob, is there any way, you or some other pdoc you know can pay us a visit and answer a few questions about meds? It might attract people to Babble. Maybe advertise it on Twitter or something.
I dunno, maybe it is a bad idea. I'm just brainstorming here. :)
Posted by Phillipa on October 8, 2009, at 19:24:40
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by BayLeaf on October 7, 2009, at 21:52:36
Created by one of our own babblers. I have never google it but get all the threads written out from it as Joined. Agomelatone psyconauts I think? Phillipa
Posted by Deneb on October 8, 2009, at 20:14:22
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past » BayLeaf, posted by Phillipa on October 8, 2009, at 19:24:40
I have another idea to help Babble out. Most people find Babble through Google by searching for med info. How about if some of us go search on pubmed for med info and post the abstracts on the med's board? Maybe that will help some people find us.
Posted by BayLeaf on October 8, 2009, at 20:33:19
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past » BayLeaf, posted by Phillipa on October 8, 2009, at 19:24:40
funny...i'm just as popular in adulthood as i was in high scchol. some thing never change!
at least i smell better now. :-P
Posted by Phillipa on October 8, 2009, at 22:01:36
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past » Phillipa, posted by BayLeaf on October 8, 2009, at 20:33:19
So your're a member also. Phillipa
Posted by 10derHeart on October 9, 2009, at 2:06:37
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past » BayLeaf, posted by Phillipa on October 8, 2009, at 19:24:40
Posted by Phillipa on October 10, 2009, at 12:32:46
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by 10derHeart on October 9, 2009, at 2:06:37
10der thanks yes that's it. Thanks for finding the actual link. See your're deputy experience is something you'll always have. Sorry took so long to reply. Just busy. Love Phillipa
Posted by Dr. Bob on October 12, 2009, at 0:36:41
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by Deneb on October 7, 2009, at 22:01:41
> I don't think that is going to happen. Many things in life can change without completely disappearing.
>
> I just think it's anxiety-producing, sometimes, for things, people, places, to not "feel" like they used to feel. It is for me, anyway. But I believe those feelings can be tolerated and won't last forever. Change is hard, but does not necessarily destroy. Reshaping sure does hurt sometimes, and it is at the least, uncomfortable! That's kinda (partially) how I see Babble.
>
> > As long as there are people with mental health concerns who want to find and speak to one another ... Babble can exist. I say, be patient, have faith, keep posting.
>
> 10derHeartThanks for your positive perspective!
> The way I see it is that it should return to part of it's core. The Meds board is still the best place I know of for peer med info. (I'm by no means an expert on this sort of board!)
>
> The internet seems to thrive on niches and galactic entities. Babble's Meds board is a niche. If Bob focused his efforts on that, I think he could increase Babble's activity. That's his area of expertise after all.
>
> Not one giant med board - separate med boards, divided by whatever schema the smart peeps wanna use.
>
> BayLeaf> That is a really good idea! Focus on the niche that is Babble, which are meds. We need to attract more med experts to Babble. Dr. Bob, is there any way, you or some other pdoc you know can pay us a visit and answer a few questions about meds?
>
> I dunno, maybe it is a bad idea. I'm just brainstorming here. :)
>
> DenebThat's an interesting idea, to focus more on Meds somehow. Thanks for your brainstorming! Separate meds boards? I know Scott had some different ideas for Neurotransmitters...
Bob
Posted by Phillipa on October 12, 2009, at 0:49:35
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Future, posted by Dr. Bob on October 12, 2009, at 0:36:41
Dr Bob new meds boards definitely. Still I feel the Maois should be separate. Maybe treatment resistant also as not all are. I feel that is what frightens some newbies away. Just a different perspective. Phillipa
Posted by Deneb on October 14, 2009, at 22:56:42
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Future » Dr. Bob, posted by Phillipa on October 12, 2009, at 0:49:35
Dr. Bob, I tried doing Google searches for med info and other things, but didn't come up with Babble. I was at page 10 or so and still no Babble. It must be really hard for people to find Babble. Is there any way to increase Babble's Google ranking? Anything we can post to increase the frequency of hits of Babble?
We need to make sure the rate of new people coming and staying off sets the rate of people leaving.
Posted by jane d on October 15, 2009, at 6:40:50
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Future, posted by Deneb on October 14, 2009, at 22:56:42
> Dr. Bob, I tried doing Google searches for med info and other things, but didn't come up with Babble. I was at page 10 or so and still no Babble. It must be really hard for people to find Babble.
>Is there any way to increase Babble's Google ranking? Anything we can post to increase the frequency of hits of Babble?
>
> We need to make sure the rate of new people coming and staying off sets the rate of people leaving.
>Deneb,
I couldn't resist testing this myself. I think it depends, in part, on what you search for. For instance if you search for "abilify", to pick a fairly recent fad med, you're going to have to scroll through a lot of pages to find babble. But "abilify augment" gives babble as the first listing. Abilify + weight or problem also yields babble on the first page.It's also harder to find anything specific now because there is so much more in google. For instance you now get hits from YouTube and Google books not to mention every company and organization that now has a web site and reposts articles and press releases about just about everything - all of which come up in searches. I've been noticing this for a while when trying to look up non med subjects. At least today I wasn't seeing so many of those phony search sites.
I'd be careful about posting things just to try and increase hits from google. I'm sure we could have loads of fun coming up with suggestions (XXX +hot + fill in the blank?) but people won't stay unless babble is what they were really looking for. So no, I don't think copying abstracts from pub med just for google is a good idea. People who want pub med should go to pub med. (I did notice that an awful lot of the useless hits on the term "abilify" were sites that had pretty much just copied the prescriber information. I hope we never sink that low.)Anything that honestly made it clearer to the search engine what babble was might be a good idea however.
Bob - in that vein how about putting the word "forum" on the post page somewhere. We use "board" but I think most people now use forum. It's probably the word I would plug into a search if I wanted to limit my results to user experiences.
Jane,
rambling and it's way too late at night for her.
(something or other <> causation etc)
Posted by psych chat on October 16, 2009, at 11:58:28
In reply to Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by Phillipa on October 7, 2009, at 13:41:51
If the goal is to draw more members here, it makes sense to look at other mental health sites that do attract more traffic and determine what is about them that attracts (and sustains) new members.
I have mixed feelings about this. Some things are better left unchanged, rather than trying to conform to the status quo.
My undergraduate college was one of those small liberal arts institutions with a small student population. They have tranformed, becoming a much larger insitution. While they have attracted a larger student population, what made that college attractive no longer exists. Some of the best professors have left, and one of their niches was the quality of their human capital. I think what has happened to it is awful, it barely resembles what it had been for decades. So they now have more people attending their classes. But this does not mean it is a "better" place.
A niche may better serve the community that is the focus of this website. Maybe the smaller amount of people who use this forum makes it more charming?
Posted by psych chat on October 16, 2009, at 12:06:20
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by psych chat on October 16, 2009, at 11:58:28
Just adding something to my previous analogy for additional context...The other unique quality at that college was a small student to instructor ratio of 1:12. This was the main reason this college was #1 on my list of choices.
While I don't know the statistics, it seems this forum attracts those with treatment resistant issues and those with other uniquenesses, such as those with more advanced psychtropic knowledge.
I can't speak for others, but this could possibly be why people have chosesn to come here instead of places like Psych Central. Maybe expanding this niche will naturally attract more of that population and add utility to this forum.
There are zillions of internet sites for mental health support. Why become one of the many if a more specific population can be better served through this site?
Posted by Deneb on October 16, 2009, at 18:33:26
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Past, posted by psych chat on October 16, 2009, at 12:06:20
I hope we don't become another PsychCentral. PC is way too big and the culture is different. I like Babble much more.
It would be nice to attract a little more people to Babble though, just to balance the number of people leaving.
Posted by Maxime on October 18, 2009, at 19:25:58
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Future » Dr. Bob, posted by Phillipa on October 12, 2009, at 0:49:35
> Dr Bob new meds boards definitely. Still I feel the Maois should be separate. Maybe treatment resistant also as not all are. I feel that is what frightens some newbies away. Just a different perspective. Phillipa
I think dividing up the board is a bad idea. Who wants to have to go to different boards for everything. That's one of the things I HATE about the Crazy Meds site ... it takes too much time to navigate.
Posted by 10derHeart on October 18, 2009, at 21:01:32
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Future, posted by Maxime on October 18, 2009, at 19:25:58
Posted by Dr. Bob on October 19, 2009, at 2:47:29
In reply to Googling anything » Deneb, posted by jane d on October 15, 2009, at 6:40:50
> Bob - in that vein how about putting the word "forum" on the post page somewhere. We use "board" but I think most people now use forum. It's probably the word I would plug into a search if I wanted to limit my results to user experiences.
It would be easy to make it "list of forums" instead of "list of boards" at the top, do you mean something like that?
Bob
Posted by jane d on October 19, 2009, at 20:23:50
In reply to Re: the word 'forum', posted by Dr. Bob on October 19, 2009, at 2:47:29
> > Bob - in that vein how about putting the word "forum" on the post page somewhere. We use "board" but I think most people now use forum. It's probably the word I would plug into a search if I wanted to limit my results to user experiences.
>
> It would be easy to make it "list of forums" instead of "list of boards" at the top, do you mean something like that?
>
> BobThat would work. You would of course then lose the possibility of searching the word board And we'd have to have a long discussion about whether the change was confusing or not. Perhaps you could add it somewhere. I don't know if you even need the word to be visible on the page for google to pick it up in searches but I do know that it's won't pick up words marked in the code as a comment (tried that).
Posted by 10derHeart on October 19, 2009, at 20:40:54
In reply to Re: the word 'forum', posted by jane d on October 19, 2009, at 20:23:50
This is maybe too extreme, and people who know about such things (not me) here may point out why this is a lousy idea....but I would recommend changing all references, throughout Babble, from 'boards' to 'forums.'
I hang out regularly at least two other places, and surf some others - don't see the term message boards used any where...
JM2CW
Posted by SLS on October 20, 2009, at 6:46:24
In reply to Re: Babbles Becoming A Thing Of The Future » Dr. Bob, posted by Phillipa on October 12, 2009, at 0:49:35
> Still I feel the Maois should be separate.
Based upon what criteria?
- Scott
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