First, not every opinion here is NOT a professional one. There are a number of medical and related professionals who post and give opinions here. I won't reveal the identities of those I know of--they can "out" themselves, like Mrs. D, if they choose--but there are a lot of informative posts here by such people (and I'm also sure there are medical people who post here I am NOT aware of).

Second, even among the "non-professionals", there are people here whose long experience and extensive research in their subjects gives them a knowledge that matches or overmatches that of many doctors and researchers. On boards I frequent, these include JCC on gluten, Rose on B12, Wings on yoga; I'm sure there are others on boards I don't frequent. Generally, as Mrs. D says, these are people who give their opinions couched in evidence as drawn from extensive databases they've compiled, and they are well worth listening to.

Third, the collective aspects of these boards work towards making our opinions well-reasoned and not mere speculation. People who go way out on a limb are likely to be called back in the context of the debate give-and-take. Often, given an accurate representation of an individual's symptoms and test results, these forums can arrive at possible diagnoses and avenues of investigation that may be more comprehensive than an individual doctor's. I've often said as regards the peripheral neuropathy board that as an aggregate I would match our skills in these areas up against any university faculty on Earth, precisely because we have expertise in so many areas AND we have access to the findings/thoughts of other experts through research. While university faculties should be able to do the same thing, they are often not as motivated as we who have suffered to find such info and answers.

In the end, as long as we label our opinions as just that--opinions--just as most doctors should, I don't think we have a problem. But it would be erroneous to assume that a lot of opinions here are not just as well-informed as one could get in a medical office. To censor our opinions would be to detract greatly from one of the main reasons for the existence of these boards.