Another thread begun this week raised the topic of who among this community may have better knowledge than others (that is just my perception of the issue as set forth in the writer's post). Started me thinking about this community bulletin board and what a wonderful resource it is.

Years ago (maybe as many as 10) there were few public bulletin boards. I happened to find myself eagerly participating in one - and as it grew, the owner asked me to become a moderator. I also served in that capacity for a 12 step online support group. Those experiences gave me a good look at how these resources work (and thus some ability to sort out the good ones from the bad).

Moderators serve several functions. They may bring specialized knowledge to a particular topic. They may serve as peace-makers as well as police persons (removing posts in violation of TOS -- Terms of Service).

But the real strength of a well-run BB lies in the members who participate. If the Board is strong and well-run, I feel safer in sharing more information with you. The more I read from different members, especially ones who have posted often and with information I have found reliable, the safer I feel relying on whatever information they may share.

As a result, I find my own research needs reduced. Someone has described something similar to my case and often given me a link to the appropriate research. I cannot count the number of times I have "educated" one of my medical team members about something I learned on this BB (after all, the amount of research produced annually is huge and I don't expect my medical professional to have necessarily read it or even heard of it).

The more Vioxx and Avandia stories I hear, the more I shade all Big Pharma information with the cloak of self-interested deception.

This BB is where I learned about BioFreeze (which actually seems to give me at least a half point drop in pain when I use it).

And magnets (not using them just now -- need to learn a bit more about their proper use)!

So thank you for reading. That earlier post stirred up some memories and I wanted to describe why I think this resource (which, ironically, is sponsored by some medical resource for-profit company) is so valuable and helpful to me. And thank you for your postings which make this BB a key part of my medical care planning.

Cowboy