[reverett123]

DocJohn-

This one is giving me heartburn:
These forums strictly prohibit any research being conducted on them for any purpose whatsoever. Any user of this forum is prohibited from conducting research on the forums in any form, whether it be as a group or on an individual poster. You are welcomed to post announcements of clinical trials or other research topics you believe are of interest to other members in the community.

In the Parkinson's forum of BT1, a small group of us routinely tried to gather information that didn't exist elsewhere, tried things that sounded reasonable, and reorted and discussed our experiences. A recent example was a survey I did on how many of our number had problems with childhood constipation. I had checked with at least one high level doc and the data simply did not exist. It turns out that over half of us remembered such a problem. Given the fact that toxins are resorbed into the system that may be a big clue.

My point being that there is value in that type of interaction among ourselves. Now I don't want outsiders treating us as white rats but I feel that it is a huge mistake to ban us doing it to ourselves.

Can this be reconsidered? Or perhaps a special area marked off for it?

Also, what is the reasoning for prohibiting referring people to similar sites?

[BEMM]

Off topic discussions are vital to a forum.
The accumulation of knowledge a forum gathers about our specific illnesses is priceless, and the chance to vent and to find compassion is enormously important to all of us, but the off topic discussions give life to a forum.
Off topic discussions make a forum a meeting place for thoughts and ideas and humor and creative thinking. Off topic discussions allow us to get to know each other as people, not just as fellow patients by reminding us that there is still life beyond pain and suffering.

birte

[BEMM]

Everett's research is of immense importance to all of us who have Parkinson's disease. One of the main reasons a great number of us participate in the PD forum is that we feel we may make new discoveries about cause and cure by polling and comparing symptoms and reactions. Everett, as well as Ron Hutton, have done a massive amount of research, and we are all more than eager to participate in any poll or trial they propose. We happily volunteer as white rats. The idea that a cause and even better, a cure may be around the corner is what keeps many of us going strong still. You must not take that hope away from us. Everett's and Ron Hutton's ideas and labor make us feel we are actively participating in fighting back the PD monster.

birte

[DocJohn]

The ban on research is specifically focused on outsiders coming on here and studying what people are doing on the forums themselves (e.g., using the forums as an in-vitro experimental environment and "studying it"). I don't feel one can be supportive and helpful if one is worried one's words might end up in a journal somewhere, out of context and non-anonymously.

So I will clarify that guideline to specify what I'm really trying to get at there. You, of course, can do all the "in house" research you want and have always done here. People helping people is what it's all about.

John

[reverett123]

...a big THANK YOU, DocJohn. Now, if you will excuse me i will get back in my squirrel cage - there's a reward out there somewhere.

[Chemar]

Thanks DocJohn! Once again you are demonstrating the flexibility and understanding we have come to so appreciate here, while still looking out for us in terms of exploitation etc!

Originally Posted by DocJohn

The ban on research is specifically focused on outsiders coming on here and studying what people are doing on the forums themselves (e.g., using the forums as an in-vitro experimental environment and "studying it"). I don't feel one can be supportive and helpful if one is worried one's words might end up in a journal somewhere, out of context and non-anonymously.

So I will clarify that guideline to specify what I'm really trying to get at there. You, of course, can do all the "in house" research you want and have always done here. People helping people is what it's all about.

John

[annie]

Originally Posted by snoozie

If you left click and highlight all the text it appears as white letters with a blue background. I have to do that alot with the different colored font. I will never admit that I am getting old and need reading glasses though so don't even go there ...Sue

you can turn off colored fonts and colored backgrounds in your browser, and then you can set the colors for whatever you want to see. your choice will override anything a web page wants you to see.

i choose black type and white background because that has the least flicker and besides my brain is used to reading this way. i also have all type bolded.

to set your own look in internet explorer, go to Tools, then Internet Options. toward the bottom of the window you will see four buttons: Color... Fonts... Languages... Accessibility...

to set Color, click on the Color button. you will see two boxes, one for text color and one for background color. click inside these boxes on the color shown and a choice of colors will appear. click on your preferred color and click OK.

to set Fonts, click on the Fonts button. Scroll down the list on the left until you find the font you can see the best. this will be the font you will see on all web pages. the list on the right controls the fonts you see, for example, in this text box. there aren't many choices. click on OK.

to set both colors and fonts so that you will see them instead of what the web page sends, click on Accessibility. there will be three check boxes. Ignore colors specified on Web pages will make your color choices always show. you must check this box to make it happen. Ignore font styles specified on Web pages will set your preferred fonts only if you check this box. Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages will always allow you to see the larger font that you set in the Fonts button. check all three of these boxes.

check OK and when you are back to Internet Options check Ok again.

you will have to refresh to see your changes. while your browser window is the active window, press F5.

and no more light green text.

i have no idea what the background color is of this site, i have never seen it in the raw.

if you don't have Internet Explorer, one of the BrainTalk 2 geeks will come along and put in the rest of the instructions. (Bobbi, where are you?)

[Bobbi]

Right here, Annie . Excellent info. you posted!

[Doody]

Geesh, Doc John. Are you married? 'Cause you seem awfully nice and easy to get along with. *blush



Oh, sorry, lost track of myself. LOL!

Speaking of off topic. That one had me worried at first 'cause in Survivors of Suicide, it isn't exactly the place where we come in everyday and do updates on how our 'surviving' is going or how bad our suicidal thoughts are that day. We'd have OT in front of a lot of posts.

What am I trying to say. Like in Chronic Pain, or Headaches, or Fibromyalgia, a lot of us have updates for the day on how our bodies are doing. In SOS we have a lot of off topic. And at OBT that fact took a hit a couple of times. That we'd drive off people who were feeling suicidal.

I still say I'd like to see Alffe put something together for newcomers in there and to be used as a 'sticky' to let newcomers know to jump in and post.

[JD]

Ok I'll try again. with the color. I wish everyone would use something different than default, as I have a doost of a time reading plain type...even bolded would be easier for me, too

DocJohn, are these forums open to outside search engines? JD