Geez, anyone who frequents SDN will know what I am talking about. They have updated their web site and added this stupid karma rating crap system. It is soooo stupid. Please assure me we will never do that here. We don’t need a false popularity contest to show our readers who’s opinions that can trust.
They can trust us all because we are all awesome.
Well, I frequent SDN also (a lurker though - I never post there though) and I missed the whole “Karma” points system. I guess I should be paying more attention. 
This is my view on the 3 main boards (OPM, SDN, and MomMD): OPM is “home” to me and the first place I go, SDN is occasionally useful and extremely entertaining to watch the “flame wars” between the (sometimes) obnoxious posters, and MomMD is where I find a lot of support and encouragement (here too - of course). MomMD has a rating system also: stars. I have 5 stars although I’m not sure why 
. I guess the others thought I was useful enough to deserve some stars.
I do pay extra special attention to OPMers who post on either SDN or MomMD and trust the viewpoints of OPMers more than those of regular posters to the other boards. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re older or what, but I can count on OPMers to deliver informed, articulate opinions whereas I can’t say the same thing about SDNers.
Love,
Stacy
The whole karma things started last weekend when they updated the site.
the bad thing is you can post comments in peoples karma comment section and nobody knows who you are. I have gotten very rude comments from folks posing as moderators. Luckily that was dealt with, but it is really crazy when people who have just started posting get a better rating than people who have been there for years. Plus people in the lounge have taken the system over and are giving points to all their frequent posters and meanwhile the pre-med thread posters are being ignored.
Basically it is being called a high-school popularity contest. Hopefully all the hype will die down soon and people will go back to posting and not worrying about the points and will quit posting rude things in people’s comment section.
Oh, so THAT’S what those little button thingees are for!
The thing I’ve found about SDN is that the quality of the comments increases as the forums move along the education pathway. For example, the pre-med forums are great for pure mis-information, chest-thumping entertainment. The medical student forums are a bit better and the resident forums (at least the EM one I follow) are fairly decent. There are still some trolls, but they are pretty quickly squashed and things move back to more useful discussion.
Take care,
Jeff
More or less, I agree w/ Jeff…as you move up the education ladder, the quality increases. However, even in the resident’s forums, you still have a few bozos. Mostly they are just clueless. It is sad that someone could allegedly reach that level of education never having taken the initiative to educate themselves on what happens AFTEr med school. That was one of the weirdest phenomena for me once I was in. In the immediate few days after I got in, I gave away all of my ‘getting into med school’ books to friends at UTD for good luck & began reading books on how to succeed in med school & to succeed in landing a quality residency slot. Hell, I had read Iserson’s “Getting into a Residency” & “The Definitive Guide for DOs Seeking MD Residencies” each cover to cover BEFORE my first class. But, even as late as years 2 & 3, I had classmates who were clueless about how the match & what-not worked. Oh well…maybe I am just anal & too driven?
Quote:
Iserson’s “Getting into a Residency”
I have already bought this and read it. It seems quite helpful. Now that you are in a residency do you think it helped you? I didn’t know about the other book you listed. I will look into buying that.
We’ll just start a new thread on this.
Man you go away for a week and miss all sorts of stuff. With my remaining vacation time I’ll have to check out the latest on SDN. I agree with Jeff’s assessment and Dave’s slight caveat; in general the residency forums are pretty informative. Not that they can’t be entertaining! There is NO greater thread that “things my patients have taught me” in the E-med forum, but “stupid things doctors, nurses, etc. have done” in the general residency forum is close. Toooo funny.
Quote:
There is NO greater thread that “things my patients have taught me” in the E-med forum,
You are SO right about that. I just love that thread. Plus, it is very educational. Why just the other day, I learned about Throckmorton’s sign.
Take care,
Jeff
OMG,I was thinking the same thing: the “Things I Learned From My Patients” Forum is my favorite SDN forum! That thread just cracks me up.
AmyB, I am officially giving you many, many karma points here. After you posted this, I went back and checked out those green bars. If you had not pointed it out, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed the karma points! I go straight to the posters’ messages and don’t pay much attention to who is posting the question, where they’re from, etc. If it’s on SDN and it’s something I’m interested in, I’ll read it. If it’s here, I’ll read it b/c I read everything on OPM obsessively. (I need to get a life). By the way, sorry to hear about your seperation. I’m not married so I can’t offer you martial advice but if you’ve made it 20 years already, you’ll make it through medical school.
Love,
Stacy
Stacy, That is so sweet
Thanks for your kind words.
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Now that’s true karma-- good idea, Dave. When I finish the MCAT I’m giving away a mess of silly books which I hope never to see AGAIN. Save someone else a few bucks too.
O.k. I seriously need to get off OPM and do so work but I have to add one more item to this thread, which I’m sorry is a little off-topic to the karma points, but my other favorite SDN thread (besides the “things I learned from my patients” in the EM forum) is “Design Your Own Rejection Letter.” Now that is a great thread! Cracks me up! There’s a pretty funny one about MIT, a purple suit, etc.
Love,
Stacy
P.S. Amy, you’re welcome.
Happy birthday Stacy
