For Lovers of Law & Order & more.
Olive Eye
Murphy's Mostly Immutable Laws
Disclaimer:
The following laws(sic) may or may not hold true, depending on
circumstances, the person/people involved, or when superceded by local or
regional laws or regulations. The First Church of Murphy's Law assumes
no responsibility for events resulting from either following or breaking
these laws.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MURPHY'S LAW:
If anything can go wrong, it will.
Murphy's Corollary:
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
Murphy's Corollary:
It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
ingenious
Murphy's Constant:
Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value
Quantisized Revision of Murphy's Law:
Everything goes wrong all at once.
O'Toole's Commentary:
Murphy was an optimist.
Ralph's Observation:
It is a mistake to allow any mechanical object to realize that you are
in a hurry.
Cole's Law:
Thinly sliced cabbage
Firestone's Law of Forcasting:
Chicken Little only has to be right once.
Manly's Maxim:
Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with
confidence.
Moer's truism:
The trouble with most jobs is the job holder's resemblence to being one
of a sled dog team. No one gets a change of scenery except the lead dog.
Cannon's Comment:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire,
the next morning you will have a flat tire.
Scott's Second Law:
When an error has been detected and corrected, it will be found to have
been correct in the first place.
Finagle's First Law:
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
Finagle's Second Law:
No matter what the experiment's result, there will always be someone
eager to:
(a) misinterpret it.
(b) fake it.
or
(c) believe it supports his own pet theory.
Finagle's Third Law:
In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, beyond all
need of checking, is the mistake.
Finagle's Fourth Law:
Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it
worse.
Gumperson's Law:
The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its
desirability.
Rudin's Law:
In crises that force people to choose among alternative courses of
action, most people will choose the worst one possible.
Ginsberg's Restatement of the Three Laws of Thermodynamics:
You can't win.
You can't break even.
You can't quit.
Ehrman's Commentary
Things will get worse before they will get better. Who said things would
get better?
Commoner's Second Law of Ecology:
Nothing ever goes away.
Howe's Law:
Everyone has a scheme that will not work.
Zymurgy's First Law of Evolving Systems Dynamics:
Once you open a can of worms, the only way to recan them is to use a
bigger can.
Non-Reciprocal Law of Expectations:
Negative expectations yield negative results.
Positive expectations yield negative results.
Klipstein's Law:
Tolerances will accumulate unidirectionally toward maximum difficulty of
assembly.
Interchangeable parts won't.
You never find a lost article until you replace it.
Glatum's Law of Materialistic Acquisitiveness:
The perceived usefulness of an article is inversely proportional to its
actual usefulness once bought and paid for.
Lewis' Law:
No matter how long or hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it,
it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.
If nobody uses it, there's a reason.
You get the most of what you need the least.
The Airplane Law:
When the plane you are on is late, the plane you want to transfer to is
on time.
Etorre's Observation:
The other line moves faster.
First Law of Revision:
Information necessitiating a change of design will be conveyed to the
designer after - and only after - the plans are complete.
(Often called the 'Now They Tell Us' Law)
Second Law of Revision:
The more innocuous the modification appears to be, the further its
influence will extend and the more plans will have to be redrawn.
Corollary to the First Law of Revision:
In simple cases, presenting one obvious right way versus one obvious
wrong way, it is often wiser to choose the wrong way, so as to expedite
subsequent revision.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
I. Any given program, when running, is obsolete.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
II. Any given program costs more and takes longer.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
III. If a program is useful, it will have to be changed.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
IV. If a program is useless, it will have to be documented.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
V. Any program will expand to fill available memory.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
VI. The value of a program is proportional to the weight of its output.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
VII. Program complexity grows until it exceeds the capabilities of the
programmer who must maintain it.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
VIII. Any non-trivial program contains at least one bug.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
IX. Undetectable errors are infinite in variety, in contrast to
detectable errors, which by definition are limited.
LAWS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING:
X. Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.
Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology:
There's always one more bug.
Shaw's Principle:
Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to
use it.
Law of the Perversity of Nature:
You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the bread to
butter.
Law of Selective Gravity:
An object will fall so as to do the most damage.
Jennings Corollary to the Law of Selective Gravity:
The chance of the bread falling with the butter side down is directly
proportional to the value of the carpet.
Wyszkowski's Second Law:
Anything can be made to work if you fiddle with it long enough.
Sattinger's Law
It works better if you plug it in.
Lowery's Law:
If it jams - force it.
If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.
Schmidt's Law:
If you mess with a thing long enough, it'll break.
Anthony's Law of Force
Don't force it - get a bigger hammer.
Cahn's Axiom:
When all else fails, read the instructions.
Gordon's First Law:
If a project is not worth doing at all, it's not worth doing well.
Law of Research:
Enough research will tend to support your theory.
Maier's Law:
If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed of.
Peer's Law:
The solution to the problem changes the problem.
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and
finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment
of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the
hard way. - Bokonon
Help a man when he is in trouble and he will remember you when he is in
trouble again.
You can lead a man to slaughter, but you can't make him think.
Don't get mad, get even.
Carson's Law:
It's better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick.
The Golden Rule:
He who has the gold, makes the rules.
Mark's mark:
Love is a matter of chemistry; sex is a matter of physics.
Korman's conclusion:
The trouble with resisting temptation is it may never come your way
again.
Knight's Law:
Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans.
Maugham's Thought:
Only a mediocre person is always at his best.
Krueger's Observation:
A taxpayer is someone who does not have to take a civil service exam in
order to work for the government.
Benchley's Law of Distinction:
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are
two kinds of people in the world and those who don't.
Harver's Law:
A drunken man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
Schmidt's Observation:
All things being equal, a fat person uses more soap than a thin person.
Gibb's Law:
Infinity is one lawyer waiting for another.
Fools rush in where fools have been before.
Rule of Accuracy:
When working towards the solution of a problem, it always helps if you
know the answer.
Inside every small problem is a large problem struggling to get out.
Wyszowski's Law:
No experiment is reproducible.
Fett's Law:
Never replicate a successful experiment.
Brooke's Law:
Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool discovers
something which either abolishes the system or expands it beyond
recognition.
The first Myth of Management:
It exists.
Spend sufficient time confirming the need and the need will disappear.
Peter's Placebo:
An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.
Zymurgy's Law of Volunteer Labour:
People are always available for work in the past tense.
Wiker's Law:
Government expands to absorb revenue and then some.
Clarke's First Law:
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is
possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is
impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Clarke's Third Law:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Segal's Law:
A man with a watch knows what time it is.
A man with two watches is never sure.
Weiler's Law:
Nothing is impossible for the man who does not have to do it himself.
Weinberg's Second Law:
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, the
first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.
Hartley's Second Law:
Never go to bed with anybody crazier than you are.
Beckhap's Law:
Beauty times brains equals a constant.
Katz's Law:
Men and women will act rationally when all other possibilities have been
exhausted.
Cole's Axiom:
The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population
is growing.
Vique's Law:
A man without a religion is like a fish without a bicycle.
Jone's Motto:
Friends come and go but enemies accumulate.
Churchill's commentary on man:
Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he
will pick himself up and continue on.
The ultimate Law:
All general statements are false.
The Unspeakable Law:
As soon as you mention something; if it is good, it goes away; if it is
bad, it happens.
The Whispered Rule:
People will believe anything if you whisper it.
The First Law of Wing Walking:
Never let hold of what you've got until you've got hold of something
else.
Eat a live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will
happen to you the rest of the day.
Farnsdick's corollary:
After things have gone from bad to worse, the cycle will repeat itself.
Lynch's Law:
When the going gets tough, everybody leaves.
Law of Revelation:
The hidden flaw never remains hidden.
Langsam's Law:
Everything depends.
Hellrung's Law:
If you wait, it will go away.
Shevelson's Extension:
... having done its damage.
Grelb's Addition:
... if it was bad, it will be back.
Grossman's Misquote:
Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers.
Ducharme's Precept:
Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment.
First Postulate of Isomurphism:
Things equal to nothing else are equal to each other.
The Unapplicable Law:
Washing your car to make it rain doesn't work.
Witten's Law:
Whenever you cut your fingernails, you will find a need for them an hour
later.
Perkin's postulate:
The bigger they are, the harder they hit.
Harrison's Postulate:
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
Conway's Law:
In every organization there will always be one person who knows what is
going on.
This person must be fired.
Stewart's Law of Retroaction:
It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
MacDonald's Second Law:
Consultants are mystical people who ask a company for a number and give
it back to them.
First Law of Laboratory Work:
Hot glass looks exactly the same as cold glass.
Handy Guide to Modern Science:
1. If it's green or it wiggles, it's biology.
2. If it stinks, it's chemistry.
3. If it doesn't work, it's physics.
To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
The Sausage Principle:
People who love sausage and respect the law should never watch either
one being made.
Horngren's Observation: (generalized)
The real world is a special case.
Merkin's Maxim:
When in doubt, predict that the present trend will continue.
Hawkin's Theory of Progress:
Progress does not consist of replacing a theory that is wrong with one
that is right. It consists of replacing a theory that is wrong with one
that is more subtly wrong.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by
stupidity.
Matz's warning:
Beware of the physician who is great at getting out of trouble.
Gold's Law:
If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
Lewis' Law:
People will buy anything that's one to a customer.
Law of Reruns:
If you have watched a TV series only once, and you watch it again, it
will be a rerun of the same episode.
Shirley's Law:
Most people deserve each other.
Forgive and remember.
Woltman's Law:
Never program and drink beer at the same time.
Gallois' Revelation:
If you put tomfoolery into a computer, nothing comes out but tomfoolery.
But this tomfoolery, having passed through a very expensive machine, is
somehow enobled, and no one dares to criticize it.
Galbraith's Law of Political Wisdom:
Anyone who says he is not going to resign, four times, definitely will.
Allen's Law:
Almost anything is easier to get into than out of.
Allen's Axiom:
When all else fails, follow instructions.
Allen's Distinction:
The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get
much sleep.
You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think.
Avery's Observation:
It does not matter if you fall down as long as you pick up something
from the floor while you get up.
Berra's Law:
You can observe a lot just by watching.
Bicycle Law:
All bicycles weigh 50 pounds:
A 30 pound bicycle needs a 20 pound lock.
A 40 pound bicycle needs a 10 pound lock.
A 50 pound bicycle doesn't need a lock.
Cohen's Law:
What really matters is the name you succeed in imposing on the facts,
not the facts themselves.
Colson's Law:
When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
Comin's Law:
People will accept your idea much more readily if you tell them Benjamin
Franklin said it first.
Fourth Law of Thermodynamics:
If the probability of success is not almost one, then it is damned near
zero.
Gerrold's Laws of Infernal Dynamics:
1. An object in motion will be heading in the wrong direction.
2. An object at rest will be in the wrong place.
Goldwyn's Law of Contracts.
A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
Jacquin's Postulate on Democratic Government:
No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in
session.
Jone's Principle:
Needs are a function of what other people have.
Langin's Law:
If things were left to chance, they'd be better.
In America, it's not how much an item costs that matters, it's how much
you save.
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, maybe
you just don't understand the situation.
Mencken's Metalaw:
For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is
always wrong.
Sevareid's Law:
The chief cause of problems is solutions.
Thoreau's Law:
If you see a man approaching you with the obvious intention of doing you
good, you should run for your life.
Peer's Law:
The solution to the problem changes the problem.
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
Lyall's Conjecture:
If a computer cable has one end, then it has another.
Lyall's Fundamental Observation:
The most important leg of a three legged stool is the one that's
missing.
Pournelle's Law of Costs and Schedules:
Everything costs more and takes longer.
Klipstein's Lament:
All warranty and guarantee clauses are voided by payment of the invoice.
Klipstein's Observation:
Any product cut to length will be too short.
Sueker's Note:
If you need n items of anything, you will have n - 1 in stock.
Rosenfield's Regret:
The most delicate component will be dropped.
de la Lastra's Law:
After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access
cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been
removed.
de la Lastra's Corollary:
After an access cover has been secured by 16 hold-down screws, it will
be discovered that the gasket has been ommitted.
Design flaws travel in groups.
You can't fight the law of conservation of energy but you sure can
bargain with it.
Gerrold's Fundamental Truth:
It's a good thing money can't buy happiness. We couldn't stand the
commercials.
Gerrold's Law:
A little ignorance can go a long way.
Lyall's Addendum:
... in the direction of maximum harm.
Gerrold's Pronouncement:
The difference between a politician and a snail is that a snail leaves
its slime behind.
When a man laughs at his misfortunes, he loses a great many friends.
They never forgive the loss of their perogative.
H. L. Mencken
An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a
cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
H. L. Mencken
Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sure
sign he expects to be paid for it.
H. L. Menchen
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and
deserve to get it good and hard.
H.L. Menchen
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.
H. L. Menchen
Arcana Coelestica:
Archbishop - A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that
obtained by Christ.
Puritanism - The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
H. L. Menchen
Adultary is the application of democracy to love.
H. L. Menchen
The Arithmetic of Cooperation:
When you're adding up committees
there's a useful rule of thumb:
that talents make a difference,
and follies make a sum.
Piet Hein
The Ultimate Wisdom
Philosophers must ultimately find their true perfection in knowing all
the follies of mankind by introspection.
Piet Hein
Murphy's Military Laws:
1. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
Murphy's Military Laws:
2. No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
Murphy's Military Laws:
3. Friendly fire ain't.
Murphy's Military Laws:
4. The most dangerous thing in the combat zone is an officer with a map.
Murphy's Military Laws:
5. The problem with taking the easy way out is that the enemy has
already mined it.
Murphy's Military Laws:
6. The buddy system is essential to your survival; it gives the enemy
somebody else to shoot at.
Murphy's Military Laws:
7. The further you are in advance of your own positions, the more likely
your artillery will shoot short.
Murphy's Military Laws:
8. Incoming fire has the right of way.
Murphy's Military Laws:
9. If your advance is going well, you are walking into an ambush.
Murphy's Military Laws:
10. The quartermaster has only two sizes, too large and too small.
Murphy's Military Laws:
11. If you really need an officer in a hurry, take a nap.
Murphy's Miltary Laws:
12. The only time suppressive fire works is when it is used on abandoned
positions.
Murphy's Military Laws:
13. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming
friendly fire.
Murphy's Military Laws:
14. There is nothing more satisfying that having someone take a shot at
you, and miss.
Murphy's Military Laws:
15. Don't be conspicuous. In the combat zone, it draws fire. Out of the
combat zone, it draws sergeants.
Murphy's Military Laws:
16. If your sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
Conrad's Conundrum:
Technologie don't transfer.
Conrad's Conundrum:
Technologie don't transfer.
Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.
Herbert Hoover
Nature sides with the hidden flaw.
Ed Anderson
Olive Eye <oliv...@aol.com> spewed:
[somebody else's list unabriged list of Murphy's Law jokes]
Great, next it will be Knock Knock jokes.
As long as we're filling up everyone's news spool, let's go back to an
earlier time. Relax. Think back about five months. Do you remember that
fine holiday spirit you expressed, just around the beginning of the new
year? You felt it was time for a change and made some suggestions. You
ended it with *this*:
> There must be some alternative to the calcified cultures and narrow
> thinking of the NPF and mainstream medicine.
>
> This newsgroup has a certain charming anarchy I'd hate to lose. At
> the same time, it could use some policing of the spam-meisters, and a
> modicum of organization and structure to the wide-ranging
> subject-discussions, so they are more user-friendly. One suggestion
> is to "elect" a newsgroup "board" to merely organize, summarize and/or
> provide a weekly "overview of main subjects -- without censoring any
> individual messages. Beyond that, I would expect we all could enjoy a
> lively discussion about how to improve the newsgroup's usefulness, and
> finding better, safer solutions, faster.
I answered your holiday greeting with a rather long essay which you
thought good enough to repost twice in new threads because you felt it
it deserved comment. What ever happened to that OliveEye who was willing
to organize and contribute, but not censor? What I'm trying to do is
very similar to what you proposed. Apparently I'm going about it in the
wrong way. YOU made a call for action. Now you are disrupting it.
Reposting the essay is borderline hammering, and not very lighthearted,
but rather than post the somewhat similar guide as counterpoint to your
mockery, this is something that you once showed appreciation for. It's a
bit dated, but perhaps you might offer some constructive suggestions
on the other document after recalling this.
I think it's best I that I take a break from the group for a while and
just watch it follow its own course again. As a friend has told me, I'm
suffering from "compassion fatigue." This is all pretty tedious, even
for a turtle like me. I'll still be around, but not as easily drawn out
of my shell. I encourage everyone to ignore my heavy handedness and go
on with providing support in whatever way you think best.
-- Ed
_______________________________________________
From: oliv...@aol.com (Olive Eye)
Subject: New Ideas, New Energy, New Year - 1
Date: 29 Dec 1997 17:12:14 GMT
I have copied and moved Ed's response (see below) to an earlier message
I wrote, and given it a new subject heading unto itself -- and a forum
for others to take it further. Though I disagree with some of his
interpretations of my criticisms, and some of his suggested solutions as
well, he makes many excellent points that should be considered,
discussed, and action taken.
Already, a "Survey" idea has gotten a response, and those wishing to add
to that discussion can find its "Development Group Forum (DGF)" under
the subject: "New Ideas 2 -- DGF Survey"
_______________________________________________
From: Ed Anderson
Date: Sat, Dec 27, 1997 05:27 EST
Hi OliveEye and friends,
I share your wishes for all to have a warm and peaceful holiday season.
Your thoughts reflect the views of many others, and they have given me
cause to ponder some new years resolutions. Please don't take this too
personally, It's been bottled up for quite a while and you just happened
to pop the cork by putting your finger on it. I know you're pretty mad
about your experience with the overmarketed P treatments. We all would
love to find a safe and effective treatment. Do you mind if I try to
put a positive spin on what you've written?
I'm glad you found this newsgroup. This is the best way I know of to
stay informed about new developments. As a group we have a huge pool of
knowledge and experience. It is very empowering to know what your
options are. It helps you take charge of your own well being, rather
than relying on others to come up with answers. Knowledge *is* power.
I don't mean just hearing about the treatment du jour, but being able to
evaluate it with a critical eye. Not just getting emotional support when
we need it, but learning how others cope with similar problems.
It's a pity that this shared knowledge evaporates so quickly here in the
newsgroup. Some of us don't mind repeating the basic pointers for new
arrivals. There's always a new twist. I try to package the knowledge and
make it as accessable a possible. Please feel free to point all
newcomers to my archive site where they can find answers to questions
they hadn't thought to ask yet.
Despite all their efforts to be informative yet responsible, the
National Psoriasis Foundation has taken quite a bit of undeserved heat
over the Skin-Cap issue. Should they have provided earlier information
about the unknown drug? No, that would have only encouraged even more
desperate people to order it by the case. Should they be lobbying on
our behalf to keep a still unidentified drug on the market? No, that
would be as irresponsible as the saveskincap site, a definitive source
of psoriasis misinformation on the web. If you have something specific
in mind that they might do to help those who got hurt, or that might
help prevent it from happening again, please speak up.
The NPF does a very good job of educating doctors and patients about
their options and the associated risks. They provide solid information,
not rumors and false hopes. They organize local support groups for
emotional support and I have never heard of anyone being turned away
when they called the NPF for help. They offer referrals for members to
local specialiasts. The NPF has not become "absorbed in self-
perpetuation." They are taking an active role in providing help via
their excellent web site, new campaigns to raise public awareness, and
speaking on our behalf when key issues are being decided by the FDA
which might affect our health. They don't have the money needed to fund
research directly, so they direct seed grants to get the research going.
They depend on devoted member volunteers and contributions for much of
this effort.
As for the pharmaceutical companies not developing any "real"
treatments, it is my understanding that much of the pure research is
funded by grants that come from the drug manufacturers. Perhaps there
are ways of making more alternative avenues attractive to the drug
companies, or getting other commercial segments interested in funding
research. Writing letters instead to agencies making accusations and
asking them to "Save Skin-Cap" only damages our credibility and hurts
our cause. We need more constructive ideas.
Rather than putting down the NPF for not having all the answers,
suggesting that they are backward and outdated, and calling for the
creation of some new entity to replace them, look instead at all the
great things that they do and see if you can find ways to improve on it.
You mention all the things that the NPF should be doing but you don't
suggest just how they might get there. They are not "calcified" and
"narrow-minded". Have you thought of making some specific suggestions to
them? I have, and I find them pretty friendly and responsive. The NPF's
http://www.psoriasis.org web site is the result of an enormous volunteer
effort by someone who doesn't like to take credit for it. If you have
something particular in mind you'd like to see, but don't want to do it
on your own, why not offer your suggestions? If you think the NPF should
hire professionals to manage the site, consider making a large targeted
donation or rallying others with deeper pockets. Perhaps your employer
would consider making a matching donation? Bringing down the NPF is a
step back towards the dark ages. Publicly stating your dissatisfaction
with them does a disservice to us all. My donation will no doubt go
toward paying for the staff to answer angry calls to their 800 number.
Someone who was thinking of donating probably decided not to.
You mentioned on-line surveys. I've been playing with some prototypes at
my site and looking at ways to keep them as unbiased as possible. I
thought it might be a way of compiling a FAQ from the huge volume of
past postings. I would very much like to set up an interactive survey
which would allow users to expand the survey on their own by adding new
questions and categories. I agree that this could be a very powerful
tool which the NPF could put to good use. The project has been idling
for lack of impetus. Perhaps you could provide that.
Part of your disappointment is surely a rebound from the raised
expectations of quick relief claimed in the ads for the products you
tried. I think we deserve more honesty in advertising and I do what I
can to force that change. It isn't a very popular cause and I can get
tedious at times, but I strongly feel that misinformation can be more
dangerous than lack of information, especially when it is done to
improve profit margins at our expense. If you had heard the cautions in
this group before trying Skin-Cap, you might not have had to suffer the
rebound flare from stopping. Perhaps you might think of ways to improve
readership, or make the group more paletable. It's nice to see more
people asking the advertisers to stay out of the group. I think we
should tolerate a minimum of advertising, and have a standing boycott of
any company's products or services that won't respect our wishes. Don't
hesitate to let a company know how you feel by email. If nothing else,
it will keep them too busy to post in the group. To avoid any brand
bias, we should use generic names whenever it makes sense.
I can understand why very few doctors contribute here. They shouldn't
have to answer for the entire medical establishment. We should try to
treat them with a bit more courtesy. Also why many professional sites
don't link to the newsgroup. The signal to noise ratio can be dismal at
times. I've offered my own suggestions in the past on how to improve
things. Anything that makes the many posts easier to read will help:
Make shorter posts [this is a bad example].
Remove any extra fluff in the way of *quotes* and signature files.
Summarize instead of quoting, but be careful of misinterpreting.
Ignore obvious spam and trolls. Not everyone sees them.
Try to stay within the realm of psoriasis.
Don't try to defend your honor or have the last word.
Don't post in anger; sleep on it and find a constructive solution.
Avoid posting anything that might cause harm if misunderstood.
I know this sounds like a reprimand but I mean it to be positive. This
is not meant to stifle creativity or supress any opinions. I encourage
everyone who has anything to contribute to jump right into the fray.
You suggested electing a newsgroup "board" to organize and summarize the
postings each week in an uncensored way. What an excellent idea. I
hereby nominate you, Olive Eye, to be in charge of the project.
Seriously, I think the task is too much for any one person and I don't
think putting the summaries back into the newsgroup where they just
expire again is appropriate. The summaries belong on a web site where
they will be visible to the world and indexed by robots to help people
find the answers they are searching for. I'd like to help that happen by
using surveys to choose the best posts from the archive. I hadn't
thought of doing it on a weekly basis, but that is certainly a
possibility. I can imagine an email address that everyone could
forward their favorite articles as they read them. The article ID's
could be tallied and the top ten could be presented as a summary on a
web page. Just a thought.
If you have the dedication to read every post and summarize each week, I
offer you the web space for your column, and I wouldn't be surprised if
the NPF might too. There are several writers in the group who might be
willing to contribute.
You are full of interesting ideas. Please don't be too frustrated that
others don't pick up on them. The only way to make things happen is to
get out and do it yourself. My own attitude about "organized" medicine
has changed as I have realized that complaining doesn't help at all.
I've presented several ideas to the NPF and it is very satisfying to see
them pick up the ball and run with it, with the results sometimes
appearing in the bulletin (woo hoo). If you don't get the response you
expect but you think the idea is solid, try it on your own. It might
just need a "proof of concept" demonstration. I would be willing to host
a volunteer mailing list, but I'd rather see the ideas discussed here,
where they might be an inspiration to others. If anyone needs help
setting up their own psoriasis web page, I'd be happy to help.
Well, time to climb down from the podium again and mingle with all my
friends at this party. Beware of standing under the mistletoe or you
might get more than just a flaky <<hug>>. Happy New Year, everyone!
-- Ed "I have visions of surgarplums, too" Anderson