I'm disappointed ...

I thought Chat was a wicked place, where people who have a few things going on (or are closely involved with such people) go for support and conversation.

Today there was some journalist dumbass doing "research" - and he was allowed to stay?! While I understand the forum is for everybody, his initial comments (that he was doing research on people who pretend to be other people on the Internet, or some such bollocks) made me extremely uncomfortable, and I noticed a few other people becoming angsty too (and refrain from participating in the conversation).

I find it very unprofessional that the moderators (I assume there is one) did not ask this person to leave. It is similar to me (I have a PhD in psychology) trying to get research participants from the chatroom, in a very non-ethical manner, or someone (I gather there are a few of you) who has a counselling degree trying to poach business.

I thought this was an excellent site, however I'm really disappointed that people can come on and ask investigative questions for a journalism article in a chatroom where some participants are obviously quite sensitive. There is certainly no way I would ask a question or reveal anything about myself in that sort of situation ...

This person could have posted in a forum and left his email address, not taken up a voyeuristic position in chat.

If this is allowed to happen, god knows what else does - I have definitely downgraded my opinion of this site and don't see myself returning. Good luck to you all, some of you are really lovely people and I hope things work out for you.

Actually, research is against the rules here. It might have been that a moderator was not in the chat room at the time. What was the screenname for the person who was conducting research??

DocJohn put him off insisting that the guy PMoremail? him after the chat with all the indepth questions/answers he wasnted. I agree it was uncomfortable, but it's DocJohn's chat.

JohnW... and he was there while DocJohn was in the room Chat was rather disapointing tonight I agree, however I'm not leaving the site because of one dissapointing chat session.

sunflower,

i'm sorry that you feel like leaving the site after one, what i see as unavoidable event, occured. i hope you don't. i enjoy chatting with you and hope you reconsider.

did anything horrible happen or something like that of which i'm not aware? i sure hope not.

if you do, i wish you well.

kd

Of course it is DocJohn's chat, but I counted four or five people (and myself) who seemed to want this person to leave - he didn't even politely ask if people would mind if he stayed regardless. If he'd had an underlying reason why he wanted to be there that would be been fine, but he defined himself only as a journalist doing research.

He was still there when i left, I am glad someone asked him to leave.

Katt, I'm not at all suggesting that you should leave the site, but personally I am a bit uncomfortable with the integrity and wonder what the hell else goes on. Clearly you can't police everything that goes on in a site, but within reason ...

Anyway, my email is jellybabeee@yahoo.com

(3 e's)

if anyone wants to say hello. Hope things get better and you don't have any more freaks coming online unmoderated

Ok so I wasn't there. Issues with applets :-(

When I first came to the site I saw something that didn't impress me greatly...

I freaked and thought I would not be coming back here.

Then I got over it. Sometimes crap happens. We may not like or approve of some of the decisions that are made sometimes. It is appropriate to sent personal messages saying what you didn't like.

But I persisted with this site...
And the longer I am here the more at home I feel...
And the more defensive I feel of it.

Crap happens sometimes.
But what is interesting to me is that this site is here for support and mostly that is what I see - peoples being supportive of one another. And when crap happens then some people get upset and then people really do experience the support of others.

If I had left based on that incident that occured shortly after my arrival I would have missed out on getting to know the wonderful peoples at this site. People who I am still getting to know.

Now that you know that research is inappropriate
Perhaps you can help others feel safe by saying something yourself if it happens in future.

We are here to support each other
Not have moderators babysit us...

Just my opinion
For what it is worth.

It wasn't a question of being "babysat" by moderators. If I had had the power to kick this person, I would have

You don't have to kick them...

I would have said something like 'are you here just to do research?' and if they replied in the affirmative then would have said something about feeling uncomfortable about that.

Now that you know that it is unacceptable to the site I don't see why you can't say 'that is unacceptable to this site' and others should back you up if required.

But then I am fairly upfront. It gets me into trouble sometimes....

alexandra_k - I said almost exactly that. I suggested that he make a post in the forums and leave his email address for people to mail if they had an opinion.

People were saying they didn't like { } there.

He didn't reply to anything i said.

If people are annoying and intrusive then yes, it pays to kick them

I'm like you, I am very upfront and tend to say what I think, because it's usually the only way you will get anywhere ...

Ok... See, I wasn't there...

I just hope that unfortunate incident won't prevent you from sticking around to support others and receive support yourself...

It is appropriate to PM a moderator with your concerns and request that the situation not recurr.

No guarantees of an outcome...
But there is no harm in asking.

Welcome to PC, by the way.
Hope you come to like it here...

Thanks alexandra but I think I will pass ... I have been on here a few weeks and I am also not sure that this is the best way for people to deal with their illnesses (in the sense that it can be quite reinforcing of negative mindstates). It's nice to see people getting support, and the information aspect is excellent, however.

Good luck and I hope no more unusual research incidents occur. I came across another one in chat a wee while ago, who was "observing" for a psyc paper. I'm not sure that things are all that well moderated in general.

I'm sorry this happened and that it upset you so much. I would have been quite upset myself since the guidelines state clearly that research is against the rules here. If I had been in chat, I would have left immediately. Stuff like this doesn't happen very often, thank goodness. When it does, it gets taken care of in time. That's life, you know? We can't be protected from everything all the time. I sure wouldn't want to be. To allow some things to happen only strengthens our own ability to take care of ourselves. I hope you reconsider and decide to stay. You're cool!

I think I understand what you mean about 'reinforcing negative mindstates'. I have found that to be the case on occasion...

But they are by far the minority of posts.
I have also learned to moniter myself.
I try to avoid posts posted by distressed posters when i am vulnerable myself.
There is a lot of kindness and supportiveness and silliness here too.
After a while you get the hang of where to look when you are in different moods.

But I guess forums are not for everyone.
And different forums are better suited to different people
(there are other forums out there too)
Anyways... I wish you well...

Thank you darling, that's a very sweet thing to say.

I don't need to be "protected", in fact I can deal with pretty much anything that happens in chat ... I think it is because I am a researcher myself (career-wise) that I found what that person did so inappropriate ... and that he was allowed to hang around for so long ...

Ethically it was a shite thing to happen, and I saw that some people seemed very uncomfortable. Not that they've said anything in here, so perhaps they weren't really too bothered after all. Personally, I realllly don't want someone who has the potential to use what I say in something published to have access to something like a chat room.

I understand that some people probably think I am over-reacting, but you kinda wonder what else goes on ... I thought it would have been appropriate to ask the journalist to leave immediately he had stated his purpose (and given him the option of posting in the forums) but evidently it wasn't. As I said, disappointing.

ummm

thanks September i mean xx

Ok ... I'm sorry for making implications about the site, I realise it can happen - but that dumbass really annoyed me by not taking the hints that people were uncomfortable with his presences, and I do think he should have been asked to leave formally a bit sooner.

Hope everyone is OK

xx

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I do think he should have been asked to leave formally a bit sooner.

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I wasn't there, but there have been people who have been allowed to stay on the forums much longer than I would like. If it had been me, I would have booted them immediately, so I know how you feel.

Hey, you can call me "darling" anytime you want! LOLOL I don't get called that very often.

you're very sweet to post what you did. and silver queen too

not sure if i've missed anything ... memory is poo today!

xx

Hey drunk, I really like you and will be sad if you decide to go, but I will respect your decision.

I am very surprised that this happened. Usually Doc John has very strict guidelines about no research and since I have been here I have seen quite a few people removed from the site for attempting to do research. I am sure that there must have been a good reason or that it was simply a mistake.
Has anyone asked Doc John why he allowed this person to stay? He is here for us to ask questions if we want to. It does not make sense to get upset before we ask him what is going on.

Jessica

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memory is poo today!

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LOL Welcome to the club!

uggghhhh, i'm over it, just found it rude of the person to stay when they were clearly making others uncomfortable (not just myself) ... i just took the option to leave the chat room, which i would do again (as did a couple of other people) ... next time i hope it would be better moderated.

Katt: thank you sweetie, I like you a lot too! xx

sunflower, i'm glad you're feeling better about it. that means you're sticking around with us for a while? hope so.

btw, did you consider pm'ing docjohn about the distress you felt? it might clue him in to how upsetting that is for some. also, i think when in his chat, it might be hard to keep up with everyone's reactions because it's SOOOOO busy in there on those nites. he's become quite the celeb i don't know, but from observing it seems that way to me lately, so maybe the distress wasn't picked up on...and might not be again unless it's brought to the forefront with pm or something of that nature.

just a suggestion

kd