Hi Folks
This is a long and thoughtful post.
I joined this forum in 2003, after I'd had a completely unexpected bypass surgery. And then they told me I had a bad mitral valve. That meant a second surgery!
When I found this forum, I positively sucked in all the info available. I studied up in everything, read every post, asked every stupid question, had every stupid idea. I was already on warfarin for atrial fibrillation. I boned up with Al Lodwick.
I was here every single day and got to know many of you older timers. Nancy was a fantastic teacher, she pulled me back or pushed me forward so many times, in my valve education. She is an incredibly knowledgeable person. Mary came months after I did, and she had the forum in the palm of her hand from the beginning. A really Perfect Poster.
This was also the first forum I ever joined, so I had a bit to learn about forum manners. The first controversy I got involved with was about donating to VR.com. There was talk about how to do it, and several people wanted to know what they were paying for. I was one of them. Looking back, it was wasted energy. I would never again bother taking sides in a controversy like that, or in any way contribute to the controversy on a topic like that. I now have forum manners. And abide by them. And send little pops of money when I can.
But that was not the only controversy I got involved in. There was another really emotional debate over Terry Schiavo. I was the only one on the forum who supported Michael Schiavo. I got some really personal and angry feedback for defending Terry's hubby. I kept on looking facts up and kept dishing my side. No one wanted to hear me anymore, but as long as they posted their side, I kept up my side. I think I made about everyone madder than they were. There was all kinds of dead horse talk……Lesson Learned. Some new good old boys joined right then and did nothing but mock me and chase me around the forum with their bubba type talk. I got so upset, I quit. I deleted all my 400 plus posts, then I quit. I asked Ross to remove me from the rolls.
Anyway, I already learned enough here to get through my valve replacement operation in '06. And I had my Tucson valve family some of whom even visited me in the hospital. After it was all over, I thought about you all and decided to rejoin. I have a vr family in Tucson who are all members here and wanted to be part of the bigger picture, too.
First off, Blanche flipped out that I joined back right when it was time to vote on where the reunion was going to be. I don't need Blanche on my case. I figure she knows perfectly well who I am and is still carrying a charge against me for my earlier positions- or something. She was quite mean about me in an email that got sent to vr members down here. I have a copy, but that isn't my point. Her attitude toward me has intimidated me from posting. I REALLY don't want to tread on her! So, I check in often enough to keep from losing my place and having to sign up all over again. (That happened once already). This time I understand the level of conservatism and religiosity among the vast majority of the posting forum members.
I signed in tonight and saw the war room. Hardly a debate there. It was a chorus of the govt can't do anything right and on down the list. This is no debate and the lone dissenter is not very understandable. Besides, all the info at the beginning of the thread was outdated by the end of July and now, in September, it is still moving around, nothing is nailed down. However, I won't post there or get involved, even though I have been watching the national debate closely and I really can make a logical argument without attacks or perceived attacks. I go to Political Wrinkles.com when I want to see dem/rep rightie/lefty wars. They have lots of extreme people over there, and people bashing is a legal sport.
So, I decided to post now, in this thread, because I did quit. Angrily. And 3-4 years later, I came back.
I went and found pearl-guide.com forum, where my expert opinions on pearls are highly regarded and I have even moved from a member, to moderator, to administrator. I now have to manage the spammers, the nuts, the fakes, etc. and that is quite a lesson in forum manners!
We do have a members’ only forum called "other stuff" in which we get personal, share pet pictures, talk about things happening in our lives, happy birthday threads and the like. We assiduously avoid any kind of political or religious references, anywhere on the forum except in illness and catastrophe threads , when many non-denominational prayers and blessings pour out to the one hurting. We have members from China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Viet Nam ,Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, Dubai, France, Sweden, England, Mexico, Brazil, and Spain. As well as folks from every state.
This includes the entire political spectrum of the world and every possible form of religion. Many of us don’t know or understand most of the others, but we all have a love of pearls, the pearl business and collecting pearls. So we stick to that. Any of that other stuff is just too risky!
Even with all my problems here and still being in trouble with Blanche, (not to mention that the other women my age, Granbonnie(May she RIP) and Hensley never cottoned to me either. And by the time I left they were aghast at me for my Schaivo opinions) I think this forum appears to favor Christian and conservative positions, by the quotes and signatures of prominent members like Karlynn. And others appear to not be welcome to express opinions that aren’t in line. I only know one member over here that is truly liberal. I am not complaining. It doesn’t matter. I am not here for that.
Yet, I figure I do belong here and should post if and when I have a heart related opinion, question, etc. Youse are my go-2 guys when it comes to hearts! No matter the other stuff. It’s the hearts, the hearts!
Allowing strong controversy on a single subject forum is tricky. Is it worth it? Not in my hard-earned opinion.
Sorry for the long post, but I felt impelled to tell my story.
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