Why keep the group smaller and well defined?

June 23, 2005

Have you ever looked at the group and said “Oh, no! There

is too much mail? There is too much volume? I can’t read it

all” ?

Stressed women have actually called me in tears (and near

tears) about this. Or they write me. They want to read because they

feel sick and want to know what others are doing, but can’t keep up because

the stress of job, family, and being sick is too much. Women who feel

like hell rarely post. Mostly they tend to lurk.

This is a high volume group. There is actually too

much mail and as groups go this is a very small group.

But it isn’t a normal group. Some of us are in a

crisis. There are sick women on this group and ones who are reading and

don’t feel safe posting. There is a sense of shame about being

duped. No one needs anyone shaming or acting superior. Women on

this group don’t need self appointed experts. And it really turns

off the doctors and professionals who read the group. It turns them away.

Few yahoo groups I’ve been on have doctors reading the group. This really

is an unusual group.

Our problems have not been seen or studied before. We

and our doctors need feedback about other trends or symptoms women are

seeing. We need to compare results and symptoms and we need to be able to

connect with our scientific advisor. This group has a very specific

purpose right now. It isn’t a normal BHRT group discussing the

wider issues of BHRT although we are getting there.

A group that promotes conversation that has appropriate humility,

civility, and limits needs a strong moderator that limits topics, posts,

direction, membership, etc. If the group is to be valuable that is my task.

I want to remind everyone that if the nature of the group

does not meet your online needs to please visit the other groups that offer a

much wider range of discussion. I created a little overview of a few

groups at

’s group is fun and really high volume

sometimes.

Laurel

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