Suggestions for moderators, and improvements to Premed101 forums

[wuckfestern]

Although rmorelan is a notable poster on PM101, he is from Schulich Medicine, which is part of Western, so I cannot support him becoming a mod.

 

- wuckfestern

[RyanMaverick]

I support both of these fine gentlemen (pantaloons and w8kg6)

 

Seconded (or thirded?)

[xIcewind]

I'd like to echo Pantaloons' statement in that server security on May12/13/14/15 would be much appreciated.

 

I remember going through that last year, wondering whether I missed the "yes" email, or just nothing has been sent out yet...

 

Also maybe a differentiation (whether an icon next to the avatar, a line of text, etc) for whether the poster is a HS student, Premed, Med, Clerk (if it matters), Resident, Fellow, or Attending?

 

Or maybe even which school they are at, on top of that, if they so choose.

[The Law]

Seconded (or thirded?)

 

Fourthed. (or thirded?)

[naspec]

Does anybody think that a separate finances sub-forum would be a good idea? Last summer the LOC threads were spread out over the Med School Orientation 101 (strictly speaking it seems like they're supposed to go here, but the link is so far down the page that many people might not even see it), General Ontario, General Premed, and General Med Student forums.

 

Big thanks to Ian for coming back and cleaning everything up!

[itimebomb2]

Does anybody think that a separate finances sub-forum would be a good idea? Last summer the LOC threads were spread out over the Med School Orientation 101 (strictly speaking it seems like they're supposed to go here, but the link is so far down the page that many people might not even see it), General Ontario, General Premed, and General Med Student forums.

 

Big thanks to Ian for coming back and cleaning everything up!

 

Agreed - finances are probably a more important topic that equipment/books!

[Darla]

Agreed - finances are probably a more important topic that equipment/books!

 

Also agreed that finances are important. Books and equipment get a lot of questions though - should keep that.

[ad19]

What about the dental students on this forum? Maybe select one of us to be a moderator as well.

[Ian Wong]

Quick little update. Internet access is very intermittent for me right now.

 

I've added some more moderators based on the recommendations in this thread. I can add even more moderators if people recommend those users, and if those people accept.

 

The server crashes on Acceptance Day and the following 2-3 days, are based solely on the fact that I've been paying for a certain amount of ram and bandwidth for these forums, and Acceptance Day basically completely overwhelms the server on which the forums are running. The web host I use would prefer I upgrade to a bigger package (at about double the current cost) to handle this, but it is a little prohibitive as the package I have now works for the other 362 days of the year.

 

Having said that, I am an attending now (!), so perhaps it is now time to fork over the money. The forums have run completely advertisement-free for their entire existence, as I have been paying for them entirely out of pocket. It may be time to explore some simple ads like Google Adsense.

 

As far as additional forums go for additional health science disciplines (ie. Pharmacy, Optometry, Veterinary Medicine, Physio, OT, Physician Assistant, Nursing/Nurse Practitioners,etc), I have previously resisted this as it is a substantial increase in sub-forum numbers. Having said that, SDN seems to have prospered as their numbers of sub-forums have increased, so perhaps that's a way to go.

 

Similarly, a Lounge-type forum for off-topic posts, and a better Finance and Loans forum may help.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I plan on upgrading the vBulletin software to the newest version when I return, which would be in mid-December. This should help the spam-bot problem significantly. At the current time, I am relying on the new super-moderators to delete these threads on sight. If they want, they can also go ahead and ban those user accounts.

 

The other changes, such as implementing new sub-forums, will have to wait until I get back in mid-December.

 

Hope this helps to let people know what's going on. If there is more feedback/moderator suggestions, please send them on. I likely will not be online again for at least a few days.

 

Thanks all!

 

Ian

[Maxime]

Hey Ian,

 

I recommend the Bouque, he's pretty implicated in the french forums, would make a great mod.

 

Maxime

[deeman101]

OMG newfiemike and law made supermod and I didn't? Have I not been nice to you people of the internetz?? I mean aside from my frequent traffic violations, early rants about DUI, mostly pessimistic attitude, and failure to have a positive impact on anyone on the forums, ain't I a model candidate??

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Please don't ban me.

[TheBoss]

Having said that, I am an attending now (!), so perhaps it is now time to fork over the money. The forums have run completely advertisement-free for their entire existence, as I have been paying for them entirely out of pocket. It may be time to explore some simple ads like Google Adsense.

Congratulations Ian!

I support the idea of implementing simple ads, more so than just having you put more money into these forums, when we don't really have anything to give back to you.

 

Hey Ian,

 

I recommend the Bouque, he's pretty implicated in the french forums, would make a great mod.

 

Maxime

 

I'm going to have to vote against thebouque being a mod, he does not come close to demonstrating the neutrality and respectfulness I would expect from a mod.

 

 

I would support deeman101 being a mod, if there were a specific forum that he could moderate that needed it.

[itimebomb2]

Quick little update. Internet access is very intermittent for me right now.

 

I've added some more moderators based on the recommendations in this thread. I can add even more moderators if people recommend those users, and if those people accept.

 

The server crashes on Acceptance Day and the following 2-3 days, are based solely on the fact that I've been paying for a certain amount of ram and bandwidth for these forums, and Acceptance Day basically completely overwhelms the server on which the forums are running. The web host I use would prefer I upgrade to a bigger package (at about double the current cost) to handle this, but it is a little prohibitive as the package I have now works for the other 362 days of the year.

 

Having said that, I am an attending now (!), so perhaps it is now time to fork over the money. The forums have run completely advertisement-free for their entire existence, as I have been paying for them entirely out of pocket. It may be time to explore some simple ads like Google Adsense.

 

As far as additional forums go for additional health science disciplines (ie. Pharmacy, Optometry, Veterinary Medicine, Physio, OT, Physician Assistant, Nursing/Nurse Practitioners,etc), I have previously resisted this as it is a substantial increase in sub-forum numbers. Having said that, SDN seems to have prospered as their numbers of sub-forums have increased, so perhaps that's a way to go.

 

Similarly, a Lounge-type forum for off-topic posts, and a better Finance and Loans forum may help.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I plan on upgrading the vBulletin software to the newest version when I return, which would be in mid-December. This should help the spam-bot problem significantly. At the current time, I am relying on the new super-moderators to delete these threads on sight. If they want, they can also go ahead and ban those user accounts.

 

The other changes, such as implementing new sub-forums, will have to wait until I get back in mid-December.

 

Hope this helps to let people know what's going on. If there is more feedback/moderator suggestions, please send them on. I likely will not be online again for at least a few days.

 

Thanks all!

 

Ian

 

Hey Ian,

 

I'm not sure if you realize this or not, but selling ad space on this website will probably make you a millionnaire a lot faster than billing your provincial government for medical services... This website has a massive, niched following, many of whom would give anything to become a doctor...

 

You should look into how you might be able to capitalize on this. A few ads here and there won't destroy the integrity of this website. In fact, it might make it even better for some people.

 

P.S. I'm also going to have to disagree with thebouque making a good mod. He's probably a helpful person, but at least on the English forums he has a reputation for argumentation and often a lack of respect.

[thatonekid]

Congratulations Ian!

I support the idea of implementing simple ads, more so than just having you put more money into these forums, when we don't really have anything to give back to you.

 

Hey Ian,

 

I'm not sure if you realize this or not, but selling ad space on this website will probably make you a millionnaire a lot faster than billing your provincial government for medical services... This website has a massive, niched following, many of whom would give anything to become a doctor...

 

You should look into how you might be able to capitalize on this. A few ads here and there won't destroy the integrity of this website. In fact, it might make it even better for some people.

I agree with both of these posts. I think that simple ads would be fine for these forums, and it would reduce the stress that maintaining the forums puts on your wallet.

[Mourning Cloak]

. . . . selling ad space on this website [which has] . . . . a massive, niched following, many of whom would give anything to become a doctor...

 

You should look into how you might be able to capitalize on this.

 

Perhaps the various Canadian provincial recruitment groups (healthforceontario, healthmatchbc, etc.) would be interested in having ads on the site - if not promoting their jobs, promoting their bursaries and bonuses. Get the meddies while they're young and impressionable and all that.

 

And since, as someone pointed out recently, most people who apply to med school aren't going to get in, perhaps ads from schools offering training for reasonable alternative careers (lab tech, physio, genetic counsellor, etc. etc.) would be a good way to get people to broaden their horizons. (I personally wouldn't endorse Caribbean school ads, although these are no doubt highly lucrative).

 

Ooooooh . . . ads from the banks! And the CMA / MD Financial!

[hking03]

I agree with the above posts regarding simple ads that have a focus similar to medicine. The various programs, alternative career options and trainings one could enter should medicine not work out. I'd hope to avoid being bombarded by emails, but at the same time those ads could put your kids through college!

 

I'd also like to see a sticky for each school thread that contains information on pre-reqs, links to the Medicine website, recent application statistics etc. It would centralize the information and reduce the number of threads created surrounding pre-req information/transfers etc.

 

The idea was put forth that different members would be good mods for the various schools... I'd like to put my name into the discussion for Ubc and the western schools. Also, kylamonkey, ryacha, ryanmaverick would make solid Ubc /western provinces mods.

[Adversary]

Would it be possible to put a mod or two in for the DMD forum? All the mods thus far are med-bound.

[hking03]

I think AndreaM would make a great mod for UBC if she's up for it! Also support hking03 since he always has stuff to contribute and is on the site a lot.

 

haha, thanks k-doc. I'd second AndreaM as well.

[ad19]

Would it be possible to put a mod or two in for the DMD forum? All the mods thus far are med-bound.

 

Agreed....

[future_doc]

I agree with Maxime about thebouque.

 

Karma, med student from Laval, would make an excellent mod if willing to take it on, she is always positive and helpful!

 

Also, mattg from U/T med school would be an excellent mod if willing to take it on. deeman101 from McGill med school is another worthy candidate too. As is HBP, a regular and helpful contributor of longstanding.

 

Given that Physician Assistants are a reality, it may be worthwhile to create a subsection entitled "Physician Assistants" so that topics of interest re P.A.s may be discussed in one area of the forum.

[HBP]

Can you please remove the 10 character limit for posts?

 

Also, once you remove the ability for spammers to sign up, it would be nice to be able to send PM's at a faster frequency than every minute.

[tooty]

Leviathan would be a great mod for the international schools forum. He knows his way around the requirements and have made a lot of contributions to it.

[seeking1]

New rule: all posts about how much a person does not like evolution must include a link to a peer-reviewed, scientific study in a reputable journal about an interesting aspect of evolution, whether human or otherwise.

 

This excludes Richard Dawkins as an author, as he tends to incite people against evolution, mostly cause of the smugness.

[seeking1]

Srsly though, we have some people on here who get into massive flame wars about evolutions. Mods, please kill those discussions. Thank you.

[HBP]

Kill the flame, not the discussion (even if it's about evolution/religion). Mods exist to moderate, not dictate.