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12:17 AM
michaelpri has made a change to the feeds posted into this room
 
 
1 hour later…
1:19 AM
Hello, anyone on?
 
1:31 AM
Nice amount of activity today
hope it keeps up
 
Yeah I know
This could be a really successful site
I already hit the rep cap
 
lucky you, still 190 rep away
 
At least you got some rep
 
Time zone is confusing, already on day2 of the private beta
 
Yeah I was confused too because I've only had the account for 5 hours
 
 
2 hours later…
3:12 AM
michaelpri has made a change to the feeds posted into this room
 
4:01 AM
Anyone that's on, check out this post
0
Q: Let's think of a creative name for our chatroom

michaelpriOur current chatroom name is "The Drug Store." Look at all the creative names others have thought up: "Root Access" for Super User "The DMZ" for Security "The Renderfarm" for Blender "The Litter Box" for Pets "The Hangar" for Aviation "You Are Here" for Travel "The Water Cooler" for The Workpla...

 
 
5 hours later…
9:01 AM
Monring'
 
@M'vy hey
Good start with the site yesterday.
 
Well I actually only came in today
 
@M'vy Oh. What do you think?
I notice there are a lot more questions than answers. At any rate, that is the way it looks at a superficial glance.
 
@FaheemMitha That's probably normal. We need question before answer. We will have to make an effort to catch the unanswered ones once we have real experts on the site
I'm reviewing the tags for the moment.
 
@M'vy Yes, probably. It is still a closed beta. You can get in via Area 51 but that is not generally known. Probably deliberately.
 
9:06 AM
@FaheemMitha I saw we can still invite people via the sidebar, which might be interesting to bring more people in
 
@M'vy That too.
But anyone who has a Area 51 account, which is basically everyone already active on SE, can get in via the link on the Area 51 page.
I think I was already committed, so I got an email. But a bit late. When I turned up there were already 20 questions there.
I have a bunch of questions I could ask, but it takes time to formulate a sensible question.
 
ofc
 
@M'vy ofc?
 
of course
 
@M'vy Ah, ok.
 
9:14 AM
Hum, does anyone see the difference between and ?
 
@M'vy could vitamins be considered one and not the other? what about herbal remedies?
 
Not sure. I'm not a native English speaker.
 
9:43 AM
Don't know the exact scope of site
so asked this
0
Q: How to handle cold in summers with nose bleeding issues?

Ankit SharmaI have nose bleeding issue from childhood when my inner body heat get boosted up. From weather or food like almonds, raisin, dates etc. But i have got a bit cold during weather change and it still stuck to me. Doctor said to take soup and other hot things but the weather is bit heated up and alre...

 
@AnkitSharma neither do we :) it's beta :P
 
That's why tried my hand with this one
 
10:11 AM
@AnkitSharma sounds like something you should be asking a doctor about.
The site says personalized advice is out of scope. Of course, personalized is a gray area. And one could argue that any answer is simply something to try.
 
 
2 hours later…
12:34 PM
Hello everyone
 
12:48 PM
hi
 
@M'vy What's up?
 
@michaelpri I'm fine :) been busy today :P
 
I haven't, I just woke up
 
well it's almost 3p.m. here so.
 
Ah, I see you're in Europe, cool
 
12:53 PM
yip
 
I'm on the east coast of the U.S.
 
Right :)
 
So, do you like the site so far?
 
Well I think so. It's still early and I'm no expert. So I try to ask things and I do edit mostly
we already have a big effort to make regarding question titles and tags...
 
You don't really have to be an expert to contribute a lot
I'm certainly not an expert, but I have some pretty good research skills and an ability to summarize stuff
 
12:58 PM
@michaelpri You have to give relevant answers :)
 
Haha yeah :)
I'll be right back, I have to let my dog out
 
sure
 
I'm back
 
welcome back
 
hi there
 
1:13 PM
hey
 
@kevin Hey :)
 
is there a difference between optomology and ophthalmology ?
Corollary: is one included in the other?
 
Well, opthalmology is the study of the eye
 
optomology is more about healthy eye checks
ophthalmology are the doctors
am i correct?
 
I think it's optometry not optomology
 
1:19 PM
yea it is, just looked up
 
The doctors are ophthalmologists
 
which reminds me, I had the retina of one of my eyes repaired by laser 10 years ago (not LASIK, which operates the cornea)
 
You might want to check out this article: aapos.org/terms/conditions/132
 
When I google : optomology opthomology ophthalmology
I got suggestion : ophthalmology ophthalmology ophthalmology
 
That's because its optometry, not optomology
 
1:25 PM
yeah most probably
@michaelpri ah ah you ninja :) you can edit alone :P
 
@M'vy Haha yeah, I've already hit the rep cap and vote cap today, so that's all I can do now
 
:)
I've +150 including +100 from network accounts.
 
do it tomorrow (-:
 
I've only gotten +5 from any other accounts besides this one in the past two days
I'm gonna start doing tag wikis and excerpts
 
@michaelpri rep whore :P
 
1:32 PM
@ZachSaucier Hehe ;)
 
@michaelpri if you can approve, I've submitted one
 
@M'vy I can't yet :(
 
ah yeah 750
I don't like that ...
 
10
Q: Icon is identical to History

Mad ScientistOur Icon is an "H" inside an SE bubble, this is identical to the icon of the already existing History.SE. The Icon for the Health site should be changed to avoid confusion.

20
Q: OMG... A site about Health?

Robert CartainoTrue Story — For thousands of years, the world's professional societies and religions have disseminated its teachings in arcane languages understood by few. It was believed that such knowledge in the hands of the the unwashed masses would be dangerous without the proper tutelage to wield it wisel...

4
Q: A better way of presenting references

TheEnvironmentalistIn a field like Health, references are obviously critical. That's not to say they should be necessary in every question (see here for that debate), but the hyperlink 'click here' format in the last sentence is overly obtrusive and isn't consistent with the commonly used medical format. Reference...

3
Q: Are questions about Medical History on-topic?

michaelpriThough this question is completely unrelated, it got me thinking. Should we allow questions about Medical History to be asked here? I was thinking that one of these questions could be like When was {disease} first identified? or What led to the myth that {medical myth} is true? I do ...

5
Q: Let's think of a creative name for our chatroom

michaelpriOur current chatroom name is "The Drug Store." Look at all the creative names others have thought up: "Root Access" for Super User "The DMZ" for Security "The Renderfarm" for Blender "The Litter Box" for Pets "The Hangar" for Aviation "You Are Here" for Travel "The Water Cooler" for The Workpla...

 
Of course all of the meta posts come now
 
1:39 PM
:)
 
I set it up yesterday, and I thought I did something wrong
 
1:50 PM
I have to head out
Cya
 
cya
 
2:23 PM
@michaelpri back so soon
 
@ZachSaucier I had to walk my dog, but it didn't take as long as usual
 
2:39 PM
The site seems to be coming along nicely
 
Yeah it really is.
 
I'm honestly surprised by the quality of questions and answers
 
We haven't had any problems so far with bad questions really
 
Well, it's private beta
 
At LH, we had no idea which questions were on topic
 
2:41 PM
^^
 
It was a tough 90 days before we had mods
 
I put too much effort into that beta. Haha
but I learned not to do it again unless I'm really passionate about the subject
 
You were very helpful in making the site better
 
I thought you were gonna be a mod, but then you revoked your nomination
 
2:45 PM
I lost interest :P
 
I think a lot of people did
 
I haven't been paying attention, but I think it'll be hard for it to graduate
 
Yeah, traffic has really slowed down in the past week or so
This site has a good chance of graduating
People will always need help with their health
 
What site are you guys talking about?
 
@FaheemMitha Lifehacks
 
2:47 PM
@michaelpri yes, as I said yesterday, this site has the potential to get really big. But it will need to attract enough medical professionals.
@michaelpri Oh, I see. Is Lifehacks struggling?
 
@FaheemMitha I don't agree
nor will they come
 
Yeah, a little bit
 
they get paid too much for this :P
 
@ZachSaucier Don't agree with what?
 
that Health.SE needs more doctors
 
2:48 PM
I think there just needs to be people who are interested in Health
And are good researchers
 
@ZachSaucier I said medical professionals, which doesn't necessarily mean doctors.
 
My position still remains
what makes a good answer on Health.SE is not the background of the poster, it's the research they do to answer the question and the resources they provide
 
This includes nurses, paramedics, medical researchers, etc. etc.
 
I only have gotten rep because I'm interested and I am a pretty good Googler
 
2:50 PM
@ZachSaucier True, but it's generally helpful if you already know a lot about the subject.
And medical questions can be quite technical.
Like everything else, really.
It really depends how "heavy-duty" this site wants to become.
Some SE sites have been a runaway success. Take tex.sx. It's the place to come for TeX help.
And it has got that way in just a few years.
 
This site really does have potential
 
1
A: When to stretch as a sportsman

JohnPThere are three main types of stretching that the general layman will be familiar with. There are a couple of others, but they are extreme techniques, and generally not used by the everyday athlete. Ballistic - The "lean and bounce" method, where you repeatedly bob back and forth in the stretch...

^ Nice answer
 
3:05 PM
That is good, but I can't upvote :(
 
@michaelpri ah ah :) that's right
 
Stupid vote cap
 
What's vote cap again?
 
40 votes
@StrongBad Welcome :)
 
@michaelpri Hi
 
3:06 PM
What's up
 
Well I guess I should get to upvotes when I'm home
 
Yeah, voting is the more important thing for a beta site
I have noticed one problem
Our unanswered question rate is extremely high
 
3:23 PM
@michaelpri it's only been one day
I'm not even sure everyone from commit phase has stepped up into beta
Anyway going home
 
@michaelpri Hence my comment about the professionals.
 
@michaelpri I see this site as becoming one with a high polarity - a small subset of users who answer most all of the questions and a large number of very low rep users who only ask a question or two (like me most likely)
@FaheemMitha being professional only helps in that they may be interested in the subject. The site just needs interested people
 
@ZachSaucier yes, I think we covered that above. :-)
Or rather, you made your position clear.
I think medical professionals would need to form the backbone of a site like this. Though there is certainly room for interested amateurs.
 
would you mind explaining why you think they're needed?
 
The difference between doctors and everyone else, is that only doctors are allowed to treat patients. At least in the West. In India, for example, anything goes. So they are the one with all the experience. In contrast Unix or TeX users don't need to be certified to use Unix or TeX.
@ZachSaucier See above.
I think clinical experience is extremely important in this business.
 
3:29 PM
We aren't treating patients here though.
 
^^
we're just providing resources
 
I think that an interest is the most important thing you need to be a successful user here
@ZachSaucier I agree that this site will have a high polarity
 
@michaelpri True, but you need the experience to be really informed. How else would you know what works? Having said that, I imagine medical researchers would also be extremely useful. They would have the theoretical knowledge that a clinician would lack.
 
@FaheemMitha you don't have to know what works. You have to be able to look up what works
 
3:31 PM
I should be clear that I really know nothing about medicine myself. Though I seem to spend quite a lot of my time taking people to the doctor. :-(
@ZachSaucier Look up where?
I've also spent a fair amount of time around biology researchers. Mostly biomedical people.
 
if someone said, "this is the right answer - I know because I work in a lab" it is much much less reliable than, "This is the right answer - here are 3 studies that agree and one that said it was only partially true"
 
You might be able to better answer if you are a medical personnel, but you can leave good answers and still be an average joe
 
@michaelpri well, we're talking at the level of intelligent Googling, then.
 
@FaheemMitha wherever they want to and where the sources are more or less reliable
 
I'd hope for more from a site like this. Just imo.
 
3:32 PM
@FaheemMitha welcome to every SE site ever!
 
@FaheemMitha Yes, basically
 
@ZachSaucier And how would you know what is more reliable? The net is full of misinformation.
I'm not even sure whether I would place too much stock in clinical trials.
 
@FaheemMitha cross references
 
@ZachSaucier That's not really true. The sites I frequent certainly have experts on them. Perhaps not a lot, but some.
 
how would you know if a person is reliable?
 
3:34 PM
@ZachSaucier Hmm.
 
@FaheemMitha it was a hyperbole
 
Dunno, I imagine things differently. I'd like to hear from practitioners what works.
That's just my personal take, of course. If not enough medical professionals come here, it will go the way you describe.
For example, look at tex.sx. There are a few high rep amateurs, but many (most?) of the high rep users have been using TeX professionally for a long time.
Same with math.sx, MO, SO...
 
I think this site will be very different from those sites
 
quite
 
unix.sx is a bit more of a mixed bag, but I know most of the high rep users to talk to, and with a few exceptions they have been using unix professionally for decades.
@michaelpri Well, we'll have to see. And hope it doesn't get shut down.
 
3:38 PM
There will be some professionals, like DrRandy, but most of the users, even the high-rep ones will be just good Googlers who like medical stuff
 
it's going well!
 
I've been using unix myself exclusively since 1998, and can't really keep up most of the time.
@michaelpri you might be right.
Time will tell.
 
I don't have any medical background, besides my mom and sister both being nurses, but I feel that I've provided some pretty useful information so far
 
tex.sx's highest rep is by an Italian mathematician who just likes TeX. So maybe he could be described as not-a-professional. But he seems pretty unusual.
@michaelpri I wasn't suggesting non-professionals could not provide useful information. That would be an extreme and offfensive position to take.
But if you have a question about surgery, would you like to hear from someone who has been a surgeon for 30 years, or someone who is just interested in surgery?
 
@FaheemMitha If I wanted the former I'd go see a doctor.
 
3:43 PM
@ZachSaucier well, I think this site is for multiple disinterested opinions, isn't it?
 
what do you mean by that?
 
The surgeons here just want to get their hands on you and make money. It's not a very ethical place, India.
@ZachSaucier is what I said unclear?
and if so, which part?
 
if I asked for clarification that means yes, it's unclear :P
the entire question
 
@ZachSaucier question? the "multiple disinterested opinions" thing?
 
3:45 PM
So, multiple is good because you get a range of opinions.
disinterested is good because the information is from someone who has no reason to tell you to get surgery because he can make some money of you.
and of course, the information is available for later people to look at. Which is a big part of a site like SE.
 
I see
 
Granted, I live in freaking India, so my opinion is somewhat skewed.
I imagine if doctors in the West tried behaving the way some do here, they'd be serving serious jail time.
 
regardless, our point remains that a higher proportion of medical professionals is not necessary
 
I do not want to step on the toes of any medical professionals, but I think people involved in medical research are going to be able to better answer the questions.
 
@ZachSaucier Well, we'll just have to see how things pan out.
My main concern at this point is that the site might get shut down. Anyone else worried about that?
 
3:48 PM
Medical professionals who spend most of their days treating patients, often do not have the time to fully understand why a treatment works.
@FaheemMitha why do you think that?
 
@StrongBad I think you missed a "not" there.
 
@FaheemMitha I'm not
 
I'm not worried it will get closed, it's only been open for 2 days
 
@StrongBad liability issues, mostly.
@StrongBad I'm no fan of medical professionals, but they are kind of the only game in town.
Or would you rather be bled with leeches?
 
@FaheemMitha I am not sue where.
 
3:50 PM
@StrongBad See the link.
2 mins ago, by StrongBad
I do not want to step on the toes of any medical professionals, but I think people involved in medical research are going to be able to better answer the questions.
 
@FaheemMitha If we can get a medical disclaimers we won't be held liable for anything
 
@michaelpri well, people worry about getting sued. And SE is located in the US, which is pretty sue-friendly.
But I Am Not A Lawyer. :-)
 
@FaheemMitha I think medical researchers, which I do not consider medical professionals, are better suited to answer questions. I do not see where I left the "not" out.
 
Then that'd be a good reason to get a disclaimer
 
@StrongBad Ok, sorry. I misread you. Apologies.
But sometimes medical researchers also do clinical work. I met a few at Duke.
 
3:53 PM
@FaheemMitha I do not think SE would have gone to private beta if they were worried. There is a meta question addressing this and the CM does not seem worried.
 
And you don't consider medical researchers to be medical professionals?
@StrongBad CM? Community Manager?
True, they probably looked into it.
Personally, I would definitely consider medical researchers to be medical professionals.
@StrongBad are you yourself a medical researcher? I've seen you on academia.sx, so I assume you are an academic.
 
@FaheemMitha I study hearing and vision, some of my colleagues hold key patents for the treatment of visual and auditory impairments and we all consider ourselves Psychologists, not medical professionals.
 
BTW, are there any mods here yet?
@StrongBad ok
Psychologists study hearing and vision? I didn't know that.
 
@FaheemMitha No we won't get mods until we are out of private beta
 
@FaheemMitha It usually takes a week or so after the private beta ends to get mods.
 
3:57 PM
I was going to ask a question about the efficacy of yoga. I guess I'll just go ahead and ask it.
@michaelpri Ok
@StrongBad Ok.
 
Sometimes longer, Lifehacks didn't get mods until day 90-soemthing
 
oh
That's an unusual site.
 
Haha it really is
 
@StrongBad so you would consider yourself a medical researcher but not a medical professional?
 
@FaheemMitha yes. My research clearly is related to medicine and health, but I have no professional training or qualifications in a medically related field. One sub field of Psychology is Clinical Psychology and they have a professional qualification (but nobody else does).
 
4:10 PM
@StrongBad Ok.
 
@FaheemMitha I guess my thinking is we are not treating patients in answers. Rather, we are trying to explain what treatments (including unapproved and alternative ones) are out there and what the pros and cons in general are.
 
@StrongBad Well, Ok. But I still think you would have to be intimately familiar with the subject matter for your answer to be really useful.
So, for example, if you had suffered (or were suffering) from disease X, you'd know a lot about X, even if you weren't a medical professional.
That's one exception I can think of, but it would still require up-close experience. Unfortunately, in this case, from the "wrong" side.
 
@StrongBad I agree with you, to have a good post, you just have to put in the research
 
@FaheemMitha I think a researcher who is an expert about a particular class of drugs, has the skills to quickly search and read the literature on a totally different class of drugs and provide a good answer.
 
back
 
4:18 PM
@michaelpri I do not think it is purely a time to research thing, you need to know what you are looking for. You do not need to be in a field related to medicine, to be able to read stuff and find information.
 
I'm not in any medical field, but I have an interest, so I know what to look for.
 
@StrongBad I agree. But that doesn't contradict anything I am saying.
@michaelpri all humans are interested in human health. It's pretty low down in Maslow's pyramid. If you aren't, then bad things are more likely to happen to you.
I should have said "all sensible humans". :-)
 
Most people are only interested in their own health.
 
@michaelpri citation needed. I think the behaviour of a lot of people would say differently :)
 
@StrongBad lol
 
4:28 PM
No citation, just experience. I just don't think most people care about random strangers health enough to do research on it
 
@michaelpri I meant it seems lots of people do not care about their own health.
 
@michaelpri family?
 
@StrongBad All those smokers for example. Not to mention drinkers, and drug users. And the couch potatoes.
 
@StrongBad Ohh, that's what you were getting too. Haha
@M'vy Yeah them too
 
4:50 PM
0
Q: Are terminology question on-topic?

Franck DernoncourtI asked What is the difference between sinew and tendon? and I see that I received one close vote saying the question is off-topic. Are terminology question on-topic?

Anybody want to talk about this? ^^
 
hmmm
what's the purpose of Health.SE in short?
 
I feel like it could be big topic on here if we let it be
 
I think we need to address that first, give us a goal to work towards
 
Well, we want to provide people with medical advice
 
that's not a very good purpose IMO
 
4:55 PM
Yeah I know, I need to think about it more
 
something more along the lines of, "providing information to better the health of people across the globe" or something
more focused towards general health and not personalized advice
 
Yeah that just sounds better
 
1
Q: Are terminology question on-topic?

Franck DernoncourtI asked What is the difference between sinew and tendon? and I see that I received one close vote saying the question is off-topic. Are terminology question on-topic?

 
might be good to ask a meta question about the purpose
I think I will
 
Ok, cool
I think that we could say something like, "providing information to inform and to better the health of people across the globe"
Just need to word it better
 
5:00 PM
@michaelpri I would use "answering questions" instead of "providing information"
 
@StrongBad I wouldn't :P
 
How about "Health.SE is a site to provide information that will inform people across the globe of health-related issues and to help better their health"
 
@michaelpri I think we want to focus on the question/answer nature of the SE network to steer people away from the idea that we are a place to get advice and have discussions.
 
just posted my question
hopefully it'll help in thinking up an answer
g2g, eating
 
"Health.SE is a site committed to building a collection of medical questions to help inform and better the health of people across the globe"
 
5:15 PM
@michaelpri I would drop the "better the health" part since we are not here to treat people. I think our goal is to solely inform people.
 
"Health.SE is a site committed to building a collection of medical questions to help inform people across the globe of medical issues "
 
@michaelpri I think it is getting better and I don't mean to be a pain. I don't like the double use of "medical". I don't think of health and medical as being the same thing. I don't think just replacing them with "health" is the way to go.
 
@StrongBad ^ How about that? I feel like there's a better phrase than "medical issues", though, I just can't think of on
 
How about: Health.SE is a site committed to building a collection of questions and answers to help inform people across the globe of health related issues
 
Ahh, I was literally typing almost the same exact thing
I like it
 
5:25 PM
2
Q: What's the purpose of Health.SE?

Zach SaucierIn order to determine the site's scope in specific instances, we need to have a unified, general, but short purpose for the site. For example, the purpose of StackOverflow is a "site for professional and enthusiast programmers ... to build a library of detailed answers to every question about p...

 
@michaelpri I am not sure if it should be "of health" or "on health"
 
I think "on health" because "of health" might sound like we announce health related issues
Final Draft: "Health.SE is a site committed to building a collection of questions and answers to help inform people across the globe on health related issues"
I can post it now if you want me to
 
@michaelpri we might want personal health (as opposed to public health) and I am not sure the global comment is needed.
What about: Health.SE is a site committed to building a collection of questions and answers to help inform people across the globe on issues related to personal health
 
Yeah, sounds good
Do you wanna post it or should I?
 
@michaelpri I think it is yours more than mine. I just helped smooth it out.
 
5:35 PM
0
A: What's the purpose of Health.SE?

michaelpriAfter some talk in the chatroom, this is what we have come up with. Health.SE is a site committed to building a collection of questions and answers to help inform people across the globe on issues related to personal health

@StrongBad Done
 
@michaelpri nice.
 
@michaelpri Not sure about "personal health". As opposed to?
 
@FaheemMitha As opposed to public health
 
@michaelpri public health? like sanitation you mean? or vaccination?
 
I have to leave, Cya
 
6:19 PM
0
Q: Are health insurance questions off-topic?

Franck DernoncourtAre questions on health insurance off-topic? Example: What's the point of declaring a general practitioner ("médecin traitant") in France? What are the financial consequences not to declare a general practitioner ("médecin traitant") in France? I have a French Social Security as well as...

 
6:35 PM
0
Q: Are shopping questions off-topic?

Franck DernoncourtExample: Where can I buy diclofenac patches in the US at a good price?

 
6:57 PM
0
Q: Are legal questions off-topic?

Franck DernoncourtExample: Legal issues when using first aid techniques that require certification in foreign countries

 
 
2 hours later…
8:48 PM
Hello everyone!
 
 
1 hour later…
9:49 PM
Hiya
 
@Mooseman What's up
 
@michaelpri Not much. How about you?
 
Just looking around SE.
 
 
1 hour later…
11:21 PM
0
Q: Tag management milk and diary

dustinDo we really need a tag for both milk and diary? I think diary would suffice since it would encompass milk; otherwise, people may be inclined to create cheese or some other tags that fall into a parent category.

 

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