Alexandra

Dody, can you delete an entire thread that you started? Just curious. I've belonged to several boards and while some let me edit my posts, none have ever allowed users to delete threads. It just seems to me that's not a widely used level of access on message boards of any great size.

Whew, I go to lunch and there's a lot to answer! :Banane56: First, don't worry, I don't make unilateral decisions. I just happen to be the only mod talking to y'all about this, so you're getting an earful of my POV. TBM, many of the people you mention above are gone, for whatever reason, so it's unlikely they'll be chiming in. But to be honest, I'm mainly interested in the future of the board, not the past. I've been here longer than you have, and I have to say that the thread-deletions in the past were more, um, focused than this last batch. Or something. They were in the context of whatever brouhaha was happening at the time, and as such made sense. THIS time someone deleted lots of utterly unconnected threads that other people cared deeply about, and I just don't think that should be allowed to happen again. Maybe it seemed worse this time because the person in question had started lots of very useful, often-referred-to threads. Once again, and I guess this bears repeating because it's important: If someone wants their identity and all posts excised from the board that will always be possible with admin's help. And I am hopeful that the post-editing feature will be restored without time limits. The only change I think is necessary is that user-level thread-deletion be prohibited. Please realize that it's MY PERSONAL POV I'm expressing at the moment--the board policy is set by five people and the only person who can make unilateral changes is the board owner. However, this is not a democracy and whatever he determines is the right way to go is going to be the way it is. We're going to have to live with it, and I'm quite certain we will be able to.

Photo, don't see it as "some sort of restriction." As has been mentioned before, MOST message boards don't allow any thread deletion by users. We've just learned why that is, I guess.

I see your point, but I really don't think any useful purpose is served by allowing members the freedom to delete threads at will. Paula, you may be the only person to use the Lounge in that way, and I'm sure there are other ways to get opinions. If there is information on the board you are not comfortable with staying visible indefinitely, perhaps you shouldn't post it in the first place. It hasn't been a problem in the past because no one has ever deleted threads on such a scale before. It takes something like this to really make us think it all through. The site is growing and we want easily understood rules and policies that will give everyone a comfortable place to post, and that require a minimum of moderator involvement. It's about atmosphere. LBT wants everyone to feel that all threads belong to all of us and to post freely. Encouraging that idea of "ownership" seems to me to be very detrimental to that sense of community.

Ladies, I agree that we need to bring back the editability of posts. I AGREE, OK??? :Banane56: Please don't get pissed; the owner just made this change temporarily until we have come to an agreement on future policy. Patience is a good thing. Thanks!

This is not a final decision, no. The mods and site owner are still batting around the final change. As of right now, you can edit or delete your own posts for a period of 24 hours after creating them, but after that you can't. This may change, but for right now that's the way it is. The answer to your first two questions is yes, moderators still have access to anything that's been deleted from the public board. But there are concerns about whether it's appropriate to un-delete something at all when the person who did it had, at that time, every right to do it. We're looking at how to prevent these problems in future. If the changes we put in place mean that people will think a few more seconds before posting something, I don't think that's all bad. And I don't think removing the ability to completely delete threads will in any way detract from the benefits of LBT.

What a relief to hear there are no problems, Angiebell! Congratulations to you. As long as you know your band and stomach are healthy, you are good to go. Your fills "kicking in" weeks later may just be something special to you, and something you'll learn to live with/work around. I had a similar thing going on, with fills making themselves felt maybe not 6 weeks later but definitely three or four weeks. My guess is that the stomach tissue sort of retracts or thins out in response to the added pressure, and then as time passes it returns to its normal thickness, suddenly increasing your restriction. Why this should take so long to happen is anyone's guess. So just take it slow, relax, and be thankful that everything checked out OK! As long as the tool is still in place, we have something to work with. Congratulations again! :banana

Paula, I'm curious as to why you think there should be a distinction among the forums with regard to this issue. What's the difference? Remember, people, moderators can always delete threads if there's a real reason for it. All we want to do is prevent the wholesale disruption we've just seen by someone deleting threads without rhyme or reason.

Oh, MaryAnn, I'm sorry you had to go through this. The great thing is that you're whole, healthy, and have a clean slate to start again. Good luck and please stick around!!

Light dawns: At the moment the features are set so that people can edit their own posts for a period of 24 hours. The mods and site owner are still discussing how to handle this permanently, but that's how it is at the moment.

Um, I have to agree a bit with StrawartS about the dredging-up of deleted threads. We can act like adults and not do stuff like that, even though it's possible. The moderators are right now discussing what future policies should be, including whether we should have the right to restore threads that have been deleted in the past. That will depend, I think, on how easy it is to strip out the posts from the person who did the deleting in the first place, and we're waiting for technical information on that point. So for now, please be aware that we're working on formulating a policy that will a) prevent this sort of disruption in future, and respect everyone's desire to control their own words.

VQ, my heart goes out to you and I hope you enjoy your sabbatical. Please don't leave permanently; you have lots of friends here and people are walking all sorts of different journeys. I can completely understand if it's difficult, though. You're an extraordinary person. We <3 you.

Penni, :hug: :hug:

Absolutely beautiful!! :biggrin1:

Oh, Leener, I'm so sorry you got that call! They are the scariest things, these alerts. Fingers crossed for you that it's nothing and they give you a totally clean bill of health. I had what they said was an abnormal breast scan last year, requiring followups that found nothing. So I know a little about how you feel. Good luck and try not to worry yourself sick!

I am quite certain that if I were to explore plastic surgery I'd find a surgeon happy to help me. But I personally don't feel that any is necessary. Other people with the exact same skin might very well think it is. Only time will tell how you feel about the body you have after weight loss. My issues are fairly minor, I think, with my arms and boobs being the main problems. But these are easily camouflaged with clothing; the idea of surgery that will replace hanging skin with scars is not at all appealing to me. Also, I haven't lost all the weight I "should." One thing that's keeping me happily here is the idea that more weight off would just mean MORE loose skin issues. I don't want to need surgery, and if I go any further I think I'd be less happy with the way I look, not more. So it's all a balancing act, and your experience will be uniquely yours.

I wasn't talking about THIS specific situation, StrawartS, but future situations. I agree that we can't get into deciding which threads are deleteable and which aren't. That's why I think NONE should be deletable rather than ALL of them. And again, wiping the slate clean is always possible and would remain so. If someone wants THEIR posts and their very identity wiped from the board I'm sure that can be done.

I'm just curious, TBM: Do you feel proprietary about threads you start? Even if they're about movies or sports or some such? If so, why? Just musing here: I wonder if this may be side-effect of the rise of blogs and journaling on the web--maybe people who do a lot of that really DO feel this way about topics they start. I've never been into blogging or journaling online, so maybe my POV is a little different. This message board is not like a diary for me in any way. Are the lines blurring? As for the anonymity factor, I am reasonably certain there is a way for the board owner to delete all posts made by any given person, so if that's someone's concern that can always be handled with help from the administration. I'm in no way implying that anyone should be forced to keep their own words on the board forever.

Diva, it's absolutely been true for me that I FEEL full on less food with the band. Yes, the negative reinforcement helps keep me from eating too much just because of the pain, but there's no question that this amount of food really IS enough. The trick, and there is one, is paying attention to the feeling and recognizing it for what it is. It's a different feeling than what we may have thought of as "full" before--it's not that belly-bursting, full-to-sleepiness stuffedness we might remember from Thanksgivings past. The negative reinforcement helps minimize the mindless eating that was my hallmark pre-band. And now all it takes is a little attention to realize that I'm actually full and satisfied, too.

It sure happens, Joe. For better or worse, a huge weight loss affects everything in our lives. I personally would hope that a weight loss alone couldn't spell the end of a marriage; I'd think there would have had to be other things at work. Hope you're not going through anything painful. :hug:

My all-time favorite salad dressing is the Asian carrot-ginger dressing, which tastes exactly like that served in Japanese restaurants. I don't know the brand name and unfortunately, I can no longer find it at Trader Joe's where I used to buy it. Anyone know of a good one?

Good luck, Cheri! Doesn't sound pretty, but I hope you'll be feeling much better after it's done. I wouldn't jump the gun with an unfill if you don't need it, not yet. Just try to stay alert to how you're feeling so you can get one if conditions require. Heal fast!!

Hi Lar, Welcome to LBT! Yes, you'll find that hair loss is not at all uncommon. It seems to follow about four or five months after surgery, and isn't always related to weight loss. The same thing happened to me both times I gave birth, and again with banding. But it's not too bad, and starts to grow back after a couple of months. No one has ever gone bald. Contratulations on your banding and your great weight loss!

Hi Micki, First, you can't stretch your band. What stretches is your pouch, and it's pretty unlikely you could do that without prolonged, ongoing overeating. If you find yourself eating past the point of being overfull on a regular basis, you might very well stretch your pouch and compromise the position of your band. But for most bandsters, the pouch stretches no more than it's supposed to (it's made of stomach tissue, after all) and it bounces back to its normal size as the food in it passes through the stoma. Your question about how many fills one can get is a good one with several answers. First, the port can be accessed thousands of times, so there's no mechanical limit to adjustments. HOWEVER, there is clearly a point at which adding more Fluid to the band makes the stoma too small, so no food or fluid can pass through. That's the "too tight" scenario. People are different and the same amount of fluid can render one person too loose and the next too tight. There's no such thing as "too many" fills or "too few" fills. There are only three levels: too loose, too tight, and just right. If it takes 3 or 30 adjustments to find your just right, so be it. A lot depends on how your doctor handles fills, whether they tweak by adding .1cc at a time or whether they go for good restriction right away. If you're able to eat solid foods by chewing carefully and eating slowly, and yet are not hungry after a meal for 4 or 5 hours, you probably don't need a fill. Getting too tight is not a good thing, as many of us can attest.

Yeah, I did and still am partaking of too much Easter candy. Last night, in particular, I sat myself down and really explored the way my stomach felt. Blech! It wasn't even candy I particularly liked much, but it was there and it just popped itself into my mouth (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it). Realizing that a) I didn't like it much, and it didn't make me happy, and c) eating too much of it resulted in a yucky feeling, eventually made me look at it in a new way. Tonight I'll be able to give it a pass. And in another few days it will be gone entirely. Slow down, examine, explore, decide. That's my strategy and when I use it, it works.