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Are we a miserable bunch...?

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 09:09

......of thankers. 😁

Apart from individual replies to posts, thanks is the only indication of how an individual post has been received by the forum. Furthermore, especially if you're a regular poster, the thanks count is the only general indicator of what contribution you are making to the community.

I'll give an example. One of the biggest and best contributors to the forum, was a lady, who unfortunately no longer posts here. She was a forum member for fifteen years, posted almost 15,000 posts, but received less than 5,000 thanks. That's a worse 'approval rating' than most MPs. 😱 

Come on folk, thanks cost nothing. Let's press the thumbs up icon and show we appreciate each other a little more than we do now.

Thanks.

Edited by member 04 Jul 2025 at 10:44  | Reason: edit of tile to comply with house rules

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 09:09

......of thankers. 😁

Apart from individual replies to posts, thanks is the only indication of how an individual post has been received by the forum. Furthermore, especially if you're a regular poster, the thanks count is the only general indicator of what contribution you are making to the community.

I'll give an example. One of the biggest and best contributors to the forum, was a lady, who unfortunately no longer posts here. She was a forum member for fifteen years, posted almost 15,000 posts, but received less than 5,000 thanks. That's a worse 'approval rating' than most MPs. 😱 

Come on folk, thanks cost nothing. Let's press the thumbs up icon and show we appreciate each other a little more than we do now.

Thanks.

Edited by member 04 Jul 2025 at 10:44  | Reason: edit of tile to comply with house rules

User
Posted 05 Jul 2025 at 00:03

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Adrian, I may be wrong yet again, but I recall the lady in question posting that she never looked at the thanks she had be given, which may explain things. I think the thank button is a bit limited in its usefulness, saying thanks to someone who has posted about the loss of a loved one doesn't seem right. In the last couple of days on the PC Facebook site the announcement of a death prompted just under 400 emojis and 135 responses , I don't think that means we are an uncaring bunch of people.

I have said a few times that the dynamics of this site has changed and we are fortunate that you and people like Barry do so much to keep it going. Apologies for not mentioning all the other regulars who do contribute you know who you are 

I will be totally honest after 11 years and perhaps the effect of the medication, I sometimes can't be arsed. I never like to see posts go unanswered and with such a tish journey I do try and avoid answering newbies for fear of putting them off treatment.

I don't even know how the thanks works can you see who thanked your own post. 

Keep up the good work guys it is appreciated.

I thought once we were over 65 we had a right or even a duty to be miserable buggers. 😄😄😄.

Thanks Chris 

 

Chris that is my understanding about the lady in question too.  Like a few others of us long standing members she prefered the old forum format, was against personal messaging prefering PCa related subjects to be discussed on the forum with the opportunity to challege/correct misinformation.  She expressed strong opinions sometimes laced with a sense of humour.  It would have been nice if she or somebody she knows could have told us she is OK as several members here have enquired after her.  There was nurse previously who was very active in a similar way but had a breakdown and stopped posting.  Whatever reason both did much and many are indebted to them.  Posts on this forum are also read by many members or non members, so all who seek and give information beit occasionally or frequently help with PCa dissemination. 

Barry
User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 19:18
Adrian,

As regards the Lady in question, many of her posts were in the former format of this forum where there was no provision for thanks, which at least partly explains why she did not receive the number of thanks in proportion to her number of posts that she would have received had they all been in the current format. Have to say I am not a great fan of pressing the thanks button prefering to add thanks and acknowledgement personally where particularly helpful. I am on a motor forum where not only the names or user names of those giving thanks are recorded by each each worthy post if considered helpful but a grade is ascribed ranging up to a cup sign for highly rated posts as occasionally awarded by members. Some feel it gets a bit unnecessary and competitive.

Barry
User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 20:53

Adrian, I may be wrong yet again, but I recall the lady in question posting that she never looked at the thanks she had be given, which may explain things. I think the thank button is a bit limited in its usefulness, saying thanks to someone who has posted about the loss of a loved one doesn't seem right. In the last couple of days on the PC Facebook site the announcement of a death prompted just under 400 emojis and 135 responses , I don't think that means we are an uncaring bunch of people.

I have said a few times that the dynamics of this site has changed and we are fortunate that you and people like Barry do so much to keep it going. Apologies for not mentioning all the other regulars who do contribute you know who you are 

I will be totally honest after 11 years and perhaps the effect of the medication, I sometimes can't be arsed. I never like to see posts go unanswered and with such a tish journey I do try and avoid answering newbies for fear of putting them off treatment.

I don't even know how the thanks works can you see who thanked your own post. 

Keep up the good work guys it is appreciated.

I thought once we were over 65 we had a right or even a duty to be miserable buggers. 😄😄😄.

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 22:43

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
It just seems to me, especially when so many posts are to help people deal with cancer, the thanks are on the meagre side. I did note that our 'lovely lady' was a very mean thanker, perhaps that accounted for the thanks she got in return?

Lyn was always direct and a huge contributor to this forum but some men clearly have trouble accepting both that they have cancer and that they have to act on it, so sometimes Lyn's messages weren't well received.

The regulars here have gone through whatever stages of understanding it takes to live with their cancer and they probably aren't going to "thank" for something they're already well informed on.

The challenge for us is not so much the people who don't "thank" but the people with cancer who come into this place and don't shift their views to acceptance of where they are and what they need to do. Sometimes, with some notable examples, they even get aggressive in their denial or they just leave. I often wonder what happens to these people. Maybe they go off somewhere else and follow good professional advice. Maybe they don't.

Yes, thanks probably are on the meagre side but they're a pretty blunt tool and I'm sure that many posts that don't get thanks are still valued by all of us.

Jules

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 23:44

Hi Jules.

I thanked your post 🙂 like I've thanked all the other responses on this conversation. I usually do that. If anyone takes time to respond to any of my conversations, unless I inadvertently forget, I thank their response. To me, that's just good manners.

As for Lyn, I miss her very much. She said herself, that she wasn't a 'fluffy' person. However, even taking into account her posting in the early days, when there was thanks no button, the 'gratitude figures' for her incredible input fall well short of where they should have been.

Show Most Thanked Posts
User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 19:18
Adrian,

As regards the Lady in question, many of her posts were in the former format of this forum where there was no provision for thanks, which at least partly explains why she did not receive the number of thanks in proportion to her number of posts that she would have received had they all been in the current format. Have to say I am not a great fan of pressing the thanks button prefering to add thanks and acknowledgement personally where particularly helpful. I am on a motor forum where not only the names or user names of those giving thanks are recorded by each each worthy post if considered helpful but a grade is ascribed ranging up to a cup sign for highly rated posts as occasionally awarded by members. Some feel it gets a bit unnecessary and competitive.

Barry
User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 20:44

Hi Barry.

I was on a money saving forum which gave far too many thanks. If you posted a link to offer of 10p off a packet of corn flakes you got thousands of thanks.😁

It just seems to me, especially when so many posts are to help people deal with cancer, the thanks are on the meagre side.

I did note that our 'lovely lady' was a very mean thanker, perhaps that accounted for the thanks she got in return? 

It's interesting to hear that there was no thanks button when the forum first opened. On a site like this I would have thought it was imperative to be able to show gratitude?

I know when I first started posting I was giving as many thanks as my actual post count. Now it's dropped to about half of it. I've sort of adjusted saying thanks to the lower level used by the majority on here, if you see what I mean.

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 20:53

Adrian, I may be wrong yet again, but I recall the lady in question posting that she never looked at the thanks she had be given, which may explain things. I think the thank button is a bit limited in its usefulness, saying thanks to someone who has posted about the loss of a loved one doesn't seem right. In the last couple of days on the PC Facebook site the announcement of a death prompted just under 400 emojis and 135 responses , I don't think that means we are an uncaring bunch of people.

I have said a few times that the dynamics of this site has changed and we are fortunate that you and people like Barry do so much to keep it going. Apologies for not mentioning all the other regulars who do contribute you know who you are 

I will be totally honest after 11 years and perhaps the effect of the medication, I sometimes can't be arsed. I never like to see posts go unanswered and with such a tish journey I do try and avoid answering newbies for fear of putting them off treatment.

I don't even know how the thanks works can you see who thanked your own post. 

Keep up the good work guys it is appreciated.

I thought once we were over 65 we had a right or even a duty to be miserable buggers. 😄😄😄.

Thanks Chris 

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 22:38

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Have to say I am not a great fan of pressing the thanks button prefering to add thanks and acknowledgement personally where particularly helpful.

Hi Barry.

Your thanks button thanks are rarer than the Victoria Cross. Only joking mate. 😬

I know you personally thank people in your posts. You thanked me the other day for a link I posted and I thanked you for the thank you. 🙂 

All I'm saying is, especially for newbies, the only way they can judge, at a glance, another person's 'apparent quality of posts', is to see their total post count and how many of those posts have been thanked. 

Some might say thanks don't matter, but if so, why have them displayed on your profile statistics? 

What also mystifies me is on this forum, why can't you see on a post you make in a conversation, whether or not it has been thanked. Others can see, but the poster can't, it seems ridiculous. 

Edited by member 04 Jul 2025 at 22:39  | Reason: Typo

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 22:43

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member
It just seems to me, especially when so many posts are to help people deal with cancer, the thanks are on the meagre side. I did note that our 'lovely lady' was a very mean thanker, perhaps that accounted for the thanks she got in return?

Lyn was always direct and a huge contributor to this forum but some men clearly have trouble accepting both that they have cancer and that they have to act on it, so sometimes Lyn's messages weren't well received.

The regulars here have gone through whatever stages of understanding it takes to live with their cancer and they probably aren't going to "thank" for something they're already well informed on.

The challenge for us is not so much the people who don't "thank" but the people with cancer who come into this place and don't shift their views to acceptance of where they are and what they need to do. Sometimes, with some notable examples, they even get aggressive in their denial or they just leave. I often wonder what happens to these people. Maybe they go off somewhere else and follow good professional advice. Maybe they don't.

Yes, thanks probably are on the meagre side but they're a pretty blunt tool and I'm sure that many posts that don't get thanks are still valued by all of us.

Jules

User
Posted 04 Jul 2025 at 23:44

Hi Jules.

I thanked your post 🙂 like I've thanked all the other responses on this conversation. I usually do that. If anyone takes time to respond to any of my conversations, unless I inadvertently forget, I thank their response. To me, that's just good manners.

As for Lyn, I miss her very much. She said herself, that she wasn't a 'fluffy' person. However, even taking into account her posting in the early days, when there was thanks no button, the 'gratitude figures' for her incredible input fall well short of where they should have been.

User
Posted 05 Jul 2025 at 00:03

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Adrian, I may be wrong yet again, but I recall the lady in question posting that she never looked at the thanks she had be given, which may explain things. I think the thank button is a bit limited in its usefulness, saying thanks to someone who has posted about the loss of a loved one doesn't seem right. In the last couple of days on the PC Facebook site the announcement of a death prompted just under 400 emojis and 135 responses , I don't think that means we are an uncaring bunch of people.

I have said a few times that the dynamics of this site has changed and we are fortunate that you and people like Barry do so much to keep it going. Apologies for not mentioning all the other regulars who do contribute you know who you are 

I will be totally honest after 11 years and perhaps the effect of the medication, I sometimes can't be arsed. I never like to see posts go unanswered and with such a tish journey I do try and avoid answering newbies for fear of putting them off treatment.

I don't even know how the thanks works can you see who thanked your own post. 

Keep up the good work guys it is appreciated.

I thought once we were over 65 we had a right or even a duty to be miserable buggers. 😄😄😄.

Thanks Chris 

 

Chris that is my understanding about the lady in question too.  Like a few others of us long standing members she prefered the old forum format, was against personal messaging prefering PCa related subjects to be discussed on the forum with the opportunity to challege/correct misinformation.  She expressed strong opinions sometimes laced with a sense of humour.  It would have been nice if she or somebody she knows could have told us she is OK as several members here have enquired after her.  There was nurse previously who was very active in a similar way but had a breakdown and stopped posting.  Whatever reason both did much and many are indebted to them.  Posts on this forum are also read by many members or non members, so all who seek and give information beit occasionally or frequently help with PCa dissemination. 

Barry
User
Posted 05 Jul 2025 at 00:14

😄 Thanks Adrian. She did deserve more thanks than she got.

Barry, Andy posted that Lyn is well fairly recently.

Jules

Edited by member 05 Jul 2025 at 01:20  | Reason: Not specified

User
Posted 05 Jul 2025 at 11:42

I think the thank you button is not really helpful. I have used it but not v often. People ask questions and other people reply and I don’t think a thank you is necessary. We are not a FB page where you have to like everything and I would mot like this forum to move in that direction. The decision to respond to a post is individual choice  and the motivation for doing so may be because of personal experience, recently acquired knowledge, an article that has been read etc. it never should be to gain a thank you. I don’t think anyone does it for that reason so in my opinion the thank you button could be removed without causing any controversy.

User
Posted 05 Jul 2025 at 11:52

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

😄 Thanks Adrian. She did deserve more thanks than she got.

Barry, Andy posted that Lyn is well fairly recently.

Jules

Pleased to learn that, I must have missed it.

Barry
User
Posted 05 Jul 2025 at 15:26

Unfortunately this site is run on a format that is out of date by today's standards. Been discussed a few times. 

 
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