What Does Big Green Check Mean?

I'm posting this in this forum because it happens in this forum.

I have seen some threads with comments that have Big Green Check Marks as Best Answers.  And I'm not sure what the implications of Big Green are.  Does it mean that someone can challenge the Best Answer and try to make a better one?  Do more Big Greens result in more Stars for the poster?  Are those Best Answers actually correct, or are they just better that the Not Best answers?  Who says they are the Best Answers, do we have real doctors back on board?  I think a little explanation is a good thing.

The Best Answers to these questions get a Big Green Check Mark.

[evangelin]

The stars remind me of a Dr. Seuss book about Sneetches and the stars upon thars.

I am feeling a little "less than" and I've been hanging around here a long time.  I will forever look back at the good old days when the format at Medhelp was straight ,boring, and to the point. I feel too serious about this disease and the number it has done on my husband to get into frivolous "improvements" ....but that is just me.  The stars seem silly but I will endeavour to ignore them.
Ev

[Emily_MHModerator]

Hi there -

The "Best Answer" is chosen by the person who posted the question.  He/she has 7 days to choose a "best answer".  It doesn't necessarily reflect the technically best answer, but rather the answer that is best for that person.

Obviously, we hope that the actual best answers, or one of the best answers given, will be chosen, and most of the time, that will probably be the case.

Hope that helps.  Oh and this question can stay here, even though it's not technically a Hep C question, but as FlGuy points out, it happens in this forum, so leaving this here (and not moving it to Social) will allow more to see it.

Thanks for asking!

Emily

[Emily_MHModerator]

Oh and I'll be making a post about this in the Social forum, but please notice that "Expertise" has been changed to "Top Answerer" in regards to the number of stars someone has.  This was largely in part to the thread that was on the Social side, and people pointing out that they are not "experts" in Hep C simply because they have answered a certain number of questions.

Thanks!

Emily

[jepperone]

Obviously, we hope that the actual best answers, or one of the best answers given, will be chosen, and most of the time, that will probably be the case.

If this is the case Emily, Would it not be prudent to start from scratch meaning get rid of all the accumulated stars of the past and start everyone one with one star from day one and go from there. Not taking anything away from the 3, 4 and 5 star posters of past posts but it should be an equal playing field and start scratch. There are some very educated and treatment experienced people here that do not post that often and are at a disadvantage because of the rating system that is now in-place. I am sure others think this star system was a BIG mistake to have started this way and should have started at zero for everyone. Now, we have a best answer contest? If you really wanted the best answers, calculate it off of the posters choice and then rate it with stars. Say one star for every 20 best answers.

jep

[mikesimon]

?
Mike

[copyman]

I have probably spent 1000's of hrs on this and other forums and I want to keep the stars I earned. I like being a 5 star general :-)

I'm no expert but can offer an experienced "opinion" from what I have learned about this disease.

[can-do-man]

Will we also get a diploma?

[Proactive]

"Will we also get a diploma? " The heck with the diploma, what about profit sharing? I mean come on, that is really what all these stars and green checks are all about, right? More hits, more profit for some, meaningless stars and checks for others.........;*)

[jdwithhcv]

Hey, when I was in the first grade, Sister Francis Julie had three big posters up in the classroom.  One said "All the boys are here today" another said "All the girls are here today"  and the third said "Everybody is here today."  Each day, if the particular condition was met, she would put a star on the appropriate board or boards.

This is sort of how I view the medhelp star system.  Its for attendance ;^)

Just an idea.

jd  

[GreatBird]

JD . . . totally spot on.

[can-do-man]

Pro...........So true

jd .    Hey, when I was in the first grade.................. Here we are again:)

[jdwithhcv]

You bet, Zach, but this time around I'm not scared of the nun.  

[Trinity4]

In the United States military law 5 star generals are not exempt from going before military tribunal and they don't have be read the Miranda Act.  :)

[Bali05]

stars ? best answerer in 7 days ?

reminds me of a game show

Not my kind of thing when facing Hep C issues , sorry !

Anybody who sees this the first time does not know what it stands

for and will read into it. It is beside the point and I don`t think it

helps anybody.

That`s my opinion.

Bali

[copyman]

5 star generals are also not exempt from a firing squad.  I know some of the members here would like to put me in front of a firing squad :-)

[evangelin]

The stars remind me of a Dr. Seuss book about Sneetches and the stars upon thars.

I am feeling a little "less than" and I've been hanging around here a long time.  I will forever look back at the good old days when the format at Medhelp was straight ,boring, and to the point. I feel too serious about this disease and the number it has done on my husband to get into frivolous "improvements" ....but that is just me.  The stars seem silly but I will endeavour to ignore them.
Ev

[Rockerforlife]

I like when the pages were a tan color ,it was easier on the eyes too,now we have this white page blinding hard on the eyes look,,lets go back to the good ole days i say,and the ads are a pain in the rear

[Frap]

I don't post much, but this forum has helped me a ton before and during treatment.  All this star thing is (in my opinion), is to get people to post more, which leads to more hits on the site.

[GreatBird]

I also feel the stars detract from serious medical discussions. Over time this place has become more like a social networking site than a place to come for medical information.

[jepperone]

After browsing the Expert Page where Doctors post replies to paid questions it seems that MH wants to incorporate this into the general pages of the site which may not be a bad idea but rather a good one in the long run. It would also seem that they are hitting some bumps in the road because of the resistance to the idea of change to the site which may have not been totally thought out before implementing or is just a feeler set out to see how the general masses excepts or rejects the idea. I still stand that all the stars be taken back to zero and a new start date set prior to being implemented. It would also be helpful to state in the sites Main Page an explanation as to what they are trying to do.

But, from a personal point of view, the majority of people coming to this site are either researching information about the side effects of treatment drugs or they are already into treatment, lost and scared about what is happening to them and their bodies to really care if it is or was the best answer or not. Back in the day, it was all I could do to maneuver this site while on the treatment drugs much less understand how the site worked which was far simpler than it is today.

Start at zero badges
Formulate a number of best answers to achieve badges
Bring back… Was this question helpful to you? Yes No at bottom of page of replies.

This is all I have to say on the subject

jep

[jepperone]

It has also occurred to me that the Expert Site is not being monitored by Doctors so the majority of people their are navigating here to find the answers to their questions in laymen terms where as doctors do not look through the same glasses as those who are in the mists of treatment and in most cases the people here have the answers to the questions because of their own personal experiences and collective knowledge in finding so more precise information for the questions asked, so yes what you are trying to do is a great idea but needs to be tweaked just a bit more.

Thanks! I’m done

jep

[Trish77]

copyman:  "I'm no expert but can offer an experienced "opinion" from what I have learned about this disease. "

That doesn't seem to have much to do with the stars, when I look at the stars that someone like willing has.  But anyway, I've been down that road already.  Just saying.  I don't see how stars help someone offer that opinion. Either you have something that you want to contribute or you don't. If someone is posting to get more stars then they're posting for the wrong reason so having the stars there at all is a detriment, in my opinion, on a health forum.

Best answer isn't going to contribute, it's only going to take away again.  When someone posts a question, it's not only that person reading the answers, it's others who are reading the answers that are also experiencing the same thing.  What's best answer for one person isn't necessarily best answer for another and it's all subjective and also open to infighting and abuse.  Really lacking in usefulness on a forum like this.  

I welcome the change to Top Answerers (though I still think Top Posters would be more accurate!) and I'll watch to see how the other changes come about.  The situation "as is" is untenable, really.  I'd really rather see none of this.  On a health forum, does it matter who posts the most?  I personally admire those who have that ability to say much with little, not a camp I fall into very well.

Anyway....waiting to see what else MedHelp does to fix this mess before I vote with my hands (as opposed to my feet).

[FlGuy]

I received an auto-generated MH e-mail reminding me to award the the coveted "Big Green Check". The MH e-mail also said "Please thank the members who wrote answers to your question by choosing a Best Answer and recognizing a member for their extraordinary effort".

So, I gave it a lot of thought and tried to give it the best consideration that I could.  There were so many wonderful reponses that I would like to point out and hightlight a few.

JD. For the intimate peek at her fears.  Although she had a fear of nuns at one time, I don't think it's a habit anymore.

Proactive. If it was an economics award you would be there.  I don't think you are out of the running for the Nobel for economics.

Greatbird.  I loved the simplicity and brevity.  Yours was my kind of post.

Copyman. You are the everyman of this forum and your honesty is refreshing.

But the Big Green Check goes to Evangelin.  I though that her post was insightful, profound and erudite.  The best part was her ability to weave in an analogy to Dr. Suess with an undertone of Shakespeare (and I paraphrase here) "the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves."  Just wonderful !

In my many years here I have open but a few threads, maybe 5.  But this expereince has re-energized me so much that I think I'll author many more threads in the future.

I would like to thank everyone for this opportunity, but especially Emily for explaining it all and to MedHelp for making it all possible in the first place.  I love you guys most of all.

[portann]

That's a really kewl post, FlGuy. I peeked in and was baffled by the goings-on (not to mention intrigued by the collusion ordeals ahead) but you made this come out better.

Nice optic.

Susan

[evangelin]

Thanks FLGuy,
I can't tell you how many times you've made me smile over the years.  Your sense of humor is priceless.
As motivated as I am to earn stars, I am going to stick to my principles and post only if I think I have something of value to add.  I have been listening to Dave Ramsey so much lately, that I automatically ask myself, "What would Dave do?"  That didn't really pertain to anything but if I get my word count up, maybe I will feel more valuable.  :>)
Ev

[Trish77]

I wouldn't worry about getting your word count up, Ev.  I've been trying for years to get my word count DOWN.  I like your principles.  Maybe 1 star is more valuable than 5 stars, eh?

[evangelin]

Thanks Trish,
I will carry on as usual and I will probably hardly ever think about my lack of stars. :>)

[IAmTheWalrus]

Good thing you stopped when you did. I think Kanye was about to make the grab! ;-)

[GoofyDad]

"Hey, when I was in the first grade, Sister Francis Julie had three big posters"

Catholic school? Tell me you had the pleated skirt and saddle shoes.....

[jdwithhcv]

I still do...

[willing]

flguy - whoa dude - such equanimity and  munificence! upped the prozac dose lately?

portann : loved your stop sign comment; it inspired me to spend a good long while staring at one today (and I'm not even on tx)

[newleaf09]

OOooh, just bumped into the big green check and am as creeped out as I was by the top answerer list.  A motivational tool to make the answerer consider their answer more carefully and spell check it? Feels a bit manipulative to me.  I'd hate to think that at age 58, I'd need some kind of artificial reward to write what I think is correct and get the commas in the right place.  

Flguy, thanks for the explanation; I'm shuddering all over again.

[GoofyDad]

"(not to mention intrigued by the collusion ordeals ahead) "

I had to look up collusion, but when I did it hit me! People could make back-room deals to reward each other with Best Answers! Oh the shame of it. A black market in green checks will emerge and the goverment will be trading drugs with the Contras...  

[portann]

Hi sweet Goof,

The black market already emerged.

Susan

[Bill1954]

I’ll trade you both my Best Answers for one Poop thread, hmm?

[GoofyDad]

The corruption is afoot! Your precious best answers will forevermore be tainted by the image of a poo thread, hanging from those green hooks like a serpent dangling from as many meathooks on a hot day in Brooklyn.  

[Bill1954]

But…but… I just checked the FOREX markets; MHGCM [Medhelp Green Checkmarks] were trading at $2.012345 MHCM/Poothread.

I see how you are. Never mind; I’ll call my pal Madoff next time instead…

[Trish77]

Uh Bill.... I dunno but you might want to rethink that.  I think he's the same guy selling the stars too and I have this bad feeling the value has been over-inflated.  I think I'd stick with the Goof and his poop-threads .. I heard something about that being a bull market.

[Proactive]

I'm long the best answerers, short the stars and buying puts on poo.

[IAmTheWalrus]

Pssst! Wanna buy a big green one?

[Trish77]

Oh man .... as opposed to a big brown one???

[Marcia2202]

Anyone got thin yellow ones?

[can-do-man]

I bet some has those " splish splash" ones.

[GoofyDad]

Don't cover your shorts. Spicy burrito tonight may lead to a run on POO in the morning.

[can-do-man]

Don't cover your shorts. Spicy burrito tonight may lead to a run on POO in the morning.
------------------------

After hour trading.......... Im in

[Proactive]

Goof, I don't think Spicy burritos will trigger a short squeeze, butt the ace in the hole is gravity.........

[GoofyDad]

as long as we stay clear of the pink sheets we should doo OK.....

[can-do-man]

Always buy on the rumor, sell on the news. With all this poo talk im going long on fruit of the loom......

[Proactive]

I'd have to agree with you Goof, under no circumstances should POO be traded over the counter, I think the reasons are obvious..

[Marcia2202]

Pro, could you please spell out the reasons?

[Proactive]

Sorry Maricia, I'm under a gag order, you are asking for propriety inside information and I can't go there. But I will say this, rumor has it that Goldman Sachs has a way to package and resell it...stay tuned.

[Proactive]

make that proprietary information...........:^) (I have an email)

[GoofyDad]

Funny Pro. Nice job.

If you're long on POO be ready to dump a load on short notice. You never know when it might plunge.

[nygirl7]

Soil-ent Green is People.

[Marcia2202]

Pro, I guess I'll just have to take your word for it...

[jdwithhcv]

"You never know when it might plunge."

Or you might get a margin call.

[GoofyDad]

You think you're sitting flush, then you get wiped out.