any way

[margypops]

A member just asked me why I had so many stars on my profile ..I had to say I do not know as I dont even do most of the friums that are mentioned ...I would like to remove them or at the very least put the truth up there as it is misleading,any ideas please ...

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi there -

What forums do you post in regularly?  I know of a couple, but you do have a lot of stars here.  Some of the forums are grouped, like neuro, relationships, STDs, etc, so I can see where some of these are coming from (abuse may be relationships, etc), but I don't know about all of it.

If you want to PM me, you can, or you can answer here - whatever works for you.

Emily

[margypops]

It is misleading I have no knowledge of helping on a weight loss or dieting forum or cats indeed even anxiety has to be limited and as for relationships...zilch  its misleading for others . I was asked on a note today , its still there, why I had so many stars ..I actually dont know ..on those particular subjects ..??

[Emily_MHManager]

The stars don't mean you have expertise.  It means you post in those forums.  Depending on how active the forum is, and how many times you post in those areas, you may have 1 star, or 5.  

Emily

[April2]

I heard if you leave a forum then sign back in it will delete the stars. Of course, once you start posting again they come back but maybe if you don't want to belong to certain forums, like the weight loss one you can try that?

[Emily_MHManager]

Let me know if that works.

Thanks,
Emily

[swampcritter]

The names that appear next to the stars, even though they may mirror names used for forums, they aren't exactly the same. They cover broad subject areas.

[caregiver222]

You have so many stars, Margypops because you are a cutie pie.

And you deserve them.

[katarina777]

Just don't get sick for a day, or your stars will become history fast.
it's a reward and punishment deal; so embarrassing.

[Emily_MHManager]

katarina,

Did your stars change after a day?  How many stars did you lose?

Thanks,
Emily

[katarina777]

Thanks for asking! There are a few of us  who pretty much run the BC community forum. We do not just post, but we post with great quality and expertise and care.

For a few days, there were fewer questions coming in and some of them were really obnoxious, and the more we answered the worse they got. (not abusive but not up to our standards especially if the post ended up having 19 responses to it.)

Japdip, the community leader, I would give a 10 in terms of excellence, totally reliable and  professional, etc.

She, and I and two other women who are incredibly valuable lost a badge.

You know it was just psychologically a poor choice as the quality and care we place in our posts goes beyond rating. (and that is not to go against your system, except for the taking away)

I have stage 4 cancer and I have a lot to give from experience, knowledge, and was also an RN and counselor.

There are some bad days, and soon there may be no days left.

KATRIN

[Med Help]

I think the moderators have covered this many times, but just to reiterate, the badges are not assigned at a forum level, but rather at a category level.

Margypops - I believe that the moderators have also been in touch with you regarding your badges specifically, but if you have further questions, feel free to let them know. I second caregiver222...I'm sure you have so many badges because you deserved them all.

katarina777 - It looks like you have 5 stars once again. You're probably right on the border between 4 and 5 stars if you've lost a star and quickly gained it back. This will likely be less of an issue in the future, but I just want to reiterate that badges (including the 1 star version) are very hard to attain. You must be doing an incredible job to have to so many stars within Breast Cancer and I'm sure the other members of the community (as does MedHelp) really appreciate all that you're giving to them.

Thanks,
MedHelp

[katarina777]

Thanks! To tell you the truth, I still do not know what any of these symbols mean.  Can you direct me to a link where any of this is explained in more detail, because I really do not know and where to find it unless I missed something because I have been too stuck on the bc community forum. I didn't even realize that I, and members like bluebutterfly2222 , and even japdip and zouzi were not members on the bc 3& 4  forum. We all must have just assumed we were, because we all comment there.

the good thing is that these past few days I have taken the opportunity to explore other new forums that I have never been to, and that has been fun. I feel pretty much at home wherever i go, as most any great answer is directed at the 'human factor' and the relationship at hand, and the specifics are secondary.

i may complain and really mean it, but you do have something very valuable going here on MedHelp. Katrin

[Med Help]

Hi katarina777,

Here's some more information about Top Answerers and Badges: http://www.medhelp.org/forums/top_answerers/54.

I just checked your profile page and it looks like you are a member of Breast Cancer 3&4. If you go to My MedHelp and then click Profile, you'll see it listed under your communities. If you want to join a community, you can do so when you post a question (there's a checkbox underneath the question). Or you can also click Join at the top of the communities you don't belong to. You already belong to BC 3&4, so you probably won't see a Join button next to the forum name, but if you go to another community, you probably will see it there.

If you have more questions about the program, please contact Customer Support using the Contact Us link.

[katarina777]

Thanks, yes, we just all joined a day or so ago when we found out why only SueYoung was listed before .Thanks for the link, I will go there now. KAT

[margypops]

LOL well I figured mine out I just leave it alone to do its own thing .....

[MrGreen]

So you can't just gain stars for posting any old junk at all? It must be helpful and be a constructive post. I think that would knock off a lot of stars for some people on the anxiety forum. At least if that is the rules. I mean a two lined answer, to me, is not a contructive post. Something like ' hang on in there, you will get better '. That is just post notching. Something we have seen a lot of as of late. And to be honest their stars are going up quickly too. If I can't answer a post I will leave it be. I see no point in going near it at all. Selective answering on subjects we know about only. Just think the post notchers should be kept at zero stars until they actually write something constructive. Never a fan of the star system anyway. So bound to have a moan about it and that best answer addition too. That makes me laugh. I was the only one to answer a post the other day and got the best answer. To me it is just silly. It would make more sense if the best answer option appeared in a thread that had a certain amount of posts in that thread. For example, after 5 posts appear, then, and only then, does the option of the best answer appear. Moan moan moan. Easily tell I have nothing else to do.

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

Just relax, it'll get better ;-)

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

Shoot, Stars are not recorded in this forum :-(

[MrGreen]

LOL. Will LOL count as a post too.

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

If they did I bet we could build enough stars to start prescribing medication.

[RadioAstronomyObserver]

Where's Ed when you need him :-)

[tonyad]

   I know some one may have already asked, but ......

do stars get taken away??   You have somw w/ 4 - 5 stars and have not posted or answered on a long while.....Do you loose them??

   I too am quite concerened about the stars and Best Answers issue.....
Have any of you noticed that some people will answer a question to a post repeating what others have already said???  Guess they want those stars!

     Mr.Green,  I totally agree w/ you on what you call Post Notching!!

~Tonya

[ed34]

"Where's Ed when you need him :-)"

I've already said all I want to say about those silly things. But just to recap, it's obviously a silly idea which nobody is willing to own up to and it seems like they will be defended by the 'experts' who know all about such things and can't be wrong. The majority can see how bad it is but apparently this counts for nothing because what do we know. I think we can discuss this for 20 years but some people simply live in the dark and never see the light :(

[Emily_MHManager]

Hi everyone -

Actually, I'm not sure it's the majority who don't like it.  We do have quite a few people who have let us know they actually like it, but they aren't making posts about it.  That isn't to invalidate your feelings on it, just to let you know that this isn't hated by everyone.

We are always happy to get constructive criticism and feedback from members, and are listening.  Maybe we don't resolve things the way some wish we would, but we are listening, discussing, fine tuning, etc.

Emily