Online Community, Help

Hello all,
My name is MIchelle. I live in Madison , Wi. My boyfriend and I moved here from Salt Lake City for his Residency. He is currently in his second of three years in the Dermatology program at University of Wisconsin. I am also a student persuing Speech Language Pathology. I am writing a paper currently that focuses on online communities. My assignment is to joing a community that i have an interested in, make observations, and write a detailed essay with my results. The more interaction I have from others in this community, the easier this paper will be for me so please respond even if it is to just say hello or to introduce yourself. Some questions I need to answer for my paper are:
1. what recommendations do you have for new users?
2. What should new users be aware of?
3. what should participants avoid?
4. how would you characterize the nature of the discussions

Thanks to those who read and respond. I greatly appreciate it.
-Michelle

[poky]

Hi, and thanks for starting your own intro thread; nice to meet you. My husband spent a month on an away rotation in Madison his last year of med school, and really liked it; the town seems really great.

Just as a general overview, this forum is multi-layered; once you've reach a minimum threshold of posts and we feel like we've gotten to know you a bit, the admins will grant access to the non-public forums, where we tend to discuss slightly more private things.

My first recommendation for new users of ANY online community is to do a LOT of reading (preferably before posting much, if at all). Get a feel for the general tone and demographics of the community, and how well you feel like you fit in. You'll find that here we have relationships (or former relationships) with people in medicine in common, but other than that, we're all over the board, and we discuss anything and everything. We are respectful of each other, this is primarily a support community, and we have a zero tolerance policy for spam.

Enjoy, and welcome!

[corn poffi]

Welcome! I lived in Madison until about a year ago when we moved for residency. Love that town!

[HouseofWool]

I did my BA in Madison as well and loved every minute of my time there!

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I'll play...no ties to Madison but welcome anyway!

1. what recommendations do you have for new users?
Read lots of posts before commenting. Give a proper introduction of yourself so we know who you are. Be respectful that everyone is on their own journey. The point of a support website is always to make things BETTER, never worse so that's the mindset with which you should post.
2. What should new users be aware of
Can't speak more generally but for this website, medicine is a really, really small world. So, I would say that it's best to be a little close to the vest at first until you get to know people and gain access to private forums where you can be more open. Just like in real life, it takes a while to generate strong relationships and there will be people with whom you disagree, move on and be kind even in your disagreements. There will be people with whom you connect better than others and that's ok.
3. what should participants avoid
Disclosing too much information. Lurking and never posting. Arguing in non-debate forums. Being unkind.
4. how would you characterize the nature of the discussions
Runs the gamut from the super intense debates to the completely mundane. There's a lot of posts about how to deal with our spouses jobs (obviously given the nature of this site) but also a lot of posts about daily lives - kids, aging parents, our own professions, rants/raves, real estate, etc.

Thank you all for your responses. TulipsAndSunscreen, I really appreeciate your feedback to my questions. They are really helpful.

[SuzySunshine]

Welcome! We lived in MN for 7 years and visited Madison once - beautiful city! I think T&S pretty much covered the questions, this is a good bunch!

[Cinderella]

1. what recommendations do you have for new users?
Jump in and post often. Be aware of how to separate the garbage out from the rest.
2. What should new users be aware of?
Trolls. Don't respond to unkindness and feed the beast.
3. what should participants avoid?
Conflict except in designated areas such as the dungeon.
4. how would you characterize the nature of the discussions
We're a mutually supportive group of medical spouses or significant others. Actual med peeps, unless otherwise married to a med peep, should not apply.

and to the group btw.

[HouseofWool]

I'll play...no ties to Madison but welcome anyway!

1. what recommendations do you have for new users?
Read lots of posts before commenting. Give a proper introduction of yourself so we know who you are. Be respectful that everyone is on their own journey. The point of a support website is always to make things BETTER, never worse so that's the mindset with which you should post.
2. What should new users be aware of
Can't speak more generally but for this website, medicine is a really, really small world. So, I would say that it's best to be a little close to the vest at first until you get to know people and gain access to private forums where you can be more open. Just like in real life, it takes a while to generate strong relationships and there will be people with whom you disagree, move on and be kind even in your disagreements. There will be people with whom you connect better than others and that's ok.
3. what should participants avoid
Disclosing too much information. Lurking and never posting. Arguing in non-debate forums. Being unkind.
4. how would you characterize the nature of the discussions
Runs the gamut from the super intense debates to the completely mundane. There's a lot of posts about how to deal with our spouses jobs (obviously given the nature of this site) but also a lot of posts about daily lives - kids, aging parents, our own professions, rants/raves, real estate, etc.

As T&S said above, don't be fooled by what you can see now. If you decide to become an active member of this community beyond the scope of your assignment, you will gain access to more secure forums where our members talk about everything under the sun, even things that we couldn't talk to people about in real life.

[niener]

Welcome! I whole-heartedly agree with the responses you've already gotten, mainly -- read a LOT at first to get to know the community better and understand how you may fit in, be respectful of others, and always remember medicine is a small world. Medicine really can be a bitch sometimes, so it's nice to have this supportive community of people who have BTDT (been there done that) and understand what you're going through. As a result, we have a pretty tight-knit group of folks here who are always excited to welcome new members but are fiercely protective of our core and don't tolerate spammers, bullshitters, etc.