Noticing a trend here

[AngelfireRN]

Forgive me....I'm kinda bored and when I get bored I dwell on things.

I have been noticing a trend on the boards lately, and I don't like it.

Part of what I love about this site is the fact that you can come here, post thread about what bothers you, and talk about it, get feedback, have people of a like mind get mad right along with you, etc.

And then there are "them".

We all know of which I speak.

Those high-and mighty, self-righteous, know-it-alls that have to come on to every vent thread I have ever seen and tell us that we sound mean, we have offended them, they hope they never have us as a nurse, etc. Then there are those that try to tell you what you SHOULD think , how you SHOULD feel, and what you SHOULD do.

Seems to be getting worse. The splenda packet thread comes to mind more vividly than others, those of you that have read that one will know what I mean.

And another thing I have noticed, it's mostly non-nurses, pre-nurses (that must be new, or else we don't have that where I live, because I have never heard of a pre-nurse before here), or student nurses that want to start the rumpus.

My questions are:

1) Why? Do they just thrive on causing controversy? Gotta hand it to them, though, they're persistent. They hang on and will NOT leave.

2) Can we not do something about them? When they hijack a thread, can we mute them? I know we can report them to the mods, but beyond that, can we band together and do something else?

3) This site is called allNURSES. I fail to see why non-nurses would want to be here. I'll defend their right to be here with my last breath, it's a free country, but my hubby can't stand to hear me talk about some of the things I do without getting queasy. What kind of kick could a layperson get out of this site? The things we talk about usually would make no sense to a layperson, unless they have acquantances or family in the medical field, or have spent a lot of time around the field.

Has anyone else noticed the increase in this trend, or is it just me? If so, does it bother you? Just curious. Thanks.

[editor2rn]

I think Allnurses provides an invaluable service to the nursing student and pre-nursing student and I would hate to be so inclusive that they wouldn't be included.

YES! As a pre-nursing student, I value this board immensely.

My first degree is in education, and I earned it in the days before Internet was available. It was very difficult to find information on "a day in the life" of a teacher. I read every book I could find written by teachers, and of course I had internships and then student teaching. A board like this would have been invaluable to me. It was a challenging and kind of lonely experience getting through student teaching since my supervising teacher, though nice and I got along with her, didn't much care for nurturing kids or her student teachers (she thrived on power, not on teaching). And teaching is a VERY isolated job.

I'm glad that we're welcome here, and I can also relate to experience nurses who read what's perceived as judgmental comments from those with no experience. Lordy, we had our share of those who came in to "fix" education, usually only to leave after one or two years when reality hit them upside the head.

[editor2rn]

it is really irksome to have a student who has never walked a mile in my shoes or the shoes of any of the nurses posting on a vent thread tell us what horrible people we must be to be venting.

lol! when i taught elementary school in the inner city, my colleagues and i would have made the papers if anyone from the public had heard our after-school vents. we sounded like we hated kids, parents, administrators, the government, and the list goes on. really, though, we vented because we cared. we put our heart into our job, so it affected us emotionally.

many times we all met in another area of town for happy hour (not allowed to drink where our students/parents might frequent) to have a drink and laugh. if we didn't laugh, we'd surely be crying.