Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
I have an idea...to keep people from gathering information for papers or research we make a rule to not give "advice", especially is someone asks a specific question about treatment. We should always refer them to call their doctor anyway. If we just stick to talking about what we are going through and offer encouragement then maybe the POSERS will get bored with all the love the will LEAVE!
However, this "research" was done to study the politics in social networking. Completely unethical to do 1)without the knowledge of any of the members 2)should not be done in this kind of online setting. An online support group is NOT social networking. Do some of us socialize? Of course. However, it is not the purpose of DailyStrength.org.
Sites such as Myspace, Facebook and hobbyist forums (I can think of a rather large marine aquaria forum off the bat) that would better serve her "research".
Preying upon people who already feel alienated, isolated and downright horrible is inhumane. When I joined this group, I was welcomed, at a time in my life when I felt so alone because of my symptoms. I was assured that I was not alone.