About graphic posts

[gumdropper1]

This group has always been better than other emet lists because there is no explicit ban on graphic posts or on using certain words. Groups that have bans on the words tend to attract only the most helpless kind of emets with a victim mentality, and the group dissolves into mindless drivel, and no one is helped with their emet. Those groups only exist to cope with emet, and no one is willing to confront their emet.


I also advocate thewriting of graphic posts for one simple reason: They help ease the anxiety of the person who is writing them. It's true. I've been dealing with emets online for more than 10 years, not only on boards like this and emet lists but also dealing with individual emets who contact me about their emet after reading my Emetophobia FAQ, and one thing I've noticed is that it really eases their anxiety to write about their vomiting experiences and to make those posts as explicit and detailed as possible. More than one emet has told me it was therapeutic to write it all out.


It might be a different thing to READ the posts of other like that, however, and I see the sensibility of flagging such posts as graphic. (My post the other night to the "V in sleep" thread started by saying it was a truly disgusting story.)


Therefore, I would not be in favor of any change in IES policy that would make users feel less free to say what they want. Such a change would discourage the cathartic descriptions that many people find helpful and would drive away people who truly want to overcome their emet and leave only helpless people who are only interested in coping with it.


Anyway, Sage has reported in the past that the more graphic a thread is, the more likely it is to be read. So I think this means popular opinion on the board is on my side. How can anyone complain that they were surprised by graphic content in a thread titled "I just did IT and was IT ever awful!!!"


DougEdited by: gumdropper1

[scaredycat82]

I agree with you, I think reading a graphic post is like a car crash, you don't want to see it but you just can't look away.


I feel so much better when I post on here with problems relating to emet, I feel like no one I know in real life fully understands how bad this phobia is, and it's a relief to relate to other people with it.

[jandub]

It's sort of the same as me going to youtube every few days to watch vomit videos...just to sort of "stay acquainted" with the ugly truth that people vomit now and then. If this place was so sterile that there was never any graphic descriptions, in my opinion, it would hinder me, only because I tend to start to live in a fantasy world where there is no sickness. The problem with that is when I'm faced with it, I am in total shock and have no way of dealing with it. I hope this makes sense. If I'm feeling particularly sensitive to illness one day, I may avoid a graphic post. But most times, I really feel like it does me good to read it and deal with it, maybe even daily.

[madisonsmom]

I agree with you 100%. We have always been able to write graphic content on here. Most people are courteous enough to say that it is graphic to give the reader the option to read it or not.

I personally do not have issues with graphic posts. It doesn't bother me at all to read them. It is my choice to open the thread or not open the thread.

[img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]

[laneyb]

Yep, I agree too! If a post is marked "graphic" the person has the choice as to whether or not to read it.


For me, its a big help reading about others xperiences and how they coped! Without the graphic posts you wouldnt always get this.

[sage]

As long as there's a clear warning then it's sort of "user-beware", I agree.


Unfortunately, many emets have that obsessive "gotta look" problem and they read graphic or scary Norwalk posts even though it terrifies them and they feel a hundred times WORSE afterward. There's nothing we can do about that.


I have now treated 3 or 4 people with emetophobia who originally came to this site, but I always advise them not to come here anymore. It's great to come for a while, and know you're not alone, and get support from others as well as information. But in the end if you want to get WELL, then you probably need to stay away.


I find many people on here are much better and they stick around to help support others and that's great. But if you're using this site for "reassurance" all the time, ...dudes...it's only feeding your phobia and making it worse.


Anyway, it's Friday night and I'm husbandless and bored. So sorry for the prattle!

[hippychick]

I agree Sage! There was a time I was only on here for reassurance, getting people to tell me I wasn't going to be sick. I liked the forum and well 6 years later I'm still around haha But I use it very differently now, I like to offer help I really do and although I was meant to be staying away seeing IES back up I couldn't resist looking

As for graphic posts, I do like that you have the option to post and the option to read. On other emetophobia groups and forums I have seen people banned for using the word vomit and so therefore they must be a troll!!!!!!

I think that if as a group we all didn't have the freedom to use graphic words and descriptions we would not be exposing ourselves to it at all and it would make things worse.

At least here these IS a warning and at least you have options and alternatives and people in all stages of phobia can be safe to post here.

[sage]

Ya - I think that there's always an argument both ways, but once you start writing v* then it goes to n* and sv and s* and on and on - it's ridiculous, imo. Anyone who can't even look at the word will have still typed it in to find this site. And hopefully they will have read through the info and gone to get some help. I know they may not take part in the discussions and in that sense it "excludes" them, but I can't imagine - as Doug says - excluding people who can write out the word "sick"!!!

[HDogg]

Banned for writing the word "vomit?" Oy. That's a bit extreme. I think graphic posts are just fine, and I think everyone on here (with the exception of newbies who don't know the "rules" yet) is courteous enough to put a warning label on them. I personally have starting typing sv*, because it's shorter to write than stomach virus, lol. But I don't censor any words I type except v*, out of respect for others,or maybe "sh**" or something.

[tcsarah]

I totally agree gumdropper. I think you should be allowed to write about your vomit experience even if it is graphic, if it is all that's needed is a small prior warning that your story is going to be upsetting to some because of it's graphic content. I really can't believe that some emetophobia forums/groups ban people from using words like vomit - that is just taking things to extremes and really isn't going to help anybody in fighting this phobia.

[longgone]

I totally agree gumdropper. I think you should be
allowed to write about your vomit experience even if it is graphic, if
it is all that's needed is a small prior warning that your story is
going to be upsetting to some because of it's graphic content. I
really can't believe that some emetophobia forums/groups ban people
from using words like vomit - that is just taking things to extremes
and really isn't going to help anybody in fighting this phobia.

I agree.

[hippychick]

That said, I always use d* for diarreah because it's the most diabolically complicated word to spell (and yet brilliant for scrabble). That's not even right I am sure

[susie_q]

That said, I always use d* for diarreah because it's the most diabolically complicated word to spell (and yet brilliant for scrabble). That's not even right I am sure

I agree! BTW, it spelled diarrhea...lol. And, the only reason I know this is because, being a sufferer, I've looked it up several times on the internet. The correct spelling is now engrained in my head!

[centipede]

Sometimes when I come here too often I start to feel worse. But I feel this site is my comfort zone as well and has helped me. It's also important to be here for newbies if only to welcome them here.

[tcsarah]

But did you know diarrhoea is spelled slightly differently in UK to US. We put an 'o'in it!

[susie_q]

But did you know diarrhoea is spelled slightly differently in UK to US. We put an 'o'in it!

Interesting...Nope, I didn't know that. I forgot that some things are different in UK.

[HDogg]

LOL. Yeah, diarrhea is a pain to spell, isn't it? Or diarrhoea. That makes me scratch my head---where did the "o" come from? I knew it's spelled that way in the UK, but I could never figure out why. Now, words like "colour" I get, but why the "o" in diarrhoea? I guess it's just to confuse those poor people who struggle with spelling even more! It's a conspiracy! [img]smileys/smilies_02.gif[/img]


Ha ha ha---hippychick, "diarrhea/oea" WOULD make an excellent word for Scrabble! Or that word game (I forget what it's called) where you try to make as many words as you can from that one original word. We should put that in the games section...how many words can you make from "diarrhea?" LOL!

[tcsarah]

American ways of spelling make much more sense! We make them much more complicated, lol. Apart from the obvious ones where we use -our intead of -or and re instead of -erat the end of words, a few other words I've noticed that are spelled differently in US are pyjamas, grey, chequeand jewellery - US= pajamas, gray, check and jewelry.

[lgood22573]

Don't forget colour/ color!