As mentioned in this thread, I’m making my debut next month as a teemings columnist. I am unbelievably excited about this. My vision is for an advice column al la Dear Abby, only without the poetry, urban legends and recipes, and with more cussing. We’re having one problem, however: no one is sending in questions!
So send questions in now! You people have to have some sort of problem! I mean, I know that Dopers are unusually well adjusted and all, but this is ridiculous! No one’s mother in law is moving in? No one’s neighbor’s cat is eating their petunias? No one’s spouse is sleeping with their cousin? No one’s pet goat is acting suspicious and ‘working late’?
So come up with problems. Poll your friends. Then send them to me c/o Eutychus55@att.net.
And if anyone can come up with a cool name for the column, I’d appreciate it. The only one I’ve been able to think of is ‘Communicable Life’, which I like, but it isn’t exactly catchy.
My problem is that I am too private a person to discuss my problems with friends in the RW. So I make threads on SDMB and share them with total strangers, like you, Manda JO.
So, how do I fix that? Note: if your advice is really good, you may never hear from me again.
My problem is that I rarely follow advice from others. In addition, I ignore solutions. I know what I should do. It’s just that for whatever reason, I choose not to go that route. Maybe, I like challenges and self-made adversity.
Oh sure, I spill my guts to you about my deep personal problems concerning moderators and Crisco in the other thread, and you ignore my question.
If you won’t answer that, how can you expect me to want to ask questions about other personal problems I have, like fantasies about Great Debaters and soy sauce marinade, or General Questions posters and lime green Jello?
I figure IMHO is more or less a giant advice column, or can certainly be used as one. Why, if someone needs advice, would they post their question to you alone rather than the whole SDMB membership on the regualr board? Not that you wouldn’t be outstanding at giving advice, but why would we limit the scope of our respondents?
With all due respect, I agree with yojimbo. If I have a problem that I actually need advice about, I’d be more likely to present it to a large group of people, then take all of those opinions into account.
I have to agree with Zette and Yojimbo. If I want advice, I would rather have the opinion of many than the opinion of just one unless that one person was a close friend whose sole opinion was very important.
(Crap, I think I could have made that sentence a bit more reader friendly and grammar correct.)
Why limit it to one when we have the resources of many different people with many different experiences and many different views to draw from?
Also, I am interested in knowing what credentials you have to answer more serious problems.
I think the issue is that teemings has similar too but not identical readership than the boards, and is a fundamentally different medium: it’s a magazine, not a conversation. There is no particular reason why any of the columnists should not just post their writing is the appropriate forum, except for the desire to have a magazine in addition to a message board.
Advice columns are not really about helping people solve problems–the time lag alone makes them impractical for that. What they are is a very specific type of collaborative writing, the purpose of which is to entertain readers, who enjoy a glimpse of the sort of problems other people face and the chance to disagree with a solution to that problem. It gives people a springboard for talking aand thinking about what they believe, which is a perinnial favorite subject. What both Euty’s OP and this post are about is requesting help is this collaborative writing, not a case of desperatly seeking people who need real help. I did not make that suffeciently clear up above, and for that I apologize.
Why would people bother to help? Why do people write to entertain others at all? For me, I dunno, I get a massive kick out of seeing something I wrote in print–even electronic print–and I assume I’m not the only one.
When Euty and I were bouncing the idea back and forth in email, I think we shared the same idea that an advice column is something fun that attracts readers, and that it could be a way to draw people in to what is a fantastic e-publication–anything different that hooks in some new people and serves as a gateway drug to our many other excellent, excellent columns seems like a good idea to me. Bildo, I am really not ignoring you. I’ve been desperatly trying to come up with a witty response to your post, and I am having the most terrible writer’s block. I’m terribly sorry.
I agree that Teemings is separate from the boards although I think the readership is a lot more similar than you think. Also, other mediums such as local papers who run Dear Abby, etc., don’t have the luxury of a 10,000 membership with many different experiences and lifestyles from which advice may be drawn.
Personally, if I were asking for advice, I would rather have a wide variety of suggestions than the suggestion of one.
It doesn’t matter to me one way or another, I’m just giving you my opinion of why you aren’t getting the responses you hoped for.
Hmm, maybe we need hypothetical people with some sort of common/universal problems to address? Then it’s not so much a question:answer as it is musing on the nature of human interpersonal relations?
I think that if one had any questions regarding human behavior, Manda JO is positively one of the best people to whom one should turn. She knows her shit.
And it ain’t blue.
Here’s another thing. I’ve often seen it said on here that people tend to “post their life’s story,” either in an attempt to garner attention, or just to talk and perhaps get some good advice. I wish I could remember who had said this, but I believe I’ve seen it more than once.
Anyway, for those who do feel there are far too many “soul-baring” threads around here, this might be a way to see less of them. Maybe people would post a question to Manda and not begin a thread about themselves. Or maybe not. And maybe those people would rather have a wider variety of answers.
Hm, if this idea flies, would it be permissible to comment on Manda’s answers? Say the new issue of teemings came out, and Manda had a nifty column that someone here wanted to comment on, like with Cecil’s columns. Could they begin a thread in IMHO or MPSIMS?
I’d rather post to her alone. Manda Jo always seems to have good grounded advice. Many people won’t put their most private problems online, because even if they did some idiot would come along and post: “You’re wrong. End of discussion.” without any further help. Also, if nobody knows you, you’re even more likely to get a response like that, or even no response at all.
I think I’d rather get an in-depth reply from someone who wants to help than a bunch of ‘me too’ or ‘you’re wrong’ posts. But that’s just me, I’m a little shy to open myself up to that kind of criticism.
