Within a couple days of her “I’m different” thread I had already commented directly to her how many threads she started in a really short time. It’s been flying since then plus all the posts to existing threads. It’s an almost constant flow. I’m not sure how you could miss it. Might not bother you, that’s fine, but it’s been a deluge.
Yeah, that’s the thing. Her constant posting doesn’t bother me at all. I’ve noticed, definitely, but I’ve gotten to the point where my eyes glaze over a little and I just skim past her now.
That still doesn’t make this sort of compulsive posting healthy (for her), normal (for any human being), or good (for the board). Whether it’s some sort of bi-polar mania or drug induced or whatever, this is bad. It’s not the behavior of a well person at all.
I’m neither going to defend nor complain about her posting as of late. But I will tell you that as a fellow Bipolar 2 person, even when I’m not hypomanic my whole life is focused on the task of finding a happy medium. Many (most) times I fail and things in my life become sort of all or nothing. For instance, studying, weight gain or loss, interest in hobbies all fall under this area for me. So, what I’m saying is maybe that’s just normal life for her and she’s stuck in an ‘all’ time for posting on the dope.
I’m not bi-polar, so I can’t really comment on what it feels like to have it. I’ll accept your description, though luckily none of my bi-polar friends are anything like what I’ve seen of Opal. I do have borderline personality disorder, which I’ve affectionately likened to being officially diagnosed as an asshole most therapists don’t want to see. When I found myself thinking about suicide and having panic attacks over a PM somebody sent me, I realized I needed to find help that would actually work for me.
Mental illness is still an illness. We don’t do ourselves favors by shrugging and saying “yeah, this is just how it is.” If something is unhealthy–and I suspect posting 750 times to a message board in three weeks is pretty damn unhealthy–it’s a good idea to reevaluate things and try to find something that’s going to work better.
I did notice, though, that she thanked people a couple of times in that thread. I agree with some of the other stuff mentioned here, but at least she expressed some appreciation.
She’s on my ignore list. I used to be able to tolerate her but she posts so much that I can’t stand her.
Regarding mental illness – there is another very prominent poster here with a very sad condition with physical causes, and it rarely, every once in a while does have a marked effect on his posting style. I’ve seen others call him on it – hey dude, cool it, we know how important this community is to you, why don’t you step back and take a deep breath? – and the thing is, he acknowledges it and takes it in good grace. And this is from a guy who really does have reason to feel sad about how things are going, and how they’re not really going to get better. I know bipolar disorder is a disease, but that doesn’t make it a get out of jail free card as far as I can see.
Re “The Opal Show” - I too am impressed by her unique talent for turning seemingly ANY conversation around to be all about her. Are there any Opal-proof topics, I wonder?
Or Doug Dannger from the Phil Hendrie show.
Blocking OpalCat: when her activity was the usual four or five posts a day, it wasn’t so bad. Sure, there was some of the attention seeking she’s known for, but it didn’t dominate the subforums she usually posted in. At 50-plus posts a day, the topic of any thread she now touches turns into her favorite subject … OpalCat. When so many are giving her advice, huggies, and the like in a thread, her presence can’t be ignored. Which is, IMHO, what she wants.
OpalCat’s presence was fine at four posts a day. At 50 to 70, no, especially with the Opalratti enabling and defending her.
I really hope she gets the help she needs.
I don’t see her much in the harder sciencier type threads.
Maybe that’s because she’s not a Staff member.
If Opal were to write a series of Staff reports, what would they be about?
Her. Duh.
I’m still not convinced that OpalCat is a vegetarian. Can anyone search the SDMB for me and find cites so I know for sure?
Are you telling us that as you read through a thread, when your eyes see Opalcat your brain says “contentless blather” and you skip to the next post?
Because that is the only possible way you could not notice.
I don’t know because I don’t follow Opal like many other people seem to do, I know her from the “Hi, Opal!” stuff and that she seems to annoy people but I never paid that close attention to her posts. I just know that I hate the “bash the poster” hijacks in non-pit threads.
Yes, other threads weren’t all turned into “The Opal Show” by people professing to hate “The Opal Show”. There’s a difference between a few off topic or silly posts and flying the thread to Cuba.
If it’s going to be discussed, it’s better that it be discussed in the pit, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to jump on board with the bashing. Like I said, I don’t care about her one way or another. I just hate when this stuff ruins threads, and after having once fallen victim to The Dio Show I realized how silly and futile it is to try to change these people. But if you all enjoy the feeling of bashing your heads against a brick wall, bash away! Just keep it out of other threads.
Kumbaya and shit.
Thanks? for your useless and uninteresting input.
“My son Dominic is really interested in electrical and electronic stuff. When he was younger, he used to take apart radios and electronics, and put them back together. Sometimes, they wouldn’t work anymore, which drove me nuts. I decided to go to the thrift store to buy him cheap radios to play with, which saved me a lot of frustration in dealing with broken Walkmen. Anyhow, I’d like to get him to do the same thing for my car, and build a power supply for a GPS. (It’s soooooo hard getting around Boston. All the roads are laid out like cow paths, and I get lost all the time! Dan’s much better at finding his way around town.) Can anyone recommend any good books for a teenage boy about basic electronics? Thanks in advance.”
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one cite so I figured I’ll give ya just the last month’s worth of data
134 more links to go but I figured that was unfair. She’s different now. Just saying.
Huh.
If a post does not look interesting to me, I don’t open it. Seems simple enough.
We have just about all types here. I guess some seem to think that Opal is pre-occupied with herself. :shrug: Never really noticed, and can’t say that it’s true or not.
She seems nice enough, and I really don’t get what the OP is on about.