What are the penguins and stars?

Post by **tex** » Mon Nov 05, 2018 6:47 pm

Hi Kilt,

Those are just a few bells and whistles left over from the days when this forum used to be much more active. The penguins represent certain stages connected with the total number of posts that a member has written. For example, if I recall correctly, the first stage is about 50 posts.

A star is added each year on the anniversary of the date on which a member joined.

Tex

Kilt · Post by **Kilt** » Mon Nov 05, 2018 7:41 pm

Okay, thanks, but there's still a conundrum here. Stars are generic. But WHY PENGUINS?

One site per Google says penguins can symbolize:

abdication
action
adaptability
appearances
astral projection
confidence
determination
discipline
dreaming
dreams
emotions
endurance
etiquette
fasting
fatherhood
grace
ideals
maintenance
mastery
movement
patience
primal
purpose
sacrifice
specialization
territory
thoughts
yin and yang

Is it one of these . . . or something more excremental?

Post by **tex** » Mon Nov 05, 2018 9:47 pm

The membership of this forum is skewed heavily toward the female gender, and for the first few years after this forum came into existence the membership had a much higher female/male ratio. Most GI docs mistakenly thought for several decades that MC was a disease of older ladies, so they didn't bother to look for the disease in men, younger women, or children. So their misguided assumption became a self fulfilling prophesy until more of them realized that quite a few men get the disease also. Penguins were popular among the ladies when the board was initially customized (and they probably still are).

Our own personal perceptions of the penguins will likely be determined by your own psyche, rather than by Google, or my explanation.

Tex

Kilt · Post by **Kilt** » Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:40 pm

So penguins are possibly more of female thing. Live and learn.

Since it's kind of slow, both here and in my life generally, I did a little more MCS penguin research. Yes, back in 2005 several women were raving about the documentary film March of the Penquins. Polly was the first to do so, on July 16, 2005:

https://perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1058

Tex, on or about February 8, 2006, you apparently changed the post count icon from paw prints to penguins:

https://perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2812

However, to this day apparently, some (all?) of the women who have the title of moderator, such as Polly, Peggy, Starfire and Mars, still have paw print icons instead of their beloved penguins.

Paw prints seem like a lover-of-the-outdoors thing, a wilderness thing. Maybe a Texas, farm or hunter thing.

Post by **tex** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:22 am

Wow! You weren't kidding — you really are bored.

Tex

Kilt · Post by **Kilt** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 10:01 am

Doesn't take very much time, really -- not when one's done research as a career -- and MC's a great motivator. I've spent scores of hours reading this board, trying to analyze and harmonize many of the facts, the anecdotal evidence, the dominant belief systems and how they originated, including the entire posting histories of several members. It's all a very valuable and interesting resource, to be evaluated along with other sources of information and evidence on MC.

Penguins just waddled in as a diversion. Others will surely ask the same spheniscid question in the future and may appreciate the history.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Tue Nov 06, 2018 4:06 pm

Kilt,

The entire posting history of a member called "Sara" is well worth reading. I don't think she has posted in a long time
but I read her entire posting history and I don't think she is a professional writer but she could be.
You can find her in earlier threads. I read her entire posting history early on.

Reading the entire posting histories for some members is a good way to go.

Two other readers that have good posting histories would be JFR and Polly. JFR was very, very sick when
she first logged on but she has been in remission for a long time. Jean still posts. I remember when she
first logged in and was too sick to go to her daughter's wedding and it made me very sad. Polly was also another tough case because she had so many food sensitivities. Her threads are packed with positivity.

The success story threads are also worth reading. We have some members that only do a few posts but have
great success story threads.

skp · Post by **skp** » Thu Nov 08, 2018 10:10 am

This post is inspiring. I never thought to read a member's full story from post to post.

Susan

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 4:57 am

reading other members 'journey's' over the passage of time is a great resource and reminder

what others did (and missed out on ) in the early years of the MC journey, the hiccups along the way, and various other aspects of the healing journey.

when i first joined (late 2009) there were LOTS of members super active in their contributions, and discussions on the board were not just MC related.
there are lots of interesting areas such as the photo albums etc that you can learn about the person behind the 'user name'

for me MC was a gift in my life, not a burden. I made lifestyle changes that improved my quality of life, I have met so many smart and inspiring people, many of whom had similar health challenges to me in life so it was HUGE relief to know my issues were not weird, and 'out there' as many medical professionals had stated to me. Further I have made amazing friends that i have lots of contact with external to the forum (email / facebook etc) - I have also met up with other members. One in Australia, one in Hong Kong and one USA based member .