GoutPal Interactive

The software that runs these forums has a feature called Forum Ranks.

It gives members a rating based on the number of posts you have made, which appears under the posters name. The ratings are:

Up to 2 postings – Gouty Twinges

Up to 100 posts – Swollen Joints

Up to 1000 posts – Tophi Terror

I occasionally wonder if this has any value, and it's meaning has been questioned recently.

Anyone got any views on this?

Drop it? Leave it?

Change the rankings? There can be more bands if necessary.

All opinions welcome.

Hello GP! Good evening.The ranking is something nice and I apologise for my ignorance. I was confused, assumed that this ranking was synonymous to the gout problem one is having. Hence I asked this question:

This is for zip2play… I am not sure how the members are segregated in this forum but I am under 'swollen joints' which is exactly my problem. When I see zip2play he is under 'tophi terror'. So does it mean that zip2play is having tophi problems.  The whole point in asking this is that even though zip2play has been on AP for past 20/22 years he developed tophi. So AP is not helping him or eventually it wont help us/me either from reaching the same stage right? 

I feel new members can misunderstand just like I did and hence I would suggest you should continue the ranking,at the same time making it more clear. This means that by seeing the ranking someone can easily coorelate to the experience of the member in the forum then with something else.Moreover this ranking should also give authenticity to the claims of a member. For ex. Newbie, trainee,expert,addicted. So when a newbie makes a claim on something about gout, users will automatically undersand that it should be taken with a pinch of salt but when an expert or an addicted replies to a post or claims something it will be treated with reverance. I hope you understand my point.

Post edited 8:09 pm – August 6, 2009 by zip2play

Oops,

Something's funny here. I responded this morning but poof.

I reread that “quote” of June's though I cannot recall having seen it before.

To recap, I have been on allopurinol for 22 years and have not had an acute attack since. I have had a relatively large tophus on my thumb resolve and have developed a small but  painless one develop on  the last joint of my little finger…the only visible tophus….and I actually got a picture in…BIG but clearly visible. (Dimensions are skewed in the vertical, my fingers are NOT that long and narrow…or I'd have been a pianist!)

Allopurinol for me is a COMPLETE success although I am sure that as long as I liive I will carry some urate deposits with me that are isolated totally from my bloodstream and immune system. That is what gout is. It is never cured but being pain free and attack free for 2 decades is good enough. Without allopurinol I would be crippled. (Without Lipitor I would be dead)

If I had to nominate the best drug ever invented, even over peniciillin, it would be allopurinol.

I alpologise again for this confusion but a lot of thanks to zip2play for the image. It so very assuring  

Regards,

I think the more names the better.  Some suggestions off the top of my head are:

Gimpy Gouter

Mostest with the Tophis

Pain in the foot

Pout N Gout

or my personal favorite:  I wanna chop my damn big toe off with a hack saw and cauterize it with a cigareete lighter to make this friggin pain go away!!!

My fertile (or furtive?) imagination keeps returning to this topic, and is currently pushing me to consider the obvious theme of military ranks.

My first thought was to call upon an ex-navy man of these parts for a full list of naval ranks, but I think it would be more entertaining to consider ranks from all military and non-military forces. Certainly, as we are an international forum, from all countries, but also slang and fictional ranks could be interesting. Once we have a suitable collection I think a democratic vote for ranking is all we need.

An alliteration addiction actuates me to advance Admiral Allo for attention and approval.

In similar vain, consider Captain Colchicine and kindly keep Kommander Krystexxa.

Humor outranks alliteration but is hard to find in the world of gout.

I must leave this for now and  resume my driving duties. President Probenecid is waiting to return to Roger the Cabinboy.

Hi GP.  I like the rankings.  I was noticing I am getting fairly close to the next ranking and it meets me with mixed emotions. It reminds me of Christmas 2008.  My mechanic sent me a Christmas card and gift certificate because I was his best customer in 2008… hmmmm… I liked the card and gift certificate, but not sure it was worth the thousands of dollars I had to spend on my breaking down car to earn it.   So, while I will feel a bit of pride when I have enough posts to go up a ranking, I'd rather have my *&$(*#*  toes stop hurting.