Moderators

Just an honest question to the moderators on this site. How do you know all the information you do regarding drugs etc? Are you uni graduates, academics, Drs, or just people that know? Im asking this question as I am interested in being able to advise people on harm minimisation and what experience or education I have to go through to be something like you guys. Your information is fantastic its always informative and in depth and Im sure you must have saved so many lives before. Im greedy I want in!!!

Especialy Big trancer hes always in there with he's 2c worth of good advice. well done. I can always rely on blue light for good advice.
cheers

*claps*

you guys know you do a good job, but there's nothing like a pat on the back every once in a while - good stuff.

COMPUTER GEEKS/ADDICTS!

Excellent Job. I like most Mods here, some few are up there own arses, but most of you do an excellent job .. Keep up the good work!

The two places from which I learnt most of my drug knowledge are.... Bluelight and Erowid! You can learn so much about the illegal drugs which are hard to find info on from these two resources. Also places such as RxList.com allow you to search pharmaceutical databases for information about prescribed drugs. I get a lot of hard scientific information from the science literature too, which can be a bit harder to access if you're not at a university (since almost all of the scholarly peer-reviewed journals have enormous subscription prices, and single articles usually cost around $US30.00 to order). Journal articles are in general highly specialised, but they can add useful facts now and then Places like www.maps.org keep databases of journal articles about illicit drug research.

But, please keep in mind that the moderators of a discussion board are there, in general, to tidy up and make sure the rules are followed. It's not a requirement to be a moderator at BL that you are a vast source of knowledge, just that you make a consistent positive contribution to the forums you frequent. I think everyone should be in the habit of questioning everything they read, whether it was written by a moderator or a greenlighter, just in case the person writing it was having a bad/careless/off day, etc. There are people who post at BL whose access to information, and willingness to share it in carefully considered discussions, makes huge contributions to the knowledge base... that's the most important aspect I think

BigTrancer

.....but theres nothing like good 'ol first hand experience!

I accumulated what knowledge I have from Bluelight & Erowid too.

I'm going to be doing medical science at uni next year, which will expand my understanding of pharmacology

I think that the second paragraph of BT's post should be in bold.

You're more than welcome to edit Apollo

I discovered everything I needed to know hanging out with a bunch of stoners and speed addicts who knew everything when I was 17....... so I thought.

Then I discovered bluelight and discovered most if not everything I knew was BS and set about learning as much about anything and everything that could be used or abused as my head would soak up.

I still find myself wrong from time to time and people still love to prove me so

Well, I've never posted in Australian Drug Discussion before, but this thread kind of stuck out at me.

Personally, I learned all I know from reading a lot of journal articles, and reading other drug information websites (bluelight, erowid, etc.). The thing about this site is that there are people that come from many different backgrounds, and skill levels. We have people with advanced degrees in various fields, or that are working on such degrees currently. We also have people that are good at organizing things, and making them presentable to the public. In addition to those people, we have people that are good at making sure all the forums run properly, and that discussion is kept positive in nature. Last but not least, we have our large member base. Our members help keep us up to date on our information, and to point out any errors that may be present.

It's a pretty good system if you ask me.

Just on the moderator title issue:

As BT said, it's very important to question everything said by everyone - mods included. By definition a moderator is there to moderate, ie: to make sure the discussion stays on track, there aren't any flames or duplicate threads, and that all threads are apropriate. If the title was based on drug knowledge, it'd say "expert" or something.

Now that said, most mods have been around on bluelight for a decent length of time and are active participants, and so with that comes accumulated knowledge. So it would be fair to assume that most mods know their shit. However they're not always right, and they're by far not the only one's to listen to for good advice. In fact often a mod is restricted in what they can say because of the sheer fact that too many people might take their opinion as gospel.

The trick is to read a lot of posts and you'll soon get a feel for who knows their shit and who's just guessing.

I first learnt most of my drug knowledge in this very forum which then expanded to sites like erowid which has been mentioned. I have also learnt quite a lot of late due to a close friend in the medical profession who is actually conducting recreational drug research looking purely for facts (In other words its not government sponsored).

Even after extensive personal research I'm still coming across new information even with chems that I have litle or no interest in. You could say illicit drug knowledge has evolved into a hobbie.

They are all dedicated people with alot of spare time that's for sure, but without them bluelight would not be anywhere near what it is now. It's grown so much over the years and done it's justice.

I have seen alot of people mod over the years but the one I gota give most credit to would be BT. He's always got the answers and even if he doesn't know them, he'll look for them for you!

I think these people should try to be doctors/scientists and try to profit from their knowledge though, they obviously have a passion for chemicals/medicine. hehe

yeah BT. give us some background on yourself

love ya work ol son

OK, in a week or two.

I know that if you added BT and his brother's heights, it equals the average of 5 men.

lol shorza

i think phase_dancer deserves some praise - I've found that if BT doesn't answer phase_dancer does - even if sometimes he uses words with a few more syllables than my brain can handle

Nice Tits

Thanx Nice Tits. Yes that's my daedalian approach; a lexiphanicistic presentation which is in fact nothing more than me being an ultracrepidarian

OK, I admit I have in the past used words like aminoheptafluorocyclotetraphosphonitrile and even on occasion pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, but no-one can ever accuse me of mentioning osseocarnisanguineoviscericartilaginonervomedullary when describing bone, flesh blood and organs

The real truth is my rudimentary english is rather shocking. My best (easiest to read) posts are either painstakingly self corrected or proof read by my darling Speshal K, for whom grammar and comprehension are second nature.

[Edit: just fixed up the bad grammer p_d]