Matt's humdinger of ROLL CALL informational post!

Dear H&N Members,

I (CivilMatt) is very much alive and wish to continue with the ROLL CALL, as I have been doing for a number of years.

Just so you all understand what I am doing when it comes to the ROLL CALL, I will explain henceforth,  for H&N Member clarity:

First off, I try to stay true to the “basic rules” as laid out by HAWVET (originator of the ROLL CALL). That means you are enrolled on the day you asked to be included and not the date you signed up for the H&N Forum.  Not a big deal. As an example, I enrolled as a H&N member in June of 2012 and a ROLL CALL member in October of 2012 (see, very easy).  It is important (to someone, I am sure) that all of this information we share is completely voluntary.  Enrollees are also asked to include their first name and the city and state they currently live in and of  course their diagnosis, treatments and results. I will print whatever you wish to share.

Next, I am always gathering information from members for updating the (current) ROLL CALL.  I usually update the ROLL CALL when I get around 20 responses (not too few and not too many), but it sometimes takes a long time for members to drop in and give us (me, we, the keeper of the ROLL CALL) their update information. So, sometimes it takes longer than others. I am still fiddling with “when to update”.

An Important note for all of you to know about is, I try not to perform edits without updating the ROLL CALL post, as this can be disastrous.  The layout I have chosen, including fonts,  style and spacing  does not play well to edits and can be a real B _ _ _ _ _ to repair once the edits are input. I can lose a lot of information fast or ruin what I believe is a perfect layout.

How the information is included has changed since I have taken over.  When HAWVET put together the ROLL Call and its subsequent updates he might re-write and condense what you provided to him. I do not do re-write and condense what you post.  I (try very hard, really I do) to include everything you write in your update, with as few edits as I can comfortably live with.  If you misspell a word or use the incorrect grammar, I will usually print it “as-is”. Not always, but quite often.

I really like this forum and I have read a lot of the posts on this site. I have tried to introduce myself and talk to many of the members before my time.  I bet many of you did not know that the H&N forum used to include esophageal cancer and the members fought a lot (and were not very nice). Not like today, where we are a well behaved (loyal and honest) group, trying to help each other get through this “mess we are in”.

Like many times in the past, I keep going on and on during one of my explanations.   I think I have provided you with the basic information about the ROLL CALL  and what it takes to provide all the information you have provided to HAWVET  (formerly) and CivilMatt (presently).

Finally, (the bad news) the CSN disruption (which occurred here recently) lost much of the update information.  Not all, but much of it. I try to save the entire ROLL CALL on occasion so that I can make my updates accurate.  I did make a save and a ROLL CALL revision in November 2018 because H&N member jonsonbl brought an error to my attention concerning his post.  I thought the mistakes were too great to leave alone and not great enough to mandate a ROLL CALL update. So, I did do what I do not like too and I did an edit to the RC.  I was mostly successful and I have his update to go back to. The problem with this is, I lost, maybe recent 20 posts.

I would like members who remember that they posted in the last half of 2018 to re-post their comments.  Also, if SuzyJ will give me (her) permission I will include the posts to her thread to be included in the one and truly only ROLL CALL 2019. And please remember, include your first name (what your Mom calls you) and the city and state where you live and your dx.

Now Matt is going outside to work on some projects for a while. Thee current temperature is around freezing here today in Albany, Oregon, but no new snow.

Matt