Postage diarrhea is an ailment that frequently afflicts members of online chat forums.
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Symptoms
The primary symptom is the inability by that member to control the number of posts they make to the forum. They feel compelled to write up a comment on every topic, or in reply to every second post in one particular topic. Usually these posts are made with very little forethought and the posts add little of value to the discussion.
Negative effects
Whilst the harmful effects on the poster themselves is negligible, the main problem is the harmful effects caused to other members of the forum, and indeed the community as a whole.
Nobody likes it when one member is stinking up the place.
If a member's postage diarrhea goes unchecked, this usually degrades the quality of the forum. This in turn drives away many members. Thus lowering the enjoyment and usefulness of the forum not just for everyone, but for the sufferer themselves as well.
Cures
The first stage in curing the problem is to recognise that there is a problem. Usually this is the most difficult hurdle. Someone suffering from postage diarrhea usually doesn't recognise that their postage patterns are anything unusual. Thus it requires the intervention of a moderator to alert the user to their situation.
The reaction of a patient to being informed that they have postage diarrhea can vary wildly. Four types of reaction are as follows:
- Patients will suddenly recognise their symptoms and immediately and unquestioningly take action to improve their condition.
- Patients will recognise that there is a problem, but be unwilling or incapable to do anything about it.
- Patients will remain in denial that there is a problem.
- Patients will react badly to the news and will either flounce, start posting even more just so as to be bloody minded, or quietly abandon posting altogether.
Recovery
Usually a patient is given time to recognise their problem and to fix it themselves. If this proves impossible then the forum moderation will usually intervene and apply posting restrictions to the patient's account.
High-risk sufferers
Chat forum members most likely to succumb to postage diarrhea are those who are in the "Excited newbie" or "The addict" stage in the life cycle of forum membership. Current sufferers on the TT chat forum can be recognised by their high placement in the following rankings:
- Hot topic contributors - this is usually the clearest indicator of a problem
- Posting averages - a high average doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem, but high averages are related to the problem.