Page Edition: 2022-06-03

re: … wish to upload my bloodwork for some feedback. … Do I just make a new post or do I place it in a specific area of conversation already happening?

This basenote was prompted by a PM request, and may need to become a Sticky. Here are some general tips:

1. Review your privacy & PM settings in your Profile.
    
2. Get your data in some form you can post. Text is ideal because you can just paste it in. PDFs and images of reports are more challenging as you’ll need to learn how to perform a Forum File Upload.
   
   Note that the Health Info tab data in your My Account can be useful to you, but is only visible to you.
    
3. Pick a forum. If there’s a specific concern, use any forum that matches your situation. If matters are unclear, use General Discussion. Avoid using Quick Question unless it really is a short single question.
    
4. Think up a Subject line, perhaps one unique to you that will be easy to find (or search on in the future).
   Click Start New Topic.
    
5. You can lead off with any general discussion of your history and situation. Do indicate what diet and lifestyle you have been on, and for how long.
    
6. The data of interest would include anything you already have from this page: Program Marker Targets. Don’t over-abbreviate test names. Do include Units of Measure and Reference Ranges or Intervals. I don’t yet have any instant recommendations for how to handle microbiome reports.
    
7. Use the MyLinks feature of the site to create an in-site bookmark to the thread you’ve just posted (or bookmark it in your device browser).
    
8. Post any future discussion about your case on that same thread, so that the history is visible (otherwise, you may get asked about things already posted).

re: oops, I’ve already got labs scattered all over various threads

Here’s an approach to that, and fixing it makes it much more likely to attract useful comments from other site participants:

1. Pick one of the existing threads to be the main thread going forward. If there are no obvious candidates (based on Topic subject line), just use the oldest one. Use the  Forum toolbar  :  My Topics  and  My Replies  to find them all, and Forum Search as needed if you have more than 50 of each.
    
2. In chronological order, copy the lab data out of later threads as new Replies on the designated main thread. Note that the site engine limits posts to once every 30 seconds. These new Replies do result in that thread being promoted (a BTTT) in both the front page DISCUSSIONS scroll and in forum browse.
    
3. Use the Edit feature (upper right corner of any of your Topics & Replies), to indicate that you have collected all the labs on a single newer thread. Revising a Topic or Reply using Edit does not result in a BTTT. You can edit any of your Topics (including title) or Replies, at any time, and as many times as needed. You can’t entirely delete them, but if that’s thought necessary, just ask.
    
4. For extra credit, link the older/retired thread during Edit, to link to the designated main thread. If you don’t want to learn how to link, just post the raw URL as text during revision.

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Bob Niland [disclosures] [topics] [abbreviations]