So frustrated!!!!!!

This is completely off cat topic, but I am so mad!! I have been moderating on a forum concerning my profession(body piercing) and with the help of several other adults, we have finally managed to do some good, and possibly prevent some young people from butchering themselves doing it at home with safety pins and using improper jewelry when they can find a (?)pro to pierce them. Now we have this apprentice coming in behind us and telling the kids that we are wrong. Of course they are going to listen to whoever tells them what they want to hear. I can delete his posts, then I look like a narrow minded jerk, or I can argue with him, again looking like I think I am the only one who knows anything. I am beginning to think this is a huge waste of time and effort. I would give it up completely, but the guy who owns the site is putting a website together for me, and if I quit, it will seem like I used him to get a website. I really do not care about having one, but it was the deal when I took the moderating position. I would hate to have this guy waste his time. Any opinions? Thanks for letting me vent on a topic I know a lot of you probably care nothing about.

It is like my feral rescue, you can't save them all. You can be the voice of reason and point out flaws in the theories presented, such as at-home piercings causing infections, blood poisonings, and back up what you say with information and research you gather around the internet. You can't reach everyone and if you take it to heart when you don't then others will chew you up and spit you out recognizing a weakness in your character. I wish you luck with your moderating job, sometimes, it is a thankless task and other times it can be a real blessing when you realize that your words worked and someone actually listened.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to post a level-headed reply addressing his post and not buying into his arguing (which may be what he wants anyway). It will pretty quickly become clear to anyone who reads the posts, that you are the one who had had the training and knows what they are talking about. People who act as know-it-alls are usualy caught out one way or another and don't need any help showing themselves for who they really are. Don't let it get to you, it's not worth wasting the energy.

Have you tried talking privatly to this guy and explaining to him that while he may think the "home piercing" is just fine, that there are many younger members on there that might not do it right, and could end up seriously hurting themselves? maybe he would listen...then again..some people just don't care...they just want their opinions heard, no matter what.

I tried to tell him that we were trying to gear advice toward the younger crowd, and got a smart ass message back from him, saying he didn't feel he could trust my judgement because he had been doing this for 9 whole months! I posted him back that I didn't give a rat's ass if he trusted my judgement, and I was NOT going to get in a pissing contest with him. I haven't heard any more out of him.

But you might post some real-life testimonials about people who have done it themselves with disastrous results. Just today, at work, I was talking with a friend who's daughter tried to pierce her navel with a straight pin. She didn't say anything to her Mom and let it go long enough that it became infected. Mom took her to the doctor, who had to lance it, dig out the infectious stuff and now she's on antibiotics (pills and cream) for two weeks. Mom said it REALLY hurt her at the doctor's office. She thought everything would be OK because she "held the pin up to a match to sterilize it." Not a good idea. But, unfortunately, she had to learn the hard way. Better to pay someone in-the-know a few bucks and have it done right the first time!

EEEE!!! Why anyone would want to do this THEMSELVES is beyond me!!! I couldn't even let a pro do it!!! But then, I am a total wimp with a serious phobia about n**dles!!! :laughing2
Anyway, I think Spacecat has a good idea.... you could see if there are any pics on the net of when it has gone wrong, -of peircings that have got badly infected etc.... the scare tactic might just work

It sounds like the guy on your other board is just one of those know-it-all a$$es regardless of the topic. There's a few in every crowd.

I agree with what others have said - give his posts a knowledgable rebuttal, and show the younger crowd what can happen when they attempt to do it themselves. I've seen some horrible infections where the body just rejected the piercing, even when it was done by a professional. I can't even imagine what would have happened if they had done it themselves. I know that there have been cases when people tried piercing themselves and ended up permanently deformed because of the horrible infections they got.

Piercing yourself is almost as dumb as trying to tattoo yourself.

I haven't heard any more from him. It was very heartening to have some of the other posters stick up for me and tell him I had given them good advice. I guess some of them ARE listening.

krazy kat2- would you mind telling me where this forum is? I'm constantly reading about tattoos/piercings, and always want to know more, seems I got the "bug" pretty bad.

It is Crazy Chameleon Body Piercing and Tattoo Forum. If you are registered on ezboard, it is pub41.ezboard.com/fbodypiercingandbodymodification. Most of the stuff is about little girls and their navel piercings, but we welcome adults, not nearly enough of them there. My silly screen name there is "tongueslayer". Please, come join us!