Isn't That Extremely and Criminally Irresponsible?!
Question: I'm truly convinced that our main purpose for being here, apart from the good laughs, is to help other people.
And we are eager to do that. And sometimes, much too eager.
When we offer advice about relationships, I think that the asker is smart enough to take it with a pinch of salt and consider it to be exactly what it is: An oppinion.
When the answer is health related, isn't it dangerous to answer ANYTHING which doesn't include a strong " GO AND SEE A DOCTOR"?
Where do we stop helping and begin harming?
I saw a question where someone was describing what, IMHO, indicates a severe hepatic disorder. People were thumbing down anyone who told the asker to go to the doctor and giving him exactly what was asked: "the best cure for hangover"...
Answers: I'm truly convinced that our main purpose for being here, apart from the good laughs, is to help other people.
And we are eager to do that. And sometimes, much too eager.
When we offer advice about relationships, I think that the asker is smart enough to take it with a pinch of salt and consider it to be exactly what it is: An oppinion.
When the answer is health related, isn't it dangerous to answer ANYTHING which doesn't include a strong " GO AND SEE A DOCTOR"?
Where do we stop helping and begin harming?
I saw a question where someone was describing what, IMHO, indicates a severe hepatic disorder. People were thumbing down anyone who told the asker to go to the doctor and giving him exactly what was asked: "the best cure for hangover"...
Some health questions are too serious to be answered on YA, but not every condition requires a trip to the doctor. Some people don't have health insurance and want to be sure what they have isn't something they can treat at home with out the expense of a doctor. If they have any sense they will recognize they are not getting advice from a doctor and see it as an opinion.
one assumes that a person asking for a hangover cure is an adult... in which case, any advice given is for the adult to sift through and use as he/she sees fit. This is a public forum, not a professional service, and those who post here know that. It is not irresponsible to give an opinion. In the end, the individual is responsible for their own health and what they choose to do about it.
i agree, not only with medical questions but also legal questions. my concern is that the people asking the questions aren`t too smart to begin with, otherwise they wouldn`t be asking important questions like that on here, so they are more likely to believe what people tell them.
Oh yes
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz i'm sorry, what was the question?
To be honest, i'm a little concerned with the OP's comments. Especially re: the hangover question.
If someone has asked for "hangover cures", and people are offering advice based on that request, I don't see a problem. What you're implying is that people should essentially "stick their noses in" beyond the question asked. This person may not want to know they have a liver problem, if they even have one (remember, this was your IMHO only). And even if they do know, that is not what they asked for advice on. I think that going beyond the scope of a question is asking for trouble itself >.>
If people want to offer advice here on health problems, I don't think that is irresponsible at all, and it is especially not "criminal". Saying that someone is "smart enough" to ask for relationship advice and be able to take it with a pinch of salt, and then suggesting they're not able to do the same for a health topic could actually be insulting to some people.
Yes, I'm sure there are some people out there who do not have the sense to know that a Yahoo Answer is not equivalent to actually seeing a doctor/other relevent professional. However, there's little you can do about this group. As for the group who offer advice maliciously, or misrepresent themselves, they are breaking the Yahoo Community Guidelines (the link is always present to the left when you type into an answer box), and that is irresponsible. However, I think it would be difficult for someone to prove that someone else is to blame because they followed their advice (if any lawyers here think that it wouldn't be, i'd be interested in knowing for my own education).
From what I've seen, anyone who offers advice and who is medically (or similarly) trained tends to throw in a "go and see your doctor" line anyway, because they know that there is only so much you can advise without actually seeing someone in the flesh.
And personally, I don't see a difference between giving advice on relationships and advice on health problems. You can cause harm regardless of the area. In which case, you could argue that everyone who asks a question here could be irresponsible for doing so, and that everyone who answers a question could be irresponsible for doing so. I think your question asking about irresponsibility is almost a politically correct paranoid question, which is likely to harm by causing fear (in those who offer advice) more than anything else. One could argue that is "irresponsible". Though probably not "extremely", or "criminal" >.>