Are people really this self righteous...

Right? You would think they invented wls... They straight out call people stupid and then gang up on them. It's like high school on a message board and with adults. I was pretty shocked. That's why I like it here. Disagreements, yes. Drama, not so much.

Thank you so much for your positive thoughts :) I hope so too. I am hoping that my insurance auth with come through ASAP. The approved the wrong one at first so I had to switch last minute (thought I had trouble deciding)! For some reason I feel peaceful about the actual surgery. It's the success of the weightloss that I am concerned about.

AMEN.  Everyone enjoys it until they are attacked for having a different opinion!  Stay in THEIR lane and you won't experience what the Vegas is saying!

I am total agreement with you... but you know I have learned to turn it off lol just ignore what the know it all's say and give your opinion you never know what t he other person reading the opinions will take and what they will take from each of us :) don't let it get to you.

People will disagree, and people will be strong in their opinions, that is just the nature of internet message boards. 

I *think* there are also cases where things are taken very personally that were not really meant to be personal.  When all we have is the written word, it is easy to misinterpret what is said.

We discuss topics that can make us feel very vulnerable here, and I think if you feel like you need a little break to protect your emotions, that you should listen to your instincts.  I started to feel like that about a financial site I used to frequent - decided to take a break from it - and realized it wasn't really adding any value to my life, and never came back.  Not that you should do that necessarily - just sharing my experience.

I actually thought the VSG forum is nice and soft, like a toddler's warn stuffed animal.

The main forum here on OH though... I've had frosty experiences there... pretty much with one or two single individuals...

Exactly......even the most blunt people on here....and I can be that way sometimes......are MUCH nicer than most people on the main board......or other surgery boards that will go unmentioned.  You can tell that they are being blunt because they either truly care and want people to succeed.....or they are just literally tired of the same BS over and over. 

I have really enjoyed this board and the people/personalities on it.

Here's the thing, and I say it as someone who's been around just long enough to have seen it  in WLS but it applies to a lot of different venues.  There are patterns of behavior that are generally predictive of success of failure.  I'm a firm believer that there's no one right "way" to do most thing things, but there are "ways" that offer a better chance of success than others.

For example,  I breed and show dogs as a hobby. Over time, I've watched a lot of newbies start out and go great-guns only to disappear 4-5 years later. I can predict who will last and who will not pretty accurately based on patterns of early behavior. 

It can be tough to watch someone, particularly someone you're mentoring, go down a  well-worn path that will lead almost inevitably to failure.  If that individual asks for advice, is given advice, and then argues with it or ignores the advice, it can be hard to be supportive and/or sympathetic  down the line when that individual crashes and burns.  I believe most here, even when being blunt, are well meaning and only want to help keep folks away from some of those difficult paths.