I’ve always been fond of re-formatting your hard drive. Just a few lines of code 
2 Likes
That is awesome. Mental health is a ridiculously stigmatized thing. When my wife and I went through some issues 12 or so years ago it was very helpful to talk to some professional counselors. I’ve had demons I’ve carried through from early high school…they aren’t squashed, but I know about them…which is half the battle. Avail yourself of all the resources offered. And good luck.
7 Likes
It’s crazy to think how tenuous our grasp on normality is when it comes to mental health. We’d really like to think we have a stronger grip on it, but it’s so much more slippery than we’d like to admit. I think I had an anxiety attack in '17 about April and it messed me up for quite some time. I never sought out help for it, I muscled through it and came out on the other end.
That had to have been the most idiotic thing I’ve ever done. I grew up in the Jackass generation. I started high school when that got big. Of course being a teenager, we did a lot of that. None of that could even hold a candle to how stupid it was to not seek some help. Yeah, I got over it, but it was way more agonizing that it would have been had I gotten the sense or gumption to go seek help.
No one needs be or at least worsen what Thoreau was talking about when he said “The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
6 Likes
I physically felt this post.
Too often mental health is dramatically underestimated and limited to “Yeah, just pull yourself up by your shoestring” or worse “Just be a man and push through it”.
Please everyone, take good care of yourself…
9 Likes
I was drafting up a long post, but it’s too hard a topic (and not the thread topic at all!), so I’ll just say a couple of things, in the spirit of destigmatising talking about mental health:
Talking with professional counsellors really can help, and you don’t need to have a serious mental health problem for it to be useful.
As an example, my current issues aren’t “serious” (for the lack of a better word), I just have some knots in my head I know I can untie with a bit of help, which will make me more effective at my day job and my business ventures, and will make me a bit happier.
It could equally be about a relationship, or procrastination, or sleeping, or whatever - doesn’t mean you’re “sick”, just means acknowledging that perhaps there’s some work to do, and doing that work.
Counsellors also typically provide you with exercises you can do by yourself - I walked away from my previous counselling sessions a few years back with a self-help toolkit that allows me to put things in perspective and enable me to “reset” my mood or regain my composure after events that throw me off kilter. Very useful.
Choo choo! Sorry about the derail 
9 Likes
With some other HB people we’re having a great discussion about the average ED forumite and some concept that just can’t be grasped by player even if their life was on the line.
Sometimes players are their own worst enemy…
That said- a few key statements/firm stance from ED would go a long way.
2 Likes
I was going to post that video but forgot. Here it is for anyone interested. I’ve been seen a councillor for a number of months. It’s been a tough year for sure. And we do not have the mental health facilities or culture we need. Luckily, my work health plan covers it.
11 Likes
Yeah, ED would really see some benefits if they improved their communication. It’s kind of weird to me that they don’t. bignewy’s been awfully active and some of his responses can be terse and easily misconstrued. No disrespect to him, of course, I suspect it’s just a language barrier or something being lost in translation.
Better fluency is a goal, but that’s an understandably high bar given that English is such a mess of a language. The fact that ESLs can get ideas across in this Germanic hodge-podge of a language that steals a lot of romantic words and others is something worth being proud of on it’s own.
1 Like
Just watched. You could certainly feel it.
1 Like
Big Newy has always been a bit like a blunt axe around the forums at times. 
Not a fan at all.
2 Likes
Certainly, but I really how much of that can be chalked up to just language barriers. Plus, he’s the only mod I see active in the english section, so he might be overworked. Being subjected to the types of users we’re talking about would erode my patience REAL fast.
2 Likes
Big Newy is English so I don’t see any language barriers. Agree with @Yassy in that he is a blunt axe around the forums and I too am not a fan. Would love to see better communication from ED all round.
2 Likes
I didn’t know that. I got the feeling he was an ESL. Well, color me surprised.
Interesting, I always liked Big Newy, never had any issues with him or his response. On the flip side I don’t spend much time on the ED forums so I might have missed something.
2 Likes
I think they have a really difficult job, and as we talked about mental health just a few messages above - let’s not forget they are real people as well.
6 Likes
Nope. Forum owners and mods are non-persons devoid of lives or emotions. As gatekeepers to the Matrix they serve only their masters without question, contemplation or remorse.
8 Likes
My comment was not meant to put him on a stake or make this thread about him, so let’s get back on topic.
I agree mods have a tough job. Let’s just say I have dealt with him before he became a mod so colour me biased. Anyway, we don’t all have to be friends as long as we respect each other. And that I do. Let’s drop it.
4 Likes
The odd part about English is that it allows one to be understood even when making a mess of it. Now, that said, there are nuances that can be missed so that if you try to “read the between lines” of a statement you will certainly fail if one side is a native and the other came to it later in life. So sometimes you just have to take it at face value and not try to infer more because they don’t know the language well enough to do more than make a simple statement.
There are always exceptions, of course. I’ve had emails translated from Japanese to English, possibly by Google, that made NO sense. Each individual word was fine, but not in the order they put them!
1 Like
What?
(J/k) 
2 Likes
Yeah, I imagine he has to sift through a lot of sh*t from the community every day and I always find his responses to sometimes pretty blunt posts on e.g. hoggit quite measured and appropriate.
ED, like everyone, makes mistakes and it’s how you deal with them that matters and I have to say they have become much better at it over the years.
1 Like