I have been on this site for three years now (or so). I have gone through the whole process from beginning to end. 1 year on the site before and two years after surgery. I can say that the title structure works as it should if you really want to have a level playing ground. If you let people write their own titles the person that uses the most dramatic title will get the most attention and this is not good either way. Especially since this is a process and no one title can cover the complete cycle of recovery. I can think of several people who were very unhappy at one point and then became happy later. I can also think of those that were very happy at first and then became very unhappy later. So the titles would be misleading for each unless you get into the text and read the complete story.
Three years now and I can name each and every failure from memory without the help of titles. When they happen I watch closely, I follow them, I worry about them and I pray for them. I also learned from them and this helped me with my recovery. All of the lessons I learned were not from titles, but from the context and the process.
I think Harrison might have even changed my titles once or twice in the last three years.
All I can say to those that have not had the surgery yet is don't rely too much on anyone that has not had the surgery yet (unless they are your doctor
), don't rely on titles to help you make your decision and dont rely on the current flavor of those that are currently posting as this is only a snapshot of what is a very long process. The real meat is in the postings, over time, of those that have had the surgery (good and bad). Take the time to read through all of them. Meet with them if you can, talk to them if possible, email them, do whatever you have to do to get comfortable with your decision. IMHO, if you are worried about titles, you are worried about the wrong things.
I do think that rating doctors (only if you had a surgery) would be a good thing. But how do you control who posts and how often? What would stop a person who is really upset with a doctor from posting 100 times? I'm not sure if you can control this kind of thing on a forum like this. It still comes down to nitty gritty research and reading all the posts (of those that have had the surgery) in detail.
Brad