When I go back to find some vital snip it of information, I find it often very far from the source 😬
I seem to be a repeat offender.... is there some correctional therapy available to me?
I'm new to this whole forum world, it leads to some wonderful ramblings, but a nightmare to file!
I need a Vade mecum (Fred) variant for random useful information 😆
We prefer members to keep threads on topic and we Admin try out best to ensure this. This is such a large and busy forum and such a very small Admin team, we try our best but can't always read every post so we do rely on members following our forum guidelines to make our job a bit easier. You wouldn't be "struck off" for going off topic but some off topic posts may be deleted by Admin.
🤣 Admin are in a no win situation with this! If we delete off topic comments, we get criticised for not allowing freedom of speech (or something along those lines). If we do allow them, we're not doing our job! 🤣 Perhaps we need a 'Naughty Step' emoji to add to people's off topic comments?
The people who manage emojis seem to manage to miss out on a suitable one for almost everything I want to use them for!
How about: 🪜🪜🪜🪜🪜
I wouldn't understand that! You would end up being asked repeatedly "What does ladder, ladder, ladder, ladder, ladder mean?"
(It looks like a ladder to me.) 
Perhaps if we add a snake too? 🐍
My ladder comment and your snake reply made me think of this really old video that was amazingly popular many years ago. After the first 30 seconds it just repeats and repeats ... and repeats ...
youtube.com/watch?v=NL6CDFn...
OMG ...HB ... so funny .
i wish i'd known about that video years ago. i no longer move in the drug sodden social circles where it's genius would be best appreciated , and my kids are too grown up to jump up and down in the back of the car singing 'badger/ badger/ badger/ badger/ badger ... down the motorway.
i feel like i've missed out .. so i hope you'll all understand if i feel the need to inset a random ' badger' into my future posts 
i've wondered for a long time , .... am i not seeing the same pictures/ emoji's the rest of you are seeing ? . I can see five question marks in boxes in helvellas reply... what can you see ?
and does this mean that every time some one apparently answers me with just a ? in a box .. they are actually sending me a hilarious emoji that i can't see ... or do loads of poeple really answer my posts with a "?"
5 little ladders... though on my phone they are step ladders?...that goes some way to explaining your randomness 🤣
? yep.... rude gesture 😉
i must be able to see some and not others.. i can see that snake you put on earlier.. but i can't see whatever you just called me 
5 little ladders... though on my phone they are step ladders?...that goes some way to explaining your randomness 🤣(laughing/crying face)
? (question mark, just a wind up) yep.... rude gesture 😉(smiley/wink)
horrified cat face, green heart, butterfly, green heart, hug
🙀 💚🦋💚🤗
I got cat and hearts (yay! ) .... butterfly and hug were 'lost in translation'
Regenallotment oh, now that is sad 😦(frowning face with open mouth as I can't find sad face!) Tatty is living without hugs or butterflies.... I've never needed a horrified cat!
so ....... i'm allowed snakes ~ but not ladders ,
i can have horrified cats with jealous green hearts ~ but not butterflies and hugs.
....... some algorithm somewhere must have noticed i'm a naturally miserable bugger and decided to give me more of what i like.
Brilliant! As ever 🤣( rolling on floor laughing).... we need to call Regenallotment out for send out so many 'jealous green hearts'! She seemed such a nice person 😳 (flushed face)
So many mixed messages it's a minefield.... no wonder teenagers are such a screwed up bunch with this social media nonsense and call us out for inappropriate emoji's!
I'm a 'spades a spade' simpleton..... natural loner, with sporadic social skills
I shall have to add a disclaimer to all posts for possible inappropriate emoji interpretation 😶 (face without mouth)
agreed . i used to get so frustrated with my kids when they were at school and came home in an enraged state because "A is a spiteful cow" ... when you got to the bottom of what actually happened, you find out that they hadn't even spoken to the person that was alleged to have committed the awful outrage ... "but you don't understand mum.. A changed her status to 'single' on facebook ... and B replied to C that A was a trollop .and all my other friends agree and have stuck up for me ... so now they've all blocked A too, and then A's friend punched me in the corridor, and said i was stealing her boyfriend "
"have to spoken to A yourself ?"
"No i'm never speaking to her again , she's a Cow "
"oh FFS"
Excellent example 👏
It's bad enough with misconstrued words... I thought pictures were safer, but no... we have managed to make them even more divisive aaarrgh!
JEALOUS GREEN HEARTS !!! 🤭(giggle face) 🤦🏽♀️(facepalm) here’s me thinking it was all eco compost love and butterflies…. Hmph I will have to rethink my sign off 🎄(festive tree)
JEALOUS GREEN HEARTS !!! 🤭(giggle face) 🤦🏽♀️(facepalm) here’s me thinking it was all eco compost love and butterflies…. Hmph I will have to rethink my sign off 🎄(festive tree)
What do you think tattybogle can she really change her ways?
Below is what should *should* see. But it depends on what you are using to view it!
You can visit this site and see how all emojis should look across several platforms. But some simply don't. Like flag emojis don't display properly on Microsoft Windows!
i'm using a clockwork laptop without a working letter 'R' and 'W' , running on windows 8 which will shortly not be updated because they are stopping support for older windows in January ... but my technical advisor tells me not to worry about it , as it will probably still work for years as long as i don't want to do anything fancier than i already do ... he also tells me that some Boeing aeroplanes still use a floppy discs ... apparent there is some bloke driving round the country in a little van with a floppy disk to reboot them as required... he may or may not be joking .. i'm never 100% sure
So i suppose i should count myself lucky i can even see ?????'s , never mind ladders.
We shall do descriptive text for you from now on! I am laughing mightily 🤣🤣🤣
Perhaps we should have a whip round as you are worthy in entertainment value.... HP direct do some very good deals as mine too was finally pensioned off
I'd move off Windows 8 for the simple reason it is so horrible!
And Boeing do still use floppy disks. (I thought they'd moved on to devices that use modern memory but pretend to be floppy disks. But I think I was wrong. That could be NASA.
popularmechanics.com/scienc...
i thought windows 8 was horrible too .. so my technical advisor fiddled with it (to make it work like windows 7 cos i'm a luddite)
NASA lol ....maybe that's what snoopy was doing in space .... loading the floppys
I'm not computer literate at all. You could ask your technical adviser if they know enough about computers to change you over to " Linux Operating System" from Windows. My brother changed me over years ago. Think he bought something for about £25 and ran it on my computer to make the changeover. It was marvellous.
I ended up having to buy a Chromebook for a Zoom consultation with a specialist in London, as my laptop was so old it had no microphone and no camera.
Linux has many different systems to choose from. If there is one compatible with your computer, it would be a cheap fix to change to it from Windows.
interesting ,i seem to remember him talking to me about linux ... when he was about 13 ...( he's grown up now) . this has got a camera.. i've never wanted to work out how to use it though.
I also see five question marks 🤔 but on a Mac.
Which release of MacOS?
And which browser?
The ladders are fine for me on MacOS Ventura using Safari or Firefox!
Ah, therein lies the problem. I'm still on MacOS Sierra using Chrome and Safari, although oddly using Safari I can see all the threads but when I click on them it says the page doesn't exist! I didn't update ages ago because I had to update twice to get to the newest and couldn't be bothered. That's my task for the next week!
You are not alone. I too see question marks in a box. Could it be that you are also using an iPad and it interprets emojis differently?
nothing so fancy ,lol ... see my earlier reply above.
I think it all depends if you have had the latest upgrade. My iPad is currently iPadOS 16.1.1…so I can see all current emojis…
Oh ladders you say? I thought they were ribbons.
helvella seems the universal emoji language is somewhat flawed! 🙄(face with rolling eyes)
It is. Very flawed.
The Emojipedia is wonderful for showing what will appear on each major platform. And new emojis, etc.
Take something like cat - emojipedia.org/cat/
The cat changes colour depending on platform. (I think coat colour should be handled like skin colour for human emoji. Allow user to choose first the emoji, then which colour. Or a generic yellow-ish effect for "generic" cat.)
Also, at least two are animated.
However, even there, you might not see all the options depending on your platform/browser!
Right that's it ... i'm going to report you ( to yourself ) .
the shape of invisible ladders ,or the colour of the imaginary cats sitting on them is now way off topic ...
It's all getting very Monty Python LAUGHING LOUDLY
' is there some correctional therapy available to me'
Not on the NHS 🤣
In the ‘normal range’ innit 🤣 (rolling laugh face)
I think in real life we'd be friends, TiggerMe 😂
I was just thinking this morning it would be good to have a thread just for chatting.
You can always chat by PM. The problem with a chat section here is that they can vere onto subjects that cause arguments and upset people, then Admin get reports which we have to investigate and start moderating the threads and it's just not possible with such a large community producing the number of threads we already have daily. Unfortunately it's just so busy we need to stick to thyroid related subjects .
I do understand. I'm grateful to all the admins; its a hard job!
But then we’d all miss out on some hilarious stuff which might just be the tonic we needed if we were feeling a bit down…
But we can't say you can post off topic as long as it's lighthearted and doesn't offend anyone. Unfortunately we would then get members saying if we can talk about this off topic why can't we talk about that. It would then open it up to all subjects including religion, politics, vaccinations, etc, and all the arguments that have arisen in the past when such topics are brought up, which requires constant moderation by a tiny volunteer team which I can assure you would overwhelm us and we would all give up our positions. If we were paid for set hours and had a large enough team then it wouldn't be such a problem but that's not the way it works.
I read another forum dedicated to a serious health condition and basically anything and everything is allowed to be discussed. If I go there looking for information the off topic posts swamp the actual health topic posts, it's more like a chat room than a place to go for serious help.
If there could be a chat section completely separate from the main forum like it is on some platforms it would be different, but this platform doesn't allow for that, it's all in the one place and there lies the problem.
Sorry if it sounds too serious and not what you want to hear, but with such a large forum and such a very small Admin team past experience tells us that this particular forum works better the way it is.
I understand completely and I am constantly impressed with the work you do. I didn't mean anything negative by it.
What!!! You're not real 😱 I’ve been duped 🤣
I rather like this virtual friendship, far less strings attached and I don’t need to tidy up before you drop in and if I happen to be chatty at 4am no problemo 🤗
100% a ghost. 😆
yes but people would just ruin it by talking about their blummin thyroid problems on it
..... if RedApple is going to institute a naughty step for 'lost randomness' i'd better find myself a cushion ...
😩🤣 can I bagsie a cushion next to tatty and Hidden with other guest appearances, how about serenfach for starters.... I think the balance is bob on here, but then it's you lot that have to put up with my randomness with tedious links 😋
No, I can't sit next to any of the 'Big Posters'. I'd get star struck.
I'll sit at the back and throw a comment in occasionally. 😂
count me in I do go off topic from time to time 😬👍 (cheesy grin and thumbs up emoji for the benefit of tattybogle )
I love the random inserts from others too though, you never know where you might end up and what you might learn 😉 makes us open and accessible with a frizzon of batty 🙃
This disease affects soo many different facets of our lives. It would be nice to have an ongoing section or post/thread where members could partipate in discussions revolving around having a chronic thyroid illness . To collectively socialize about mental health,wellness and lifestyle etc
I'm continuously learning about new things on here and the interactions that show some friendly personality/banter humanize the exchange 
Yes. This. There are things that I wouldn't mind chatting about but aren't worth a whole post.
Telling people who 'get it' is validating.
For example, this morning I've realised that at some point in the last year by terrible knee weakness/pain has almost gone.
Last year I was seriously considering moving to a bungalow because the stairs were so difficult for me. I had no idea that was a thyroid symptom.
Think we've all written ourselves off at one point or another mentally/physically or both only to find if you can just get your ducks in a row the real you does still exist.
Telling people who 'get it' is validating.
^^^^BINGO! Plus they won't think you're a nutter for bringing it up soo frequently .
There is certainly a method to our madness
Glad to see you were able to connect the dots and that your knee issues have improved. This illness is a puzzle for sure.
Totally bonkers. I've had scans to check for arthritis or general wear. All came back clear. Was told to do strengthening exercises; never did because it was always so painful I couldn't manage it.
It just occurred to me that I've been using the stairs more frequently and can't remember the last time I even noticed using the stairs.
As I continue to improve it never fails to surprise me what was actually a thyroid symptom.
It's a girl thing mainly, though helvella often gets drawn in 🤗 welcome along for the ride, it might help understand if you to have random women in your life 😉
So who would make the coffee, anyone willing to volunteer?
I think it should be on a rota basis.
Yours don't work on gmail!
I’ve just read this thread this morning and spat my coffee out twice !!! 🤣🤣. I want to be sent out of the classroom like a was everyday at school 🤪
request granted .... i'm reporting you too ~ for gratuitously hiding Emoji's under ??'s .
🤣(sideways laughing face)
tattybogle
These links give you a way of creating emojis with simple text i.e. created with a keyboard, and I think most gadgets would be able to display them :
healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
I think both links show the same emojis, but I've never compared them.
The choice is limited but its better than nothing.
I nearly always use text emojis - there are a handful I remember and I use them as and when the urge strikes me. I think it is a signal to any readers that I'm an old fogey.
HU offers some more modern emojis, and although I can read the text description I still don't like them because their meaning isn't as immediately obvious as the old-fashioned text emojis.
I often get little square boxes being displayed when my PC can't interpret emojis. I don't know what one can do about it. I don't want to start messing around with my language/keyboard/font because a) I think I'd forget how to change them back and b) it would probably just introduce a whole load of new problems.
Unless it is as simple as using a different browser, I suspect that playing with languages/keyboards/fonts, etc., will not resolve the issue - and could cause havoc.
Using the latest version of Windows/Android/IOS/macOS/anything else, and fully updated, will be the single best bet on being able to view them properly.
I think tattybogle has more of a complex now about the faces and gestures we are possibly throwing her way 😏(smirking face)
I do agree that when you read the description it is rarely the sentiment I intend 🥴(face with uneven eyes and wavy mouth)
i've decided i'm quite happy with a bunch of ??'s with a random cat thrown in ... now i know '?' could mean 'anything at all ' , i can chose to believe they are all highly complimentary.
That's the way 💚🙀
I hate to bring a serious note into a hysterical thread, but I will nonetheless. And this is not because I have won awards for going off topic, which I have accepted for years -
But I personally do not think it makes sense to edit threads that go off topic. Or the suggestion, at times, to start your own thread - when you have a jump off mark or curiosity. It was a big change for me coming over from the PAS forum. We have many threads that start off on one topic there, and go elsewhere.
And sometimes those exact threads are the ones that provide breakthrough information due to a member's questioning or curiosity.
And I too appreciate the other part of off-topic by members, a momentary exhale into lightheartedness.
But this is a forum with many members of course, and I realize I am most likely a distinct minority in this way of thinking. And therefore have zero expectations for a change, when most are likely happy about this moderation.
And sometimes those exact threads are the ones that provide breakthrough information due to a member's questioning or curiosity.
^^^^^👏This defn has helped me a few times on here whether I was the questioner or someone else.
from my observation, asking folk to start their own thread only happens when there's a good reason... most side questions/ offshoots / red herrings / random humour/ even complete baffoonery etc are left alone and as you say, can and do lead to very interesting discoveries / connections being made .
Off topic replies are rarely edited / removed unless they had actually crossed the line into being abusive and had continued despite being asked nicely, or were breaking the very necessary rules about advertising sources without prescription/ politics etc .
but for some types of replies especially on posts from newish or already confused OP's, it really is best if others are asked to start their own thread ... i've seen it happen often that the OP just gets massively confused with replies to other peoples issues... which is not helpful . Also sometimes when people have replied with assertive statements that are just plain 'wrong' ... they need correcting , but trying to do it on an OP's thread is not great if the OP is still at a early stage of understanding the issues . For example , complex discussions disagreeing about what deiodinase do etc. is just not helpful to someone who doesn't know what TSH is yet and is already a bit overwhelmed with responses that relate directly to what they need to know .
so i think the balance here is about right as it is.
Absolutely agree, apart from the fact I have no idea what an OP is?
Original Poster ..( who the post belongs to) .
Ah...I had Old Person! Brain not quite thawed out after spending several hours out surveying swans.... looks like you have all been having lots of fun here and playing nicely, I've laughed myself warm....
I had just landed back on this thread to offer an explanation to Litatamon about why things may work differently on our forum to the PAS forum.
But I don't need to Tatty. You've said it all for me. Thank you. 😊👍
You're welcome .. i'm very helpful you know ... my water supply has largely disappeared .... so i'm drinking warm ginger wine instead of tea to help United Utilities .
Mmm, warm ginger wine sounds good to me. Where I am, all I need to do today is put a container outside and it will fill with water in no time. 💦💦💦💦💦💦 (lots of raindrop emojis)
fortunately it's raining here too , else we couldn't flush the loo . the trickle of water can't get upstairs... dunno who's got all our water pressure .. probably running off down a road somewhere..... my water butt is still frozen solid so i had to take the drainpipe off the gutter and then put a wheely bin under the gutter to catch the rain ... is it nearly spring yet ?
Female ingenuity and warm wine, lovely..... a barmy... sorry balmy double figures tomorrow
Thank you tattybogle 👍
Thank you tattyboggle.
I used a very poor choice of words, when trying to communicate about starting one's own thread. So fixed that.
But whatever I am picking up, which again is the minority of thought -I truly understand that - has definitely caused me to pause at times, in a potentially off-topic curiosity. And I personally think that is a shame. But potentially that is just my personal issue - to pause & I need to simply stop doing that.
I am not trying to be down on all the choices & hard work here - at all. Just another perspective.
Not quite the same thing, but there used to be two sections here that we could post in, one was more medical and the other was more off-topic (as far as I remember), but then HU removed the more off-topic one. There was an interesting blog in it about daily life written by someone who's now left, and people frequently chatted together in a more OT way. I don't remember any explanation for its removal but I imagine it took up space and HU wanted their original purpose to take precedence 🤔 (thinking face emoji, but I'm not sure if it's one of the ones acceptable to those under 40 who can apparently date us by which emojis we use 🙄 [rolling eyes - and I'm not sure about this one either!]). That extra section was a good idea and perhaps it could be suggested to HU that it be brought back.
You're right Framboise. We had 'Posts' and 'Blogs'. Posts was for the serious stuff and blogs for the chatty stuff. It did work quite well for some. That said, we had many members who got confused, not knowing what they were supposed to post where etc. And members who had no idea what a blog was. HU did then amalgamate it all and completely re-designed everything. It's taken a very long time to get to where we are today with this platform.
Thank you Eeyore for such a wonderful post! What a wonderful tonic it has been reading through it all😂😂😂
🤗(hugging face) What shall we randomly talk about next Sunday? 😋(face savouring delicious food(really??))
I have thoroughly enjoyed this little escapade, have we even mentioned our common link all day🤫 (face with finger covering closed lips) 🤣(rolling on the floor laughing)
Unfortunately I'm brain dead at the moment and can't think of one witty thing to say except that there are some "class acts" on this forum and long may they reign😇
Admins! How big are threads able to get before they automatically close?
SeasideSusie helvella RedApple
We have had one or two with several hundred replies.
(There might come a point to close this! )
Ah! I wondered if it might be able run its natural course. Still could but might take us awhile to get there.
Well, all good things.... same time next week everyone?
I'm in!
If you give it a 'thyroidy' title the admins might not notice it's the 'Off-Topic Sunday Chat' 🤫 (finger on lips face)
Looking at my previous form.... hence the title of this thread.... I'm a habitual inquiring minded rambler 🥱 (yawning face) goodnight tattybogle
Honestly anyone new catching this thread are going to think we are a right bunch of la la's! 😏(smirking)
I wonder if poor old admin have to read all this wandering or are they wired up to a device that shocks them if a trigger word is used?
my problem is seeing what the emojis are - I hesitate to add them as they may not express what I think they mean - better off without them then !
Many of them are too small to properly identify sometimes important details.
Interesting oddities: On an iPhone or in macOS, if you send an iMessage consisting of a single emoji, it gets displayed nice and big! But if part of a message, it is the same size as the text.
You are absolutely right!... why don't they make it so that you can enlarge them? I often separate them from the message for this reason.
How to get off Omeprazole
How many hours do we need to fast before blood tests.
Sub clinical hypothyroidism- how long can you have this before it gets worse?
Just realised how well I am! (Maybe slightly off topic)
How many people have set up life time event on their facebook?
