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Personal anecdata about this flu season. I got the flu shot. My spouse did not. They ended up getting the full-blown flu with 103 degree fever and a positive f

Personal anecdata about this flu season. I got the flu shot. My spouse did not. They ended up getting the full-blown flu with 103 degree fever and a positive flu test at the doctor. I, on the other hand, felt kind of crappy but I wasn't knocked on my feet and my temperature was normal the whole time. I asked our doctor if I essentially had a milder version of the flu because I got the shot and he said that was basically the case. So get your shot! Get your shot for herd immunity, get your shot to (apparently) stave off the worst of the virus, get your shot, get your shot.

zeveb 9y ago
> My spouse did not. They … I asked our doctor if I essentially had a milder version of the flu because I got the shot and he Odd, I would have thought you'd be more familiar with the gender of your spouse than that of your doctor grin
- sctb 9y ago
  Can we stipulate that you object to a certain gender-neutral singular pronoun so that you'll please stop making unsubstantive posts about it, like we've already asked? It's so tedious. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14217345 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14217345
  - zeveb 9y ago
    I wasn't objecting to anything, I just thought the phrasing was rather maladroit, and commented on it because it was a humourous grammatical mistake. I am thankful that you linked to the post 9 months ago that dang objected to; that's definitely an improvement on the previous HN moderation pattern of reprimanding without a link. Is there any chance that you could expose to users a way to see what moderators have objected to in the past about themselves? I think this sort of individual openness would go a long way. edit: Also, it'd help one keep track of what the HN moderators are concerned about.
    - dang 9y ago
      The problem is that when humorous grammatical mistake overlaps with divisive personal and social issue, lightheartedness gets lost. We've been thinking about building software support for something like what you're suggesting here. Not sure yet. But we'd like to give users more of a meaningful feedback loop, instead of generic reprimands, so there's a practical path to improvement. If you'd like to say more about what you think would accomplish that, we'd read it with interest. The reason we don't often include specific links in moderation replies is that it's significantly more work, and these things already consume a huge amount of time, energy, and spirit.
      - zeveb 9y ago
        > If you'd like to say more about what you think would accomplish that, we'd read it with interest. I could imagine something like the current 'upvoted submissions / comments' section on the profile page, e.g. 'moderated submissions / comments'. I assume that your moderation tools are already tracking this sort of thing for you, because y'all often comment, 'as we've already asked you,' reaching back months or years into the past. You must already have something like this, due to how y'all comment in response to posts (presumably you don't have photographic memories!). Although I'm thinking of a private implementation, lobste.rs is also doing some interesting work with public moderation: all moderator actions are public & documented with an ostensible justification by the moderator. That is at least completely open: User X did Y on date Z; he did A on date B; in response to this Moderator 1 executed action 2 on date 3 (and that action could itself be reviewed by some higher authority). > The reason we don't often include specific links in moderation replies is that it's significantly more work, and these things already consume a huge amount of time, energy, and spirit. I understand that, but please consider the spirit of someone who is implicitly threatened with a ban by someone in a position of power. He has no idea why he's offended, how often he's offended, and he's scared for what will happen: he's invested time to build up a reputation, and the moderator stands ready to destroy all that. We need moderators online much as we need police in the real world — but interactions online with moderators are just as stressful as interactions with police offline. This is all completely orthogonal to whether or not the moderator's actions are fair or correct. There's a strong power imbalance, and I think it's fair for moderators to be cognizant of that. There's a huge difference between 'as I asked you once three years ago and once two years ago, but you can't really be expected to remember' and 'as we've asked you twice this week,' even though both are multiple warnings. Pointing out the magnitude of the issue can go a long way to reducing the stress of the situation to its appropriate level.
giarc 9y ago
You're correct. Basically what happens is your body still gets primed for some type of flu and produces antibodies. The predominant circulating strain H3N2 is genetically a bit different than the vaccine strain of H3N2. So even though you don't have exactly the right antibodies, you still have some that can recognize the circulating strain and can start the response a bit earlier than someone with no antibodies.
nxsynonym 9y ago
As a counter anecdote, I got the flu shot and still ended up out of commission for 4 working days + a weekend of recovery. Still get your flu shot as it helps prevent spread and probably saved me a trip to the hospital. But don't expect to be immune.
bluetwo 9y ago
Same thing. Got the shot. Got the flu. It was annoying but didn't need a trip to the doctor or hospital. A friend without shot who got the flu at the same NYE party as I did ended up needing to go to the doctor to get tests and tamiflu. Interestingly, the doc was able to test for the specific strain (#2) and they were also entered into a national database.
mdesq 9y ago
Similar anecdote here. Everyone living in our house got the shot, with the exception of the newborn infant who was too young to get it. The infant was the only one who got the full-blown flu (very scary, but they are fine now). Everyone else who had any symptoms just got a case of what seemed to be a bad two day cold. I've heard differing opinions as to whether the shot really helps cases be less severe if you do get it, but I've heard a lot of similar stories recently.

zeveb 9y ago

> My spouse did not. They … I asked our doctor if I essentially had a milder version of the flu because I got the shot and he Odd, I would have thought you'd be more familiar with the gender of your spouse than that of your doctor grin

sctb 9y ago
Can we stipulate that you object to a certain gender-neutral singular pronoun so that you'll please stop making unsubstantive posts about it, like we've already asked? It's so tedious. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14217345 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14217345
- zeveb 9y ago
  I wasn't objecting to anything, I just thought the phrasing was rather maladroit, and commented on it because it was a humourous grammatical mistake. I am thankful that you linked to the post 9 months ago that dang objected to; that's definitely an improvement on the previous HN moderation pattern of reprimanding without a link. Is there any chance that you could expose to users a way to see what moderators have objected to in the past about themselves? I think this sort of individual openness would go a long way. edit: Also, it'd help one keep track of what the HN moderators are concerned about.
  - dang 9y ago
    The problem is that when humorous grammatical mistake overlaps with divisive personal and social issue, lightheartedness gets lost. We've been thinking about building software support for something like what you're suggesting here. Not sure yet. But we'd like to give users more of a meaningful feedback loop, instead of generic reprimands, so there's a practical path to improvement. If you'd like to say more about what you think would accomplish that, we'd read it with interest. The reason we don't often include specific links in moderation replies is that it's significantly more work, and these things already consume a huge amount of time, energy, and spirit.
    - zeveb 9y ago
      > If you'd like to say more about what you think would accomplish that, we'd read it with interest. I could imagine something like the current 'upvoted submissions / comments' section on the profile page, e.g. 'moderated submissions / comments'. I assume that your moderation tools are already tracking this sort of thing for you, because y'all often comment, 'as we've already asked you,' reaching back months or years into the past. You must already have something like this, due to how y'all comment in response to posts (presumably you don't have photographic memories!). Although I'm thinking of a private implementation, lobste.rs is also doing some interesting work with public moderation: all moderator actions are public & documented with an ostensible justification by the moderator. That is at least completely open: User X did Y on date Z; he did A on date B; in response to this Moderator 1 executed action 2 on date 3 (and that action could itself be reviewed by some higher authority). > The reason we don't often include specific links in moderation replies is that it's significantly more work, and these things already consume a huge amount of time, energy, and spirit. I understand that, but please consider the spirit of someone who is implicitly threatened with a ban by someone in a position of power. He has no idea why he's offended, how often he's offended, and he's scared for what will happen: he's invested time to build up a reputation, and the moderator stands ready to destroy all that. We need moderators online much as we need police in the real world — but interactions online with moderators are just as stressful as interactions with police offline. This is all completely orthogonal to whether or not the moderator's actions are fair or correct. There's a strong power imbalance, and I think it's fair for moderators to be cognizant of that. There's a huge difference between 'as I asked you once three years ago and once two years ago, but you can't really be expected to remember' and 'as we've asked you twice this week,' even though both are multiple warnings. Pointing out the magnitude of the issue can go a long way to reducing the stress of the situation to its appropriate level.

giarc 9y ago

You're correct. Basically what happens is your body still gets primed for some type of flu and produces antibodies. The predominant circulating strain H3N2 is genetically a bit different than the vaccine strain of H3N2. So even though you don't have exactly the right antibodies, you still have some that can recognize the circulating strain and can start the response a bit earlier than someone with no antibodies.

nxsynonym 9y ago

As a counter anecdote, I got the flu shot and still ended up out of commission for 4 working days + a weekend of recovery. Still get your flu shot as it helps prevent spread and probably saved me a trip to the hospital. But don't expect to be immune.

bluetwo 9y ago

Same thing. Got the shot. Got the flu. It was annoying but didn't need a trip to the doctor or hospital. A friend without shot who got the flu at the same NYE party as I did ended up needing to go to the doctor to get tests and tamiflu. Interestingly, the doc was able to test for the specific strain (#2) and they were also entered into a national database.

mdesq 9y ago

Similar anecdote here. Everyone living in our house got the shot, with the exception of the newborn infant who was too young to get it. The infant was the only one who got the full-blown flu (very scary, but they are fine now). Everyone else who had any symptoms just got a case of what seemed to be a bad two day cold. I've heard differing opinions as to whether the shot really helps cases be less severe if you do get it, but I've heard a lot of similar stories recently.