GPI Disorder, a subset of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), has seen a sharp increase in prevalence, particularly amongst some users of the Chiang Mai forum on Thai Visa.

Specialists confirm that GPI Disorder (Gotta Post It) is a relatively new disorder, but research is beginning to show a consistent set of symptoms. The most debilitating symptom is spending more than one hour each and every day scouring over posts on TV, feeling compelled to comment on almost each and every one. Characteristics of the posts are often that they are off-topic, self-serving, and/or condescending in nature. Some sufferers of the disorder have been known to make in excess of ten posts each day, some of which make absolutely no sense.

Clinical evidence shows that those with more than 10,000 posts, often making more than three posts on the same thread, and posting in forums where they do not live, are at high risk for developing GPI.

Long-term GPI has been seen in some posters who have gone off the deep end, been banned by the moderators, and secured new email addresses and screen names with which to continue their disorder uninterrupted.

A cure for GPI is not available at this time, however some degree of self-restraint is advised when near a computer. Posting after excessive alcohol consumption is also ill-advised. Researchers hypothesize that those with GPI seem to have no life, and are encouraged to get one.

honestly, the time it took to think up this useless post and write it....i think falls under your GPI syndrome.

i can think of one poster who is suffering from this disorder. he consistently posts about things that he has no idea what is being discussed or has no first-hand knowledge. indeed he posts at minimum 10 times per day. speaking of off topic, if the discussion is about the system in Thailand, he will post about what the system is in Canada.

I can't see this topic lasting long ..

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Lobo4819,

I think you are onto something here; and, that your proposed clinical syndrome deserves careful consideration since you obviously have your wits (a commodity often back-ordered, or discontinued stock, here) about you.

In the tradition of Cantor, and Godel, Escher, Mandelbrot, and Hofstader, can we postulate that a person who compulsively watches ... is "hyper-sensitive" to ... the posting behavior of others, and spends time analyzing to what extent they may exhibit GPI, may also be suffering from a syndrome recursively parallel to GPI ?

Yes, that does lure us into the possible whirlpool of an infinite diagnostic regress perhaps best expressed by (Juvenal's) quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

But, I think we have nothing to lose by exploring your concept further, and as humanitarians (well, some of us, here are more than just primates) conceptual paradoxes should not auto-intoxicate us to the point that we are inured to the actual suffering of people with GPI !

So, let us reason together how we might best help those who are in the grips of GPI. The first step, of course, may be the most difficult: convincing them they have it. Helping them to realize that the very pursuit they may now experience as a joyful pastime, or a way to "make it through the night (or day)" by having a delusional ersatz social life instead of experiencing their miserable loneliness is ... misery.

How to help them suffer the actual suffering they have ?

Would it be in keeping with the Boddhisattva ideal (Pali: pothisat) for everyone to post as frequently as everyone else, which would then help those with GPI feel "normal" ?

I am hopeful that, given the resources here on this forum, we can identify the equivalent of "the best pizza" for Chiang Mai members with GPI.

~o:37;

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Lobo4819,

I think you are onto something here; and, that your proposed clinical syndrome deserves careful consideration since you obviously have your wits (a commodity often back-ordered, or discontinued stock, here) about you.

In the tradition of Cantor, and Godel, Escher, Mandelbrot, and Hofstader, can we postulate that a person who compulsively watches ... is "hyper-sensitive" to ... the posting behavior of others, and spends time analyzing to what extent they may exhibit GPI, may also be suffering from a syndrome recursively parallel to GPI ?

Yes, that does lure us into the possible whirlpool of an infinite diagnostic regress perhaps best expressed by (Juvenal's) quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

But, I think we have nothing to lose by exploring your concept further, and as humanitarians (well, some of us, here are more than just primates) conceptual paradoxes should not auto-intoxicate us to the point that we are inured to the actual suffering of people with GPI !

So, let us reason together how we might best help those who are in the grips of GPI. The first step, of course, may be the most difficult: convincing them they have it. Helping them to realize that the very pursuit they may now experience as a joyful pastime, or a way to "make it through the night (or day)" by having a delusional ersatz social life instead of experiencing their miserable loneliness is ... misery.

How to help them suffer the actual suffering they have ?

Would it be in keeping with the Boddhisattva ideal (Pali: pothisat) for everyone to post as frequently as everyone else, which would then help those with GPI feel "normal" ?

I am hopeful that, given the resources here on this forum, we can identify the equivalent of "the best pizza" for Chiang Mai members with GPI.

~o:37;

"In the tradition of Cantor, and Godel, Escher, Mandelbrot, and Hofstader, can we postulate that a person who compulsively watches ... is "hyper-sensitive" to ... the posting behavior of others, and spends time analyzing to what extent they may exhibit GPI, may also be suffering from a syndrome recursively parallel to GPI ?"

It would seem that most of those who fall into that category live such a miserable life that they search out other life styles that they feel are worse than there own and attempt to pick up their spirits by presuming others have a life worse than there own.

It has been my observation that here in Chiang Mai we have a growing number of them. I believe this comes with advancing age and not being able to handle it. I believe the cure for them is more posting. Not sure but I think it is called reverse psychology.

I wish them well in their recovery.

It would seem that most of those who fall into that category live such a miserable life that they search out other life styles that they feel are worse than there own and attempt to pick up their spirits by presuming others have a life worse than there own.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun HelloDolly,

I think this is a brilliant hypothesis !

I could see this being conceptualized as "inverse schadenfreude by proxy."

~o:37;