Comments on: my HIV test

By: ALLABOUTGEORGE.com

ALLABOUTGEORGE.com — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 00:55:53 +0000

Last week’s backed-up aggregate.

Boing Boing’s “Zuckerman: Wikipedia needs to cover non-nerdy subjects”Edward Wyatt’s “Treasury Being Sued for Curbs on Editing”Verlyn Klinkenborg’s “The Wealth of the Season”Michiko Kakutani’s “‘Chain of Command’: Controversial Reports Become Accepted …

By: ALLABOUTGEORGE.com

ALLABOUTGEORGE.com — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 23:28:44 +0000

Last week’s backed-up aggregate.

By: SizePro

SizePro — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 07:26:18 +0000

Sadly I don’t think the youth in the UK has the philosophy that you should get tested annually…

By: tony

tony — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 07:31:40 +0000

danah- don’t worry about changing anything-you’re working hard enough.Just my probing nature(I figured your server was the reason and spam is damning).You’re doing great-don’t fret, problems are human and it just shows how deeply people want to get ideas to you(interesting how similiar to pigeons we are-pecking away in times of uncertainty,”Did it post?”) Just chuckle and bear it.

By: zephoria

zephoria — Tue, 28 Sep 2004 01:49:45 +0000

Tony – the problem is that i have a million entries and it takes forever to process. Matters are made worse by the fact that my server only lets me take up so much of its processing cycles. So lots of people push the post button again out of frustration and it crashes to a halt and double posts.

Honestly, it sucks, but i haven’t had time to upgrade this blog or fix anything; it’s hard enough keeping the spam off. I know that there are ways to make this work, but i haven’t had the energy or patience. I’d love for all of my blogging nightmares to disappear, but they haven’t yet and i just haven’t had the headspace to cope. Sorry.

By: tony

tony — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:51:10 +0000

i suppose it’s a good idea(getting tested annually) but I would still freak out(I’m nervous by nature). danah, why do so many of us have trouble(nothing against mark,I’ve done it myself)and end up double listing our messages? Are we doing something wrong(probably)?

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 11:26:08 +0000

At my final HIV test I was given the option of calling for test results. It was a weird mix of ease-of-use and utter irrationality: you could call for your results, but poz results would not be given over the phone. I think they instituted it for roughly the same reason that you got the 20-minute pin-prick; problems with people not coming back for results. Apparently the no-show rate for results is high in general and even higher for presumptive positive results. I’m not sure how the phone-in solution helps this that much, but probably just getting the person on the phone does help the rate.

Also, in terms of an earlier comment about HIV test costs, the commercial kits are $40 each. That’s probably the (high) upper bound on how much it costs in a clinic setting.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 11:25:10 +0000

Also, in terms of an earlier comment about HIV test costs, the commercial kits are $40 each. That’s probably the (high) upper bound on how much it costs in a clinic setting.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 11:24:38 +0000

Also, in terms of an earlier comment about HIV test costs, the commercial kits are $40 each. That’s probably the (high) upper bound on how much it costs in a clinic setting.

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:21:38 +0000

I got tested about six months ago for the first time, finger prick style. The guy who did my test basically said, “Why the hell are you getting this test?” and I said “Because I’ve had unprotected sex in the past, and I want to again with a partner I hope to keep.” He asked about my partners and was basically like, “you have basically zero to worry about but we’ll do the test anyway of course.” I was struck by his attitude; I mean, what if it had been positive? Does he say that to all the girls? I was at a clinic that caters primarily to the Boston gay community, but still, I wasn’t a virgin or anything. He turned out to be right, but what happens to the woman who was unlucky with her old boyfriend, in a similar situation to mine? What if my old boyfriend had a secret drug problem, or something? I shudder to think.

As for yearly testing, it never occurred to me that it should be like a pap smear (which I always do). Interesting.