Is this forum surgeon neutral?

[freeman12]

I posted a thread last Friday inquiring about peoples' experiences with a surgeon which was promptly deleted and resulted in a ban of my other account (walkerj).  I've emailed everyone on the contact page, but I haven't received a response yet except from Merle, the old forum owner.

We need to have some transparency with the owners of this forum.  Is this forum surgeon neutral or not?

[waves]

I posted a thread last Friday inquiring about peoples' experiences with a surgeon which was promptly deleted and resulted in a ban of my other account (walkerj).  I've emailed everyone on the contact page, but I haven't received a response yet except from Merle, the old forum owner.

We need to have some transparency with the owners of this forum.  Is this forum surgeon neutral or not?

Yes, I've seen some strange things lately too and had posts and threads moved or deleted without explanation.  As useful as this site is, there's definitely a lack of transparency with what the rules are.  I think if they just posted a rules section it wouldn't be as frustrating to members who "break a rule" but don't know what they've done.  Leads to frustration, lack of participation and eventually a decline in use.

[freeman12]

I received an email from Dr. Delgado stating that the surgeon I posted about is "banned" from the forum.  No reason as to why discussion about this particular surgeon is banned though.

[shaker]

I posted a thread last Friday inquiring about peoples' experiences with a surgeon which was promptly deleted and resulted in a ban of my other account (walkerj).  I've emailed everyone on the contact page, but I haven't received a response yet except from Merle, the old forum owner.

We need to have some transparency with the owners of this forum.  Is this forum surgeon neutral or not?

Yes, I've seen some strange things lately too and had posts and threads moved or deleted without explanation.  As useful as this site is, there's definitely a lack of transparency with what the rules are.  I think if they just posted a rules section it wouldn't be as frustrating to members who "break a rule" but don't know what they've done.  Leads to frustration, lack of participation and eventually a decline in use.

I agree waves yikes i cannot even post images anymore from imageshack utterly useless they are making these forums now. I wish they would wake up before everyone leaves cause they cannot share their images anymore.

[Steve Dell]

I posted a thread last Friday inquiring about peoples' experiences with a surgeon which was promptly deleted and resulted in a ban of my other account (walkerj).  I've emailed everyone on the contact page, but I haven't received a response yet except from Merle, the old forum owner.

We need to have some transparency with the owners of this forum.  Is this forum surgeon neutral or not?

Yes, I've seen some strange things lately too and had posts and threads moved or deleted without explanation.  As useful as this site is, there's definitely a lack of transparency with what the rules are.  I think if they just posted a rules section it wouldn't be as frustrating to members who "break a rule" but don't know what they've done.  Leads to frustration, lack of participation and eventually a decline in use.

I agree waves yikes i cannot even post images anymore from imageshack utterly useless they are making these forums now. I wish they would wake up before everyone leaves cause they cannot share their images anymore.

I thought sharing before/after images, talking about good/bad doctor experience,posting links to helpful information was the entire point of this forum. To help victims of gynecomastia share information and resources.

Who is responsible for these recent changes banning everything and everyone in such a crazy method?

Is it the software that runs these forums or a particular person who is drunk with power like a TSA agent?

[becky]

We understand your frustration with the recent changes to what can/can't be posted in the forum.  We still allow guests and members to post photographs, but a block has been put on "links" that refer to a physician's personal site or to advertise a product or service.  We want the forums to provide everyone with reliable information and helpful comments about their individual surgical experiences.  We are making every effort to be surgeon neutral by initiating these changes.  If you have any concerns about what the rules of the site are, they are available on-line for your reference.  We appreciate your comments about your experiences on gynecomastia.org and we will continue to try and make changes that are helpful to your experience on the site. 

Thank you!

[Paa_Paw]

I first signed in here in 2004. The site has always tried to be neutral. Not only neutral with respect to the surgeons, but even with respect to surgery itself.

Obviously the majority of people here seem to be interested in surgery but there are others who are simply looking for ways to cope with or conceal their condition. All are welcome.

[dannyboy740]

I had my account of my surgery banned for putting fullstops in to spell the surgery name (which had been inexplicabley banned) this was fine since Nov 2010, but is suddenly a problem. I took a lot of time and effort to do a write up, and felt this was me giving back to those that had helped me by writing accounts in the past.
I understand spamming and blatant self promotion is not on...so the account has the surgeons name in the title instead. If a word is banned then blank it out rather than have a full blanket ban on the post.
Merle set up this site in good faith...but the MODS are getting heavy handed and i think users will start defecting to bodybuilding forums for advice. please reinstate my posts, and ammend as necessary.
I only tend to come onto the site to respond to PM's that people have sent and have recieved and given useul advice to others.
Rant over!

[waves]

I agree with the everyone else....no way should someone get banned for merely mentioning the name of a surgeon.  That's beyond total nonsense.  However, also agree with Becky....spam should be minimized and no problem by me if spammers get banned.

That said, Becky, can you provide an answer to the following:

1) Can you tell us where exactly to find the rules?  I've never come across them.

2) Why is there only one surgeon listed for all of Canada?  In the Canada section it seems 95% of posts are either of Lista or Fielding, both of which have many many fans.  I've heard that Fielding is not listed because he does not contribute ($) to the site.  Sooooo, if the forum is really surgeon neutral, it seems the surgeon listing service has an inherit conflict of interest in that it only shows surgeons who pay to be a part of the site.   

[Steve Dell]

I agree with the everyone else....no way should someone get banned for merely mentioning the name of a surgeon.  That's beyond total nonsense.  However, also agree with Becky....spam should be minimized and no problem by me if spammers get banned.

That said, Becky, can you provide an answer to the following:

1) Can you tell us where exactly to find the rules?  I've never come across them.

2) Why is there only one surgeon listed for all of Canada?  In the Canada section it seems 95% of posts are either of Lista or Fielding, both of which have many many fans.  I've heard that Fielding is not listed because he does not contribute ($) to the site.  Sooooo, if the forum is really surgeon neutral, it seems the surgeon listing service has an inherit conflict of interest in that it only shows surgeons who pay to be a part of the site.   

Its like saying " we don't like Hilter" so anyone who ever mentions the word " Hitler" will be treated as if he is Hitler.

This site will.

1. Delete your entire post( not just the name of the surgeon) but the entire post.
2. DELETE YOUR ENTIRE ACCOUNT along with EVERY post you have ever made
3. Ban your IP address, so you can never make another post or name again all for saying 1 single word.

You have people referring to the doctor as " He who's name shall never be spoken" and such. Like something you would suspect from a cult ritual or movie.

A more common sense yet still heavy handed approach would be to flag the forbidden words of the doctors, have a moderator read the post to determine if the person is a shill for the doctor/ spammer or a  legitimate post.

The TSA body cavity search of 90 year old nuns is starting to look sane compared to this " Lets kill them all and let God sort them out" policy of the admins here.

I wonder what the forum creator thinks of these methods being used here. If this is a honest mistake or an overreaction, they should correct it. If this a case of people drunk with power, they won't

[headheldhigh01]

This site will.

1. Delete your entire post( not just the name of the surgeon) but the entire post.
2. DELETE YOUR ENTIRE ACCOUNT along with EVERY post you have ever made
3. Ban your IP address, so you can never make another post or name again all for saying 1 single word.

 

YIKES      

this is extremely serious if true.  suspending someone temporarily as a potential spammer would be ok, but deleting all posts?  that would be a real disrespect to the history of this board and enough to seriously discredit it and start driving off the user base.  that would be an extremely bad idea.  you'd like to think acquiring this tiny but venerable institution would carry some measure of respect for it as something close to a trust too more than a mere inconsequential personal property.  

that's alarming.  i've tried to copy what i think are my more important posts every few months before, but now i'm worried.  did you get the impression this was a bot/automatic thing, or an overeager site administrator getting too zealous with the knife?  

somebody please reassure me this was either not true, or will at least be changed responsibly and the boards' content treated more respectfully going forward