Come on now Dx......give me a break.

Fisherman, a quick post prior to whenever they get around to deleting my profile as I requested.  They did not get rid of me, I got rid of them.  OH has been drifting toward *****dom for some time, and this is just the last in a long series of events that indicate they are putting their revenue above their ethics.

Here are some other things which I have kept quiet on, but since I am leaving, and since my posts, including this one will likely disappear after that, until then...

They used to list all surgeons.  They listed those who advertised alphabetically first, then after that alphabetically again, but on the same list, those that did not advertise.  At the start of 2008, they quit listing surgeons who did not pay to advertise.

Of course, they did not change their page heading that said "Surgeons Registered In (insert state name)".  When I contacted them, pointing out that this could be considered a deceptive labeling situation since it did not say "Surgeons In (insert state name) registered with OH for listing in our directory" and could easily be misunderstood by members to mean not registered (licensed) with that state, they changed the listing to "Bariatric Surgeons In (insert name of state).

Once again, a deceptive labeling, because unless you go all the way to the bottom of that list and see the single line that says "There are (insert number of) surgeons in (insert name of state) who have yet to officially register with us. Click here to view the list." you would not know that 149 of the 223 surgeons in Texas are not even on the list.

It is one thing to make the free content they provide to draw visitors to get their advertising rates up heavily draped in ads, but when you start whoring up what is supposed to be objective informative data that can affect if the people seeking it live or die for profit, that is ****dom for cash of the highest order.  I can assure you that virtually every lap band mill started by some dermatologist who got certified at the famous bariatric surgeon's home study correspondence school advertises.   I can tell you that my surgeon, who is in or just finished a term on the Am Society of Bariatric Surgeon's executive board (not sure which) does not.  Forget that those practicing in state university med schools are often prohibited from their programs budgeting state funds for advertising.  OH's whoring of their objective lists is going to send someone to a lap band mill that will die from complications because they are in the hands of a less skilled surgeon than they might have been due to incomplete OH surgeon listings being represented as something other than paid advertising.

Just as their advertising on this board was labeled "an opportunity", those surgeon's advertising is being labeled as "being a registered surgeon".  Let's give OH a hand... they are doing their part to reinforce that the California state motto is "Smooth as silk and sincere as polyester".

Then there is an incident I experienced when first coming to OH.  For those of you not familiar with the TX state board, it is one of the largest and most active state boards on OH.  There is a kindredness very similar to this men's board.   In the DFW area, we regularly have dinnners where 70 to 100 people show up, and this is done by members on their own, not as official OH events.  Often people travel from as far as Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio to events in the other two cities, and those are 5 hour drives !!!

When OH snubbed the DFW area by having two official OH events in each Houston, San Antonio, and Austin and still has not rotated back through the DFW area, individual members found a surgeon to sponsor the event and held a three day "sure 'nuff" at a hotel, had speakers, dinners, etc. real conference without OH.  Not to brag, but there is an independence and can do spirit here that is the embodiment of "get er dun".

Most of the support groups that meet in person that are not medically led in TX are not official OH groups.  That cuts into their revenue also, since they are able to sell advertising, sampling programs, etc targeted to support group members for a premium.  Incidentally, it is probably no coincidence that there is a higher level of male participation in those non-official OH support group activities than elsewhere in the country.

They pulled this mickey mouse cutesy tripe of posting (and it was on the TX board only, not globally) a "contest" for folks to register where they attended support groups, who led them, and the group with the most respondents supposedly won some sort of "prize".

Naively, as a new member, I posted, and once again, a reply to a staff post, that if they wanted to survey the groups in TX so they had that data to see if any would be interested in converting to official OH groups, just ask, because after all, we all appreciate the content they provide as a media company, and would be glad to give that feedback.  I felt that to be a positive post suggesting a better way for them to attain an objective that would increase their revenue and improve the board due to more forthright and honest communication.

That post went up on a weekday at about 10 AM.  By noon, I had 20 rabid foaming at the mouth PM's or post replies savaging me.  Over 70% were from official OH support group leaders.  My favorite was the ***** from New York requesting that I go kill myself, but first please delete my membership so OH would be a better place.  If you believe that 14 out of state replies from OH group leaders to a post on a state board they are not a resident of that state within 2 hours is a concidence, then I wanna play poker with you at the table some time !!!

Over the last couple of years there have been about 8 things of this nature I have bit my tongue on, but these things are coming more frequently, they are becoming more disgusting, and there comes a point that the uncertainty of finding another place comparable in caliber to the fine men's  or Texas boards is less of a hassle than living with yourself as a bystander accepting such *****dom.

Should anyone need to contact me, they can at [email protected].  And by all means, if another place ends up being the consensus place refugees from this board end up gravitating to, please notify me where that is, but guys, there comes a time that growing a pair means saying this **** is not right, and just because I cannot change it, that does not mean I have to accept it.

Here here. To both Paul and DX.  I esp agree with the entire advertising effecting content.   Imagine Consumer Reports listing the top ten mpg cars on the road today and not listing the prius because Toyota didn't advertise with them. I don't really mind ads, even ads that look kinda like posts - esp if they are in some way seperatable.  But to make an asertion about the forum being public and locking the thread in the same breath takes the kind of double minded thinking that normally requires a law degree.   I could go on but it has pretty much been said.   Too much drama.

Good luck to you, Paul.   I will miss your wisdom here.  Sometimes I think Carl Marx was right and capitolism will corrupt even the best intended organizations!  The drive for revenue is obviously much stronger here than the pseudo-intention to provide a healing community. Best Wishes, Charlie

Personally, I don't like to get involved in all of this extra-curricular crap.  It is like religion and politics.  Also, I don't  like to blindly follow.

Having said that, I stand behind Dx and Paul and the rest of the guys here.  Whatever happens, or you choose to do, is good with me and I am behind you 100%.  You guys deserve that little.  OH is but a blank chalkboard.  Guys like you are the keepers of the chalk and have helped more of us on a daily basis than the sacred name of OH.  You guys are the glue, and I, for one, am forever in your debt.

Lou 

Lou,

I really like your comment about the chalkboard, it struck a chord with me.  I think you are right that we support DX and Paul, since they have always been a support for us.  I really appreciate the support I get from every member of this board.  There are too few people who know what it is like to undergo WLS and especially from the male point of view.  

Jim 

Hey-  Just found this new sticky note on the Sex board.  After reading it, it sounds very familiar, doesn't it?

Post Date: 7/8/08 7:42 pm
There have been a lot of report posts and emails into us this past month about troll accounts, rude posts, and inappropriate images on this forum (and this is predominantly from your regulars). This is not the norm for this forum; we usually do not get reports about this forum. We would like to see it return to that.

So with that – you will see less moderation here if you remember a few things.

First, we will not tolerate any abusive messages or posts to staff that are here to do their job. You may not agree with it and that is understandable. However, we make decisions and are here to support an overall community and run a website.

Now that we have that out of the way - Creating an anonymous account to post in a frank manner just adds to, creates, or maintains antagonism on this forum. These activities are not acceptable. You are risking your original account and deactivations can occur. Use the block tool if you can’t figure out a way to ignore or coexist with someone in a forum.

Don’t send abusive Private Messages, there is now the Report Abuse flag in the mail system and if you are reported we will take appropriate actions. Again, use the block tool vs. resorting to these types of tactics.

As far as adult images that have been reported, plainly don’t go overboard. We are relaxed on the adult boards. If something starts getting reported a lot, then it is our job to look at it. Simply - No *****graphy, illegal, or sexually explicit images. Anything that is not contained to just in your forum (avatars, signatures if you post in multiple forums) then you need to make sure you are posting along with guidelines that are appropriate for all areas as an avatar and signature
cannot have an adult content flag on it or friends only permissions.

We prefer not to moderate; we have many other jobs to do. So help us spend less time here and get things back to normal. We appreciate it – thank you.

Sincerely,
ObesityHelp Staff

Well, they have not deleted my membership yet, so a few parting thoughts.

Let's look at the unwritten statements they so creatively parse in that message:

"However, we make decisions and are here to support an overall community and run a website."

1) That "overall community they are here to support appears to be ADVERTISERS, not members.  Where else on any bariatric portal website is a PRODUCT (Realize Band) given a forum.  What is inadequate about an existing band forum being perfectly appropriate for that?  It would appear the sale of a "branded" forum is what.  The path they are headed down appears to become the "William Shatner" of bariatric websites, hawking anything anyway anyone wants it done whose check clears.

2) The direction they are headed will eventually would not surprise me if there evemtually is a Vitamin Shoppe Forum, a GNC Forum, and a Puritan's Pride Vitamins Forum.  It would appear that eventually every surgeon and hospital will probably have their own forum once the work out the kinks on selling forums with Realize, because once everyone has been sold a listing, then the next thing to sell them would appear to be a forum.

3) "Running a website" appears to mean doing whatever maximizes traffic, not what is in the best interests of members.  They give us content and access for one reason only. That is so they can post what they do on the page where they hawk advertising to surgeons that says  on page http://www.obesityhelp.com/content/cmsID,1416/

Welcome to ObesityHelp, the nation’s preeminent Bariatrics support community for patients and professionals. 

Since 1998, ObesityHelp has been at the forefront of patient support and education, providing our over 600,000 members with the most comprehensive industry information available. One of our most valued patient resources in our online directory - the most comprehensive bariatric referral source for:

• Bariatric surgeons
• Plastic surgeons
• Bariatric Professionals
• Hospital Administrators
• Product Representatives

Interested in being listed on our site? Click here to register today.

You see, the company I own runs a web based business.  I spend advertising money with web based media companies in other subject areas.  The dirty little secret that makes selling web based advertising so much more lucrative than print based is that print publication circulations have to be verified by renewals, even for free publications, while there is no comparable requirements for web based advertising, and for all their medical skills, surgeons are not always great business managers.

How many of the "600,000" do you think have left the site, and just did not take time to delete their membership.  We all can probably remember more people who no longer post on any given board we have been on for a couple of years than are on it.

When you look at that link, the circulation on the OH Magazine is claimed to be 25,000.  Truth be known, the active web members are probably a lot closer to that than 600,000.  Do not ever think the impact of your feedback on matters such as this are not far greater than they will ever let on.

www.quixoticwls.com, www.bariatricradio.com, www.renewedreflections.com, and www.bariatriceating.com are all footsteps they hear over their shoulders.

 

"How many of the "600,000" do you think have left the site, and just did not take time to delete their membership.  We all can probably remember more people who no longer post on any given board we have been on for a couple of years than are on it". Yeah, one of these guys was named Paul.  He was very knowledable and articulate about many issues.  I wish that he hadn't left the site but I can certainly understand why he did.  This is a big hit to those seeking information on a lot of WLS related issues!!!

"This is a busy forum so we thought you would appreciate the opportunity"

If this is such a busy forum, then why not make it easier for men to find??????

Dx, a personal thank you for all your advice and helpful information that you post. It has been and will continue to be a valuable tool in my journey. This room would not be the same without you.

Paul, you WILL be missed here. Best of luck.

ME TOO, DAMMIT!  ALL THE ABOVE!!! The next thing you know OH Rag will want to tattoo our subscriber numbers on our wrists.  CAN YOU SAY, GESTAPO?