Keeping "negativity" out of the forums

[arfy]

I see this idea mentioned on a couple of the hair transplant forums, and I wonder how effectively that serves the interest of patients who are looking for advice?

If I say "Dr. X sucks" with no explanation, or "there's no such thing as a good HT" or "I think your results are no good" those are clearly unhelpful posts which do not advance a discussion.

But a ban on 'general negativity' (such as critical posts which are well-documented) should not be banned, and keeping them off the forum effectively "white washes" the forum, and can actually put patients at risk. There are sharks in the water here, and everybody should understand that.

It seems like the general bias these days is weighted towards the doctors and clinics (who fill the forums with their own posts) and there is less consideration for peer-to-peer forums where the patients themselves can discuss issues without the presence of doctors and clinics, and the commercial aspect that adds. I think that is unfortunate, and a bad sign.

[arfy]

As I feared, this forum censors posts which pose fair and sensible criticism to doctors, even when the doctors are demonstrably contradicting themselves.

[Winston]

You are incorrect Arfy. “Fair and sensible” criticism is welcome on this forum, as was your detailed complaint and other commentary questioning the conduct of your repair HT surgeon. To say otherwise is being disingenuous. If you had read our Posting Rules & Terms Of Service you would have been fully informed of our policies before you agreed to them and posted your complaint. This forum does not tolerate, agenda driven, incendiary, abusive, potentially defamatory posts. This forum does not tolerate the posting of hearsay or the hijacking of threads in an attempt to damage the reputation of anyone.

Multiple posts debasing public or limited public figures, physicians, companies and organizations will not be hosted on this forum and the determination of a forum violation is at the sole discretion of our moderators.

As you are well aware, genuine, verified complaints, are allowed and will remain live on this forum. Your complaint, as well as the user commentary, was in part, in violation of our TOS, however it was determined to allow it to remain live since it was verified that you had suffered a great deal and believed you were mislead by the surgeon who you chose to perform your repair surgery.
Here's is the link to your initial complaint which, contrary to what you have stated has not been “censored.” https://www.baldtruthtalk.com/thread...nd-Zero-Growth

This forum will not be used as a vehicle exact revenge. You have been allowed to voice your opinions, and if your surgeon chooses he will be allowed to provide his side of the story as per our TOS. If you truly intend on using your unfortunate experiences to offer our users guidance, as stated before, you are welcome to participate. If your anger precludes you from participating without continuing to attempt to further harm the reputation of your surgeon your posts will remain in moderation.

Thank you.

[arfy]

Your Terms of Service are vague and confusing. The primary source of 'agenda driven' posts are coming from the doctors. The doctor's agenda is very often about self-promotion. I don't think there's a more obvious "agenda" than using the forums to advertise a business. My agenda is to warn patients about the pitfalls of hair transplants, and and occasionally challenge clinics when they write something egregious, which seems to happen somewhat regularly here. Unlike doctors, I can't generate any money from posting here.

In another thread started by Dr Cole ("Poor Growth and Black Dots") which I referred to in my last post, you allowed Dr. Cole to post embarrassing BHT photos from another clinic (which one, I don't know) and then write self-serving posts about how he was "fixing" this patient, and make statements about BHT that directly contradict other statements that he wrote in the recent past. I posted specific direct quotes that were confusing and contradictory, and asked Dr Cole to clarify his position on BHT. My posts were flagged and removed by you. There was nothing in my posts that suggested "exacting revenge" or "debasing" Dr Cole, unless Dr Cole is debased by reading his own statements.

Which takes us back to the topic of this thread. This is the "Open Topic" forum where the expectation is that patients can interact with doctors directly. If the doctors expect to be babied here, then maybe they should have their own "Doctors Only" forum. I guess it all comes down to what kind of "Bald Truth" forum you want -- one that's sanitized on behalf of specific doctors -- that's the impression I'm getting. I wonder if the forum might get more traffic if the moderator was not so enthusiastic about what their own role should be. I really don't know... But I do know that Dr Cole shouldn't expect to get this level of pampering everywhere else on the internet.

Disgruntled and angry "repair" patients like myself are 50% of the business for some clinics. If you believe that censoring disgruntled patients will make this a more useful forum, I think you are very mistaken. But maybe the newbies can all advise each other. I've been reading and posting on forums like this for almost 15 years, and I have seen over the years that Dr Cole generates controversy among former patients, former employees, other website owners, and his colleagues. Dr Cole is the only common denominator there. Censoring me is not going to change who Dr Cole is.

[doinmyheadin]

As I feared, this forum censors posts which pose fair and sensible criticism to doctors, even when the doctors are demonstrably contradicting themselves.

Arfy you should try posting on HLH. I am very sorry to read about your transplant disaster and the situation you have been left in.
This is a good forum here but as the IAHRS pays for it, it is very hard to post anything negative about surgeons on here, especially if they are part of the IAHRS. As is said try posting on HLH, there are many negative transplant results over there. All the best goodluck.

[wylie]

You are incorrect Arfy. “Fair and sensible” criticism is welcome on this forum, as was your detailed complaint and other commentary questioning the conduct of your repair HT surgeon. To say otherwise is being disingenuous. ……


This forum will not be used as a vehicle exact revenge. You have been allowed to voice your opinions, and if your surgeon chooses he will be allowed to provide his side of the story as per our TOS. If you truly intend on using your unfortunate experiences to offer our users guidance, as stated before, you are welcome to participate. If your anger precludes you from participating without continuing to attempt to further harm the reputation of your surgeon your posts will remain in moderation.

Thank you.

Is he being disingenuous? His thread was closed. Commentary on his experience has been curtailed. I understand your reluctance of someone using the forum to "exact revenge", but what constitutes "exacting revenge" is subjective. Is a detailed write-up with dates, costs, pictures, etc. "exacting revenge"? When one sees the old standard "keeping negativity out of the forums", well, disingenuous is an appropriate adjective.

Doctors provide financial recompense to these forums, and many Dr.'s enjoy a close relationship with the forum owners.

[Winston]

@doinmyheadin, It’s important to note that our physician complaint policy isn’t restricted to IAHRS members. Since its inception, it has applied to every physician complaint that we come across, whether it be a complaint concerning a large chain clinic or any other hair transplant physician in the field. Due to the anonymous nature of the internet, any compliant made by an anonymous user must be vetted, as stated in our TOS. See our Physician Complaint policy:

Physician Complaints

If you are seeking to write a public complaint about a doctor, you will be required to verify your identity and BaldTruthTalk.Com will then notify the doctor so that he/she can respond publicly as well. The thread will allow for the patient to tell their story, the doctor to respond, the patient to reply to the doctor's response and one last response from the doctor if necessary. The thread will then be locked. General commentary from other users will not be allowed.

There are other well known hair loss forums that employ a very similar policy, however from what I understand a physician actually has to lodge a formal complaint before the policy is implemented. Arfy should check the other forums' TOS under either “Disputes with Doctors,” or similar terms. You will see that BTT implements the same type of policy however we are proactive about it across the board and do not wait for a practitioner to contact us about the violation.

@Wylie it is our belief that Arfy’s experience was in fact what he believed to be the truth, this is why his complaint has been left live and unedited on our forum. Commentary from third party, anonymous users is prohibited as Arfy’s story is his to tell and any reponse to it can only be made by another party who was actually, physically part of his experience. Any reasonable person can see that this is beyond fair and is clearly written in our TOS. With that said, we allowed some of our user commentary to remain live on his thread since the commentary seems genuine.

To answer your question, “Is a detailed write-up with dates, costs, pictures, etc. “exacting revenge?” The answer is no and that is why Arfy’s detailed write-up remains public on this forum. If it were determined otherwise it would have been removed.

To your point of “When one sees the old standard “keeping negativity out of the forums”, well, disingenuous is an appropriate adjective,” BTT does not keep “negatively” off the forums, that is a term that Arfy chose to post. We permit all verified complaints to remain hosted here and as I am sure you are aware, there is no shortage of negativity being posted on this forum.

Wylie, while you are in fact in violation of our TOS, I understand that your motivation is simply to try to help, so your post will remain live and your account active after this thread is locked per our TOS.

If Arfy’s physician chooses to respond to Arfy’s allegations, his original thread will be opened and Arfy will have another opportunity to respond to his surgeon’s response as per our TOS. Arfy will only be allowed to respond with commentary that pertains to his particular case and experience and will not be permitted to cut and paste commentary or hearsay from any third party not directly involved in his case.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.