Moderation Events

[mmglobal]

02/14/09 - moved "Getting Banned" post to the Transparent forum.
Allowing continued posting and venting, but not as primary focus of the iSpine forum.

02/19/09 - merged Surgery Blog forum into Surgical Outcomes forum
It was confusing what to post where. This just makes more sense. Less forums, less confusion.

03/02/09 - shortened title of Cindylou's thread - too much to explain here, see post below.

12/17/09 - removed "Transparent" forum. (One post in 11 months.) It ran it's course... served it's purpose.

12/17/09 - merged Caregiver forum into iSpine forum... lack of traffic... see below.

2/9/10 - deleted spam post from insurance forum. Because this concerns travel insurance, for now, I'm leaving a similar spam post with explanation here.

8/1/10 - Banned carolw for spam. It's a shame because this is truly spine related info. I still hope she'll contact me and I'll lift the ban if she is open about who she is. I'm leaving the post because it's relevant.
http://www.ispine.org/forum/ispine/1...evolution.html

6/18/11 - deleted references to medicalholocaust dot blogspot dot com. Explained here: http://www.ispine.org/forum/ispine/1...ost14890]here.

10/25/11 - moved 'sniper' post to moderation events. PM'd poster to see if he wants to stay here.

3/18/2012 - Banned ADR Seeker for inappropriate posts (http://www.ispine.org/forum/communit...-question.html)

1/12/2013 - Banned user Stingerlee = ADR Seeker = Spine Advocate = czlc89 for highly inappropriate posts. (So inappropriate that this will be the first time I will not link to them.)

1/23/2013 - I had closed the offending thread by Stingerlee and left it up for the sake of transparency. Today I removed it.

[mmglobal]

Original Post for starting Moderation Events thread

In the 2.5 years I've run this forum, it has required almost ZERO moderation. I've occasionally deleted pure spam posts, but have never banned anyone (except the spammers).

I have set up a forum that is visible only to registered members. It's called 'Transparent' and the purpose of this forum is to have a place where people can air their opinions about community issues that have nothing to do with spine or the warm and fuzzy nature of the community support forum. These threads often contain discussions that are important to the community, but they clearly detract from the main purpose of the forum and are unpleasant distractions. My goal is NOT to stifle these discussions. Quite the contrary, my goal is to provide a place where these discussions can take place, but in a manner that doesn't detract from the good vibe that exist here 99% of the time.

I'll eventually keep this 'moderation events' thread closed, so it will be visible for a while after some moderation is required, but it will not appear as a primary focus of the forum.

All the best,

Mark

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

Thank-you for doing this. I never meant to stir up a hornet's nest, but had strong feelings about what occurred, and continues to occur with the previous site.

Anyone who truly knows me knows that I have one interest in my heart, and that is to be a support to others, and make a difference in the world around me.

All the best.

Terry Newton

[mmglobal]

I haven't seen anyone posting something that they need to apologize for. We all are invested in this community and feel strongly about things. I have seen MANY cases where information brought to the patient community has saved lives. (Read about Cindy and Tom on the GPN patient stories page. Their life saving surgery is courtesy of BrianK who brought his story of piriformis syndrome following ADR surgery to my original yahoo group. BTW, I have recently corresponded with BrianK and he is doing VERY WELL!)

We all need to be free to speak our minds. We also all need to be adult enough to not overreact when we see something that we feel is off color. NO APOLOGIES NECCESSARY. We expect to see a hornet's nest once in a while. No single person is the arbiter of right and wrong, or proper and improper etiquette here. We can agree and disagree, but still be supportive as we are all here for the same reasons.

Mark


OK... I confess... moderation event 0... I once asked (not told) someone to remove a joke that I thought was funny... but too politically incorrect to be here.

[trkdoc714]

I didn't get a PM on that last joke, so it must've passed muster

[mmglobal]

3/2/09, I shortened the title of Cindylou's thread. I removed "and Mark is going to attend". If anyone is interested why this made me uncomfortable in the post title, please contact me. No changes in post content... just the title.

Mark

[mmglobal]

The requested caregiver forum is not getting any traffic. I don't expect caregivers to come and form an online community. I think that the patient's postings regarding caregiver issues are probably more in tune with what the main forum is.

I'm considering moving the caregiver threads under the main iSpine forum... less forums is less confusing.

I'll leave insurance for now... I think that this may pick up as the traffic picks up.

I've been working on the avatar issue for several days. I hope to have it knocked soon. I'll let you know.

Also, I'm going to be dispensing with the main page. in a few days, the ispine forums will all be at iSpine.org and will not be at ispine.org/forum. When this happens, you'll probably want to update your bookmarks.

All the best,

Mark

PS... I'm looking for feedback on the caregiver forum... anyone have any strong feelings about closing it?

[Eastex]

Mark,
I thought more spouses would of been on the caregiver forum by now. I talked to my wife about sharing some information or asking some questions. Well, I think with my surgery and a lot of the suffering gone she decided not to do it. I think it is a great idea to have it, but the site is more for spineys and it seems to be hard to convince people on the other side to post or read.

[mmglobal]

I've been on the internet spine forums for almost 10 years now and rarely see spouses posting except for information about surgeries and immediate post-op updates.

Most of the spouses I do see are advocates looking for the technical information and don't even feel comfortable seeing the pain and disability as something grinding on them too.

Many spouses view the internet forums as providing useful information, support and entertainment at best. On the other end of the spectrum, many spouses view the internet forums as dysfunctional places where people wallow in their misery. "If you'd just stop focusing on your problem, you'd get better!"

I'll leave things alone for a while, but will most likely remove it unless someone really thinks it's helping.

Mark

[Gil Denis]

Hi Mark
I agree my spouse just wants me to get better.
She has read some information and is more stressed out and afraid what may be in the future for me
I`ll just leave it at that.
Take Care
Gil

[mmglobal]

Per our discussion above... I'm merging the caregiver forum threads into the main 'iSpine' forum.

NO THREADS ARE DELETED. I'm still committed to caregiver issues, but I lean towards fewer forums for a less confusing, leaner site.

Mark

[mmglobal]

Deleted spam post concerning travel insurance from insurance thread.

I left a duplicate post (but added disclaimer) here:

http://www.ispine.org/forum/communit...insurance.html

Update 2/9/10, after email exchange with the poster, I'll let it stand.

[mmglobal]

I regret that after almost 5 years of operating iSpine, I finally feel the need to censor some content. In the past, blatant spammers have been banned and someone who was clearly posting NOT for the benefit of the community was also banned, but I've never had to get involved because of content.

Recently, the user, ADR seeker, has been posting links to a website with the url: medicalholocaust dot blogspot dot com.

In my opinion, the invocation of swastikas, references to Nazis and fascists, and hyperbolic language equating what takes place in modern hospitals to the holocaust is so far over the top that I find it beyond being just ridiculous. I find it offensive. I have the honor of getting to spend a lot of time with many of the nation’s and world’s leading spine surgeons and I find that most of them are wonderful human beings who are doing their best to help us. Anything that attempts to equate what happens in our medical system to the systematic annihilation of people because of their religion, politics or sexual orientation; is outrageous.

This message is being sent to ADR seeker. I will not ban him or her as long as he or she wants to come here and post useful information and support for the other members. Unfortunately, this is all subjective and there are no hard and fast rules that can be invoked. In my opinion, this is not going to help the community and I find it offensive, so I’m going to delete this. I think my record is pretty good, with this being the only time I’ve deleted information because of the content.

ADR seeker, if the link to the medical holocaust website is in your signature file, please delete it. If you wish to stay and be a productive member of the iSpine community, please do.

iSpine is intended to be a place for spine patients to come and find useful information and support from other spine patients. While there may be some truth mixed in with the offensive information, I personally do not find this to be useful and I don’t think it’s likely to lead to productive discussions. For ADR seeker and others who disagree and think that this information is useful, I apologize, but it’s my call and I’m making it. For those who like hyperbole about modern medicine with nearly every doctor being a monster and nearly every politician being a whore… you’ll find a welcome home on medicalholocaust dot blogspot dot com. Some of what is there is true, but again, I don’t think this is what people come to iSpine for.

All the best,

Mark

[Maria]

This is one member that definately appreciates that call.

[dshobbies]

I was going to say something but if no one else made waves, I didn't want to start another bruhaha.

[jsewell]

Great call Mark
Just wish that member would share some of his history with us , maybe we could aim him in the right direction for some help in this great country of ours.
judy

[mmglobal]

I've not been posting this week at all because of my own issues. This post is a little overdue. This situation has taught me something.

I have always erred on the side of less moderation instead of more. In these instances, there is never a perfect way to deal with things. (IMHO) Nobody who moderates a forum like this will take these issues lightly. I did not, but I wish I had handled things a little differently. I wish I would have elected to communicate directly to ADR seeker, BEFORE I decided what to do. He responded with a very nice note, stating his case and noting that he respected my position in this. I'm sorry I could not respond sooner. I very much appreciate his reply and I'm very glad that he will stay and contribute to the iSpine community. I hope the discussion is varied and that the horrors of medicine do not dominate his/her topics.

The iSpine community is here to provide information and support related to our spinal ordeals. While I'm glad that this did not turn into a big 'dust-up' with hurt feelings and angry members, I appreciate that we don't all have the same experiences and therefore our opinions will vary widely. As long as we all take an adult approach, iSpine will continue to be a useful tool for spine patients and hopefully.

If there is a thread that ADR seeker would like to represent the discussion about the horrors of medicine, I'll go back (or he can go back) and restore the link to the medical holocaust website. Just because I and others may find it offensive, does not mean that it has no place here.

Thanks to everyone for your participation here and for maintaining the high level of discourse that we have here.

All the best,

Mark

[TiredofPain]

Mark,

Although very new to this site, it has been a tremendous help for me in my experience leading up to surgery and my almost 2 months of recovery. I plan on posting on my original thread on Tues after my 2 month doctors appt. From my end thus far every thing has gone great. Thank you for this site and all the great people in it.

J

[ADR seeker]

There is a very simple solution for corruption and wrong doers. Snipers!

[mmglobal]

Originally Posted by ADR seeker

There is a very simple solution for corruption and wrong doers. Snipers!

I don't know if this post is supposed to be funny, but I don't see any humor in it.

Again... I hope you'll stay and contribute to the forum. If you want to post only bile... please do it somewhere else.

Mark

[mmglobal]

ADR Seeker stepped way over the line posting another forum moderator's full name and email address. He also encouraged others to cause problems there.

I hope he'll reconsider the appropriateness of such posts and return to the forum, but until then, he is banned. His thread that caused the banning is here:

http://www.ispine.org/forum/communit...-question.html

Mark

[mmglobal]

I just want everyone to know that shortly after I emaled him about the banning, I received a very gracious note from ADR seeker. He seems to be a very decent fellow, but like too many of us, is still living in pain. I see the anger and negativity more as a common symptom of severe, chronic pain and everything that goes along with it. There are way too many of us.

I was pleased to end this brief chapter on a more positive note. I wish him well. I'll be happy to have him back (assuming he makes appropriate amends.)

Mark

[Maria]

This is good Mark. I know you're very fair. Hope ADR Seeker will be Ok w/what is being asked and be back soon.

[jsewell]

I'm glad ADR seeker has returned your email and graciously.
judy

[czlc89]

Thanks, sounds like it might be successful-better than an artificial product like medtronic infuse which turned out to be a mess...

[mmglobal]

I sure hate to have to do this.. but SpineAdvocate has crossed the line. He/She seems to know much about spine and provides some good info, but he/she is unnecessarily rude and antagnostic. It is so unnecessary, it seems as if he/she is pushing the limits just for entertainment.

SpineAdvocate is banned.

Mark

http://www.ispine.org/forum/16863-post10.html

[czlc89]

I hope your surgery went well! Spinal fusions can be tricky, but it's reaffirming to hear that you have had success in the past.

[mmglobal]

I moved 2 posts by czlc89 to the moderation events forum and banned the user. Here is the email I sent him/her.

I wish I could keep you here at iSpine. You insist on posting in a manner that is not consistent with the kind of dialog that the members here would like iSpine to provide.

I actually don’t mind the content that you post, but the constant negative vibe you present is is counterproductive and hurts your message. You would have more credibility and would be welcome here if you would post the same data without the negative vibe.

Contact me if you’d like to discuss your coming back. We’ll have to talk.

As it stands now, you are banned. It causes great pain for me to spend time on the computer and it is unfortunate that I have to waste this precious time dealing with such unnecessary drama. Please stop.

Mark

[mmglobal]

About 18 months ago, I was asked by a friend to host a forum for arachnoiditis, tarlov and neuroforaminal cyst patients. They ultimately settled on another format for their community, so the iSpine arachnoiditis forum never took off. I moved the few threads from the old arach forum to the main iSpine forum and deleted the arach forum.

Mark

[mmglobal]

It's great that it has been over a year since I've posted to this thread.

I recently received and have honored a request to delete a user and his history. It's a shame to lose the forum member... we'll miss him.

Mark

[Maria]

Don't know who it is however sorry to lose a contributing member. Hope everything is going well for this person.