Continuous Denigration of our Forum

[Melvin- Admin]

I have noticed that some members of this community continually denigrate our forum, and while they benefit from our community, they undermine our ethics and integrity whenever they can. In fact, I have had some members request to delete their topics, because of this negativity. These new members are now questioning our integrity and our ethics.

I'm no longer going to tolerate this behavior. I would like to set the record straight. Firstly, since this pandemic our sponsorships have fallen by more than half, while our costs of running this community remain the same. We've made personal sacrifices to keep this community alive, and to keep promoting surgeons we feel our worthy of our recommendations. Now, not everyone will agree with our recommendations and that's fine, we are proponents of free-speech, and even though some may disagree with our recommendations, we allow everyone the opportunity to voice their opinions, good or bad.

I would also like to set the record straight personally, I work a full-time job, and the work I do here is a fraction of my income. Since this pandemic, I'm working at a fraction of the fraction, to keep this community alive and thriving. I do not live in a mansion, I don't own a yacht, i'm a regular guy, who benefited from this community, and truly want to give back to the community that gave me so much. I take these gibes personal. In short, those of you who truly feel that we don't have any ethical integrity, I'm opening the door for you to leave our community.  I will no longer tolerate denigration of this community that I work hard to preserve and upkeep on my free time.

How Physicians Are Chosen

[Craig2412]

52 minutes ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

I have noticed that some members of this community continually denigrate our forum, and while they benefit from our community, they undermine our ethics and integrity whenever they can. In fact, I have had some members request to delete their topics, because of this negativity. These new members are now questioning our integrity and our ethics.

I'm no longer going to tolerate this behavior. I would like to set the record straight. Firstly, since this pandemic our sponsorships have fallen by more than half, while our costs of running this community remain the same. We've made personal sacrifices to keep this community alive, and to keep promoting surgeons we feel our worthy of our recommendations. Now, not everyone will agree with our recommendations and that's fine, we are proponents of free-speech, and even though some may disagree with our recommendations, we allow everyone the opportunity to voice their opinions, good or bad.

I would also like to set the record straight personally, I work a full-time job, and the work I do here is a fraction of my income. Since this pandemic, I'm working at a fraction of the fraction, to keep this community alive and thriving. I do not live in a mansion, I don't own a yacht, i'm a regular guy, who benefited from this community, and truly want to give back to the community that gave me so much. I take these gibes personal. In short, those of you who truly feel that we don't have any ethical integrity, I'm opening the door for you to leave our community.  I will no longer tolerate denigration of this community that I work hard to preserve and upkeep on my free time.

How Physicians Are Chosen

Keep doing what you do Melvin, you do a fantastic job with the forum and play a major part in making it what it is. I think the vast majority of members would agree too. You’ve always given me honest and great advice. 

[ITA]

Someone speaks like this, @Melvin-Moderator, because they probably don't know the reality of other forums, most of them, especially the European ones, who only take care of collecting the money from the clinics by manipulating and eliminating reports of disgruntled patients, not caring about the fact that in doing so they ruin  the lives of many people.

[Melvin- Admin]

2 hours ago, Egy said:

Someone speaks like this, @Melvin-Moderator, because they probably don't know the reality of other forums, most of them, especially the European ones, who only take care of collecting the money from the clinics by manipulating and eliminating reports of disgruntled patients, not caring about the fact that in doing so they ruin  the lives of many people.

These individuals continually talk down on the forum and the fact that we take sponsorships to keep this forum alive. They are constantly talking down on the community, but I’m not gonna stand for it any longer. Enough is enough, if they don’t like our community, I will show them the door. 

[paddyirishman]

Your making a huge contribution to this forum Melvin and Thank you for your dedication , time and hard work.  If you were to stop doing what your doing we as members would be the losers. Long may your very positive influence to the forum continue . 

Paddy

[Melvin- Admin]

1 hour ago, paddyirishman said:

Your making a huge contribution to this forum Melvin and Thank you for your dedication , time and hard work.  If you were to stop doing what your doing we as members would be the losers. Long may your very positive influence to the forum continue . 

Paddy

Thank you Paddy, 

I’m making personal sacrifices to keep this garden alive and thriving. Thanks for continuing to be a positive presence on this forum 🙏🏼

[CosmoKramer]

On 5/10/2020 at 6:23 PM, Melvin-Moderator said:

These individuals continually talk down on the forum and the fact that we take sponsorships to keep this forum alive. They are constantly talking down on the community, but I’m not gonna stand for it any longer. Enough is enough, if they don’t like our community, I will show them the door. 

Some people are glib morons...they’ll happily use Google and Facebook thinking its “free” when they and others all rely on “sponsorships” and “advertising/marketing” revenue to keep themselves running..and push their sponsors ads & links at you first....but these whiners come here and bash the forum and cry “shills”...

Some people are too dumb to be self-aware.

Keep up the great work @Melvin-Moderator!

[Tao]

You do a great job, Melvin.  I really appreciate your work and your approach.  Thank you.

[gillenator]

I could not agree more...I also get tired of the negativity from some of the posters...I mean we are supposed to be helping each other and supporting each other!

Keep us the good work Melvin...your actions speak for themselves and you do a great job as a moderator within this community!

[Dazed]

I don't post that often because I have no interest in many of the topics, but I really haven't seen the negativity that you speak of.  I have had a few run ins with individuals, but nothing big.  As a mod I am sure you read a lot more of the posts than I do.  At my age 72, I am pretty much done asking questions, but I stop in now and then.  This is a great site - keep up the great work.  I do have one question - How do people with many fewer posts and likes than I have are designated as Senior Member and I remain as just a Member.

P.S. Melvin, you stirred some memories.  I went to a couple of the sites I used to visit.  One is gone, and on the other the last post on transplants was in 2007.  I bet I have been on this site over 10 years now.  I can remember a big interest in Laser Helmets that you build yourself.  I still have the tools to do so.  I did actually buy a free standing laser that was useless.  Finding this site was a Godsend. 4200 grafts between 2011 and 2018, and I am done unless I find the fountain of youth, and start chasing 20 year olds again.  I say I have 2020 vision - I want to be chasing 20 year olds 20 years from now.  LOL

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Dazed

[Portugal25]

@Melvin-Moderator you are doing great work as this is best forum for anyone considering a hair transplant!

I must agree with @Dazed as I also haven’t encountered the negativity you mentioned only the occasional troll but you have always been quick to deal with them in a professional manner. 

[Melvin- Admin]

31 minutes ago, Dazed said:

I don't post that often because I have no interest in many of the topics, but I really haven't seen the negativity that you speak of.  I have had a few run ins with individuals, but nothing big.  As a mod I am sure you read a lot more of the posts than I do.  At my age 72, I am pretty much done asking questions, but I stop in now and then.  This is a great site - keep up the great work.  I do have one question - How do people with many fewer posts and likes than I have are designated as Senior Member and I remain as just a Member.

It may be due to the date they became a member, the ranking system isn't perfect, when we rolled it over I had almost no reputation points. 

[Melvin- Admin]

14 minutes ago, Portugal25 said:

@Melvin-Moderator you are doing great work as this is best forum for anyone considering a hair transplant!

I must agree with @Dazed as I also haven’t encountered the negativity you mentioned only the occasional troll but you have always been quick to deal with them in a professional manner. 

In the previous thread you were a part of there were multiple members who disparaged us in more ways than one, they claimed we are only in it for money, they tore down our standards, ethics and integrity, since you were active in that thread, I'm sure you know who i'm talking about- this behavior is worse than trolling. 

Would you allow someone to come in to your house, enjoy your internet, eat your food, and then throw your name in the dirt? No, I think everyone would tell those visitors to leave, or throw them out. I consider this forum my home, I work hard to preserve the integrity of this forum. 

As I mentioned, we have been in over a dozen lawsuits, we have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars protecting the patient's right to free-speech. Freedom of speech, isn't free. We have also kept this forum free of any advertisements, you can scroll without any annoying pop-ups or video ads. We're able to do this by accepting sponsorships and promoting surgeons we feel fit the bill, in our eyes it's a win-win. We get to preserve this community, which is invaluable to any patient researching surgery, while promoting surgeons who do good work. We're able to do this in a seamless manner that is free for our members, and maximizes user experience. 

I understand some of the decisions I have to make may not always be popular, and I will no doubt upset people, including physicians and members, but part of this position is ensuring that we maintain a fair and balanced environment for all. At times, this will mean I have to do a little house cleaning.

[Portugal25]

@Melvin-Moderator I understand the “unpopular” decisions you have to make to assure we all have this unbiased ad-free forum that everyone cherishes.

What I took from the thread you mentioned was that unhappy patients and members were claiming that a promoted surgeon didn’t “fit the bill” but these former patients can in fact all be lying and members with no inside knowledge (like myself) can have this all wrong (reason why I asked you to confirm or deny the unhappy patients claims).

I believe everyone comes here to learn and share their insights which is done by discussing freely but being able to do that means that sometimes these discussions can get heated especially when several very unhappy patients see the clinic responsable for their unhapiness being promoted and recommended.

Also, you have to bear in mind that everyone is under social isolation (myself since March 13th) so people are gonna be on edge and might complain a bit louder than usual. 

Again thanks for making this community a ad-free, troll-free and free-speach environment.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Portugal25

[seamike]

This is an invaluable forum that provides vital inisghts. Unfortunately the Internet is full of abusive morons and psychopaths -- definitely a good thing to ban first, ask questions later. Thanks for everything you do here.

[Pyrat]

On 5/11/2020 at 12:31 AM, Melvin-Moderator said:

I have noticed that some members of this community continually denigrate our forum, and while they benefit from our community, they undermine our ethics and integrity whenever they can. In fact, I have had some members request to delete their topics, because of this negativity. These new members are now questioning our integrity and our ethics.

I'm no longer going to tolerate this behavior. I would like to set the record straight. Firstly, since this pandemic our sponsorships have fallen by more than half, while our costs of running this community remain the same. We've made personal sacrifices to keep this community alive, and to keep promoting surgeons we feel our worthy of our recommendations. Now, not everyone will agree with our recommendations and that's fine, we are proponents of free-speech, and even though some may disagree with our recommendations, we allow everyone the opportunity to voice their opinions, good or bad.

I would also like to set the record straight personally, I work a full-time job, and the work I do here is a fraction of my income. Since this pandemic, I'm working at a fraction of the fraction, to keep this community alive and thriving. I do not live in a mansion, I don't own a yacht, i'm a regular guy, who benefited from this community, and truly want to give back to the community that gave me so much. I take these gibes personal. In short, those of you who truly feel that we don't have any ethical integrity, I'm opening the door for you to leave our community.  I will no longer tolerate denigration of this community that I work hard to preserve and upkeep on my free time.

How Physicians Are Chosen

Most of us appreciate what you’re doing @Melvin-Moderator so keep doing what you’ve been doing. This forum has been super helpful for me and I am sure that a lot of people would agree with me.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Pyrat

[Dazed]

14 hours ago, Melvin-Moderator said:

It may be due to the date they became a member, the ranking system isn't perfect, when we rolled it over I had almost no reputation points. 

Thanks Melvin, I think you are doing a great job, even introducing topics on the rare chance that things get slow here.  Many people when they sit at the keyboard seem to turn into Mike Tyson, and write things they can never say in real life.  Try not to take it too personal because their bravado is limited to the keyboard.  This is a great site and I learned a lot here - keep up the good work.

[ndubya]

You and ya'll are doing Great Melvin.

I appreciate ya'lls effort and enjoy the patient posted unbiased threads. Thank you all.

It has helped me beyond what I can say in typed words.👍

[Dazed]

I have been on many forums, and I have yet to be on a forum where somebody wasn't pissed off about something.  This is human nature.  How many groups have you ever been in where everyone is happy.  Reviews of doctors can be biased, and this site can certainly not review every review done.  I would suggest that disgruntled posters, instead of bitching develop a system whereby each and every review is verified.  Do you believe all the reviews on Amazon.  I had 2 transplants and both turned out good, and I never used the preferred doctors, but that was my choice.  I suggest angry posters put on their big girl panties and realize that in end end they made a mistake or had unreasonable expectations.  I also believe reviews should not be posted for at least a year, because until then you really don't know the results.  This is a great site.

[bismarck]

Melvin, it sucks that you're hurting but I have to point out two things

-A large part of the reason the forum is losing traffic is because the software is old, buggy with a clunky interface. This discourages new users, particularly younger ones. Especially as current 20-somethings start balding, the loss of traffic will be devastating. The quarantine may be a good time to consider investing in the site as far as a software upgrade.

-The one thing Bill did really well was to stay non-partisan in discussions. You have a well-intentioned tendency to take sides, whether it's in threads about FUE vs FUT, threads discussing whether the Coronavirus is real or not, your support of the surgeon that did your own transplants, etc. This is not moderator behavior. If you need to do this, create a separate account and post without the admin status under your name. Otherwise it is really discouraging to users who don't agree with you.

[Melvin- Admin]

3 hours ago, bismarck said:

Melvin, it sucks that you're hurting but I have to point out two things

-A large part of the reason the forum is losing traffic is because the software is old, buggy with a clunky interface. This discourages new users, particularly younger ones. Especially as current 20-somethings start balding, the loss of traffic will be devastating. The quarantine may be a good time to consider investing in the site as far as a software upgrade.

-The one thing Bill did really well was to stay non-partisan in discussions. You have a well-intentioned tendency to take sides, whether it's in threads about FUE vs FUT, threads discussing whether the Coronavirus is real or not, your support of the surgeon that did your own transplants, etc. This is not moderator behavior. If you need to do this, create a separate account and post without the admin status under your name. Otherwise it is really discouraging to users who don't agree with you.

Well, the forum is still doing pretty well, the traffic hasn’t really changed. That said, what part of the website do you feel is buggy and clunky? What suggestions do you have to improve the site?

As for staying non-partisan. Being a moderator doesn’t mean not having an opinion. Part of what makes this site great is healthy discussion, and at times you may disagree with what I have to say, and that’s okay. I’m not a politician, I’m not here to please everyone, or to say what everyone wants to hear. I don’t want this place to be an echo-chamber like so many places on the internet.

My job is to keep things fair and balanced, not to a robot who agrees with everyone. As previously mentioned, there will be times when I upset members, because I may need to make a decision for the greater good of the community. If you try to please everyone, you please no one.

That said, I’m really interested to know how you think we could improve the site and make it more user friendly, I’m definitely guilty of being biased with this forum, but I like to hear feedback and constructive criticism, as that’s the only real way to improve.

[karatekid]

This is a great forum and been the greatest help to me in the journy to hair transplant. Dont listen to negative people.

Also, sorry I bring it up here, but since we are talking about the pandemic - I havent been in this forum since this all pandemic crap started and totally shitted on all my plans towards transplants (which I really wanted to get soon as possible), I got consultations cancelled, flight cancelled, and everything on hold. I didnt see a real talk here about it, what do you guys do? how you progress with your transplant plans? Do clinics already schedule dates? no one knows when there will be flights again and it's all uncertainty. I wonder if I should take advantage and schedule with clinic that usually have long waiting list (like Dr De Freitas which I considered) and got their all schedule rearranged now, but I have no idea when I will be able to book a flight.

[Dazed]

Melvin, I like the format of this forum as it is very easy to follow.  I have seen many a forum where the posts are just in a linear form and it is very difficult to follow.  The only change I would like to see is the quoting feature where a person quotes a huge post, and we have to scroll through that huge post over and over again, but this is common to most forums.  The only good feature of many of the linear forums is that they allow you to reference a post by number rather than quoting the entire post. With that said, I see nothing to warrant switching software, this is just an annoyance of mine.   Hey I just realized I have been abound here since 2009, when I was young.  LOL  I wonder how many have been around longer than I.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Dazed

[ITA]

10 hours ago, bismarck said:

The one thing Bill did really well was to stay non-partisan in discussions. You have a well-intentioned tendency to take sides, whether it's in threads about FUE vs FUT, threads discussing whether the Coronavirus is real or not, your support of the surgeon that did your own transplants, etc. This is not moderator behavior. If you need to do this, create a separate account and post without the admin status under your name. Otherwise it is really discouraging to users who don't agree with you.

@bismarck and you wonder about this?  You must know that in Italian forums moderators are also consultants of the clinics on that forum, how do you think these forums can be impartial and ethical?  HRN is gold compared to those forums, so don't complain.

[Melvin- Admin]

13 hours ago, karatekid said:

This is a great forum and been the greatest help to me in the journy to hair transplant. Dont listen to negative people.

Also, sorry I bring it up here, but since we are talking about the pandemic - I havent been in this forum since this all pandemic crap started and totally shitted on all my plans towards transplants (which I really wanted to get soon as possible), I got consultations cancelled, flight cancelled, and everything on hold. I didnt see a real talk here about it, what do you guys do? how you progress with your transplant plans? Do clinics already schedule dates? no one knows when there will be flights again and it's all uncertainty. I wonder if I should take advantage and schedule with clinic that usually have long waiting list (like Dr De Freitas which I considered) and got their all schedule rearranged now, but I have no idea when I will be able to book a flight.

It depends on the surgeon and their location, most surgeons in the US have begun to slowly open up again. I’m not sure about Europe, as far as I’m aware you should be able to consult via FaceTime or skype.