Ophthalmology Forum Moderation - Two Thumbs Down

[qwopty99]

this thread is in response to the poor moderation occurring on the ophthalmology forums. i post here because this type of "criticism" will obviously lead to lock/ban if posted over there.

some of u might have seen the most recent OD/OMD fight thread here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=139902



first of all - what exactly is "moderation" supposed to accomplish? internet chat forums will bring a wide range of perspectives into a common thread. you are going to have opposing views. a moderator (i believe) is someone who is supposed to keep the peace (i.e. he moderates the discussion). the moderator isn't supposed to function as a "judge" on the relative merits of arguments. if the peace is kept, the moderator really isn't supposed to take sides. now, given the particularly sensitive nature of the OD/OMD "battle", i can see why an OMD ophthalmology forum moderator will be biased towards the OMD view, but what we saw occur in that thread extremely unprofessional.


the moderator closed the thread down, after personal remarks were directed towards ODs (me in specific, post #242). in the moderator's closing remarks - he even took parting shots at both 14_of_spades (me) and PBEA.



first of all, I fully concede that beginning with my second post, they were not "OMD-friendly". that said, they were hardly abrasive - i was intending that they be highly satiricial (see posts 224, 231, 232, 237 and 241). this was in response to the extreme negativity directed towards ODs by the OMD posters.

the folllowing are comments made by OMDs towards ODs...


You and your "ilk" already are.

I really think this guy is smoking crack.

Does changing the spelling make you feel more like an ophthalmologist with a MD? Feeling empty inside?

this thread, like many others has degenerated into such nonsense with much contribution from 14 of spades and PBEA



in his parting remarks, Rubensan (the moderator) took shots, and basically blamed the ODs for the degeneration of the thread. he further identified me (and PBEA) as being pro-surgical for ODs. for the record (u may quote me on this in any form), i do not support nor oppose ODs performing surgery. i really have no opinion on the issue. none. that's my position. i'm not a "wolf in sheeps (sic) clothing!" so Rubensan, u are actually wrong on this. and u are also wrong for placing blame on me and PBEA for the "degeneration" of the thread. there was profound negativity against ODs in the thread, which included many unreasonably biased positions. my reaction, since reasonable arguments would not be listened to, was to satire it all.



I DIDN'T FIRE THE FIRST SALVO.



i in fact, have a very strong record of supporting MDs in my threads. feel free to look them up. in fact - my first post in that thread (#222) was intended to be extremely conciliatory - but when my pacifism was met with unbridled bitterness (see #223 - eyerish), then the gloves were off and the satire was on.


i made up a name in the thread. i coined the term optomologist. yeah - that's right. scary eh?



the ophthalmology forums used to be a place where one could discuss rationally the different sides of the OD/OMD fight.

Andrew Doan was an outstanding moderator. i have never met him, but i have no doubt he is also an outstanding ophthalmologist. he permitted both sides of the argument, and tried to offer a balanced view on every topic.



Rubensan does not. he abuses his position to end threads at his leisure, ending discussion and always taking the last (biased) word.



two thumbs down for the moderation occurring on the ophthalmology forums.

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[still_confused]

what did you expect? OMDs want nothing more then for our profession to disappear. We can try to be concilatory all we want, but they dont care. It seems to me that the best way is to stop trying to compromise and work towards what we feel is right for us and not what is right for OMDs. They hate us and that is the bottom line.

We are afterall an independent profession so we need to act accordingly instead of trying to please the OMDs. We only need to prove to the lawmakers that we are good at what we do (since we are a legislative profession) and we have nothing to prove to the OMDs.

 

[qwopty99]

i expect responsible moderation.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

i expect responsible moderation.

I'm probably the most pro-OD medical student you will ever find (my dad and both his parents were ODs, the latter very active in getting ODs into the VA), and I was offended by alot of what you said.

Instead of being rational and reasonable (like I try to be when I post over there), you and PBEA were sarcastic, juvenile, and for every good point you made there was another 2-3 lines of crap that didn't serve any purpose.

The MDs over there, while perhaps a bit short, had more reasoned and less meaningless drivel in their posts (even the ones I completely disagree with).

I think the mods there do a pretty decent job. I usually think they close threads a little fast, but if that's the only complaint I can find then they must be doing ok.

 

[luckyfool]

i still think surgery should be left to surgeons. the reason i didn't go to med school is because i don't want to get inovolved with surgeries. Removing foreign bodies is fine as along as no scalpal is involved.

 

[KHE]

this thread is in response to the poor moderation occurring on the ophthalmology forums. i post here because this type of "criticism" will obviously lead to lock/ban if posted over there.

some of u might have seen the most recent OD/OMD fight thread here:

The mistake you're making is in even bothering to get involved in the first place. That forum is made up of of 99% ophthalmology residents and people who want to go into ophthalmology. Neither of those groups of people have an adequate frame of reference from which to give an opinion on anything. Quite frankly, neither do optometry students or residents.

Optometry students are essentially clueless about ophthalmic surgeon training. (Yes, yes...I know. "I have many friends who are in med school blah blah blah blah" and "I'm taking anatomy with med students blah blah blah blah) It really doesn't matter.

At the same time, they have no clue what optometry training consists of. (Yes, yes....I know. "My brother-in-law is an OD and he's stooopid, and "I saw an OD once who referred in blah blah blah and we all laughed.) That doesn't matter neither.

There is no point at all in discussing issues relating to optometric scope of practice because virtually everybody on these forums has no real clue. The ones that are actually out there practicing (like PBEA) should really know better than to get involved. All s/he is doing is mixing up the pot for no real good reason because s/he knows it will accomplish nothing. It's purely some sick form of entertainment.

Discussing optometric scope of practice on here is like discussing who's the best baseball team. "YANKEES SUCK!" "NO THEY DONT" "YES THEY DO" "NO THEY DONT!"

All pointless. Don't even waste the bandwidth. You will accomplish nothing. It's also interesting to note that that forum was over 2 years old before someone named thiaeyemd started it up again with a useless rant against ODs. It seems that both this forum and the ophthalmology forum is heavily populated with s*it disturbers. If you don't know what a s*it disturber is, ask a Canadian.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Users are reminded that, at any time, if they are unhappy with the Moderation of a particular forum or thread, they have some recourse:

1) they can report the thread using the icon at the bottom of every post; this sends a message to ALL Mods and Admins who can try and solve the problem

2) they can send a PM to the Moderator of the forum which is presenting a problem; "calling out" another user in a public forum, such as this, is a violation of the Terms of Service (TOS) Agreement everyone signs when they register. Please use PMs to contact other users you have problems with rather than posting grievances against each other in public.

3) thirdly, if a resolution satisfactory to all involved parties cannot be reached via PM, then "bump it up". SDN has a corp of Administrators, such as myself, Lee Burnett, DrMom, bananaface, homunculus, ItsGavinC, and Andrew_Doan (and apologies to anyone I might have left out) who are appointed the task of straightening these things out. I would encourage any user who felt that the forums were being mismanaged and they couldn't resolve the issue with the Moderator of said forum, to contact an Administrator with their complaints.

Hope that clarifies things for everyone. Thanks for your understanding and continued use of SDN.

 

[IndianaOD]

I think the moderation over there is very poor. Forums should allow free exchange of ideas. The second an OD makes a smart comment that makes the ophthalmologists think the thread is shut down. I guess they aren't smart enought to defend themselves. Pretty sad really.

 

[blazenmadison]

I think the moderation over there is very poor. Forums should allow free exchange of ideas. The second an OD makes a smart comment that makes the ophthalmologists think the thread is shut down. I guess they aren't smart enought to defend themselves. Pretty sad really.

I noticed that too.

 

[cpw]

I think the moderation over there is very poor. Forums should allow free exchange of ideas. The second an OD makes a smart comment that makes the ophthalmologists think the thread is shut down. I guess they aren't smart enought to defend themselves. Pretty sad really.

Comments like these aren't really going to help the criticism. You can have a constructive argument with data, quotes, and articles without calling people names.

Continue to be constructive and people will respect your opinion more.

 

[PBEA]

The mistake you're making is in even bothering to get involved in the first place. That forum is made up of of 99% ophthalmology residents and people who want to go into ophthalmology. Neither of those groups of people have an adequate frame of reference from which to give an opinion on anything. Quite frankly, neither do optometry students or residents.

Optometry students are essentially clueless about ophthalmic surgeon training. (Yes, yes...I know. "I have many friends who are in med school blah blah blah blah" and "I'm taking anatomy with med students blah blah blah blah) It really doesn't matter.

At the same time, they have no clue what optometry training consists of. (Yes, yes....I know. "My brother-in-law is an OD and he's stooopid, and "I saw an OD once who referred in blah blah blah and we all laughed.) That doesn't matter neither.

There is no point at all in discussing issues relating to optometric scope of practice because virtually everybody on these forums has no real clue. The ones that are actually out there practicing (like PBEA) should really know better than to get involved. All s/he is doing is mixing up the pot for no real good reason because s/he knows it will accomplish nothing. It's purely some sick form of entertainment.

Discussing optometric scope of practice on here is like discussing who's the best baseball team. "YANKEES SUCK!" "NO THEY DONT" "YES THEY DO" "NO THEY DONT!"

All pointless. Don't even waste the bandwidth. You will accomplish nothing. It's also interesting to note that that forum was over 2 years old before someone named thiaeyemd started it up again with a useless rant against ODs. It seems that both this forum and the ophthalmology forum is heavily populated with s*it disturbers. If you don't know what a s*it disturber is, ask a Canadian.

KHE hit the nail on the head. I guess I get hot under the collar when I see some of the posts over there. Although I do try and keep my comments accurate and on topic, things can get out of hand. I will always have a problem with anyone who tries to say that I do not deliver excellent care. Having said that I will continue to post as I see fit. Also, I am in private practice and I have "been around" which is not the same as when I was a student. Trust me I would not feel comfortable as a student posting on these forums without having much more experience in these matters. Lastly KHE, the Yankees most certainly do not suck, what are you some kind of Met fan?

 

[ODduck]

KHE hit the nail on the head. I guess I get hot under the collar when I see some of the posts over there. Although I do try and keep my comments accurate and on topic, things can get out of hand. I will always have a problem with anyone who tries to say that I do not deliver excellent care. Having said that I will continue to post as I see fit. Also, I am in private practice and I have "been around" which is not the same as when I was a student. Trust me I would not feel comfortable as a student posting on these forums without having much more experience in these matters. Lastly KHE, the Yankees most certainly do not suck, what are you some kind of Met fan?

I have a question. I am one of those clueless students...

From what I understand, aren't OMD's trying to take away priveleges that OD's already have? In essence, lessening the practice that OD's have already attained? I don't want to do surgery when I get out of school, and even if OD's in my state were granted the rights to do it, I don't think that I would. However, it would be nice if OD's could continue to practice within the scope that they already have without looking over their shoulder to see if OMD's are gonna take it away and pull the carpet out from under them.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I have a question. I am one of those clueless students...

From what I understand, aren't OMD's trying to take away priveleges that OD's already have? In essence, lessening the practice that OD's have already attained? I don't want to do surgery when I get out of school, and even if OD's in my state were granted the rights to do it, I don't think that I would. However, it would be nice if OD's could continue to practice within the scope that they already have without looking over their shoulder to see if OMD's are gonna take it away and pull the carpet out from under them.

Depends on how militant your local MDs are. There are plenty of states where they aren't trying to roll back scope.

 

[KHE]

KHE hit the nail on the head. I guess I get hot under the collar when I see some of the posts over there. Although I do try and keep my comments accurate and on topic, things can get out of hand. I will always have a problem with anyone who tries to say that I do not deliver excellent care. Having said that I will continue to post as I see fit. Also, I am in private practice and I have "been around" which is not the same as when I was a student. Trust me I would not feel comfortable as a student posting on these forums without having much more experience in these matters. Lastly KHE, the Yankees most certainly do not suck, what are you some kind of Met fan?

I know you have been out for a while. That's even more reason why you should know better than to waste your time with that. I know it's easy to get aggitated when you see some of the foolish things posted and said, but its almost like those guys in Times square who ramble on and on about the world coming to an end. You just have to tune them out, ignore them, and go about your business.

Lastly, I don't like baseball. But I do live in an area that is heavily saturated with both Red Sox AND Yankee fans and listening to them carry on is about as ridiculous as some of the threads on here and it's equally useless.

 

[sco1styear]

i expect responsible moderation.

I just read the last page of the thread and regardless of "who started it", your posts made me cringe and were embarrassing to me and to our profession (IMO). I believe that regardless of what others may say to prompt you to lash out, you should take the higher ground and not resort to making such posts (again, IMO).

 

[PBEA]

I know you have been out for a while. That's even more reason why you should know better than to waste your time with that. I know it's easy to get aggitated when you see some of the foolish things posted and said, but its almost like those guys in Times square who ramble on and on about the world coming to an end. You just have to tune them out, ignore them, and go about your business.

Lastly, I don't like baseball. But I do live in an area that is heavily saturated with both Red Sox AND Yankee fans and listening to them carry on is about as ridiculous as some of the threads on here and it's equally useless.

Duly noted.

Yankees AND Red Sox? that sounds like a place where the gilmore girls might reside. Yep, somewhere in the middle of the two cities.

 

[maddi]

Serves all of you right. Aren't optometrists usually looking down on other optometrists? Got a taste of your own game and didn't like it. Ha