Message to forumdamin: misuse of PM's.

[ozij]

Hi Johnny,
Recently a newbie on the forum has recieved a PM from someone too ashamed to post in public, telling her basically not to trust the advice she found here.

viewtopic/t56442/viewtopic.php?p=529502#p529502

I think it is a reason for banning the poster who sent the PM. Not because of his opinions -- but because of his underhand way of expressing them in a PM to a newbie. This goes agains the forum's spirit of open publlic discussion.

There is no reason to let this person continue it his attempts to destroy what cpap.com is about.

Furthermore, the same poster has been posting and then erasing his messages many times in the last 24 hours - perhaps trying to artificially blow up his number of posts - I'm sure you remember the purported sleep tech who behaved like this a couple of years ago...

O.
Edit: thank you, snuginarug, I hope the link is OK now!

[DWolf]

I've received this PM as well.

[FatiguedMe]

Here is my pm recieved from Calist this morning!




Re: OT What is wrong with Klonopin?
Sent at: Fri Oct 15, 2010 11:46 pm
From: Calist
To: FatiguedMe

Subject: OT What is wrong with Klonopin?


FatiguedMe wrote:
Hi All,
I was reading another thread and some people got really upset that Klonopin was prescribed for a person. I am just curious, because I have been taking it for a long while for panic attacks. Xanax is too addicting for me. I have had panic attacks for most of my life.
I am really wanting to know what is so bad about this medication?
Thank you for your help,
Susan

Hi there. I noticed that you were asking sleep questions earlier. I just wanted to welcome you to the forum and ask, have you been to http://www.binarysleep.com/ ?

This forum is not intended to give out medical advice. This is the forum for CPAP.com which sells CPAP equipment. Binarysleep however is a non-proffit forum filled with sleep doctors, sleep techs, nurses and respiratory therapists. They are great for giving advice and helping people with sleep questions. Go check them out, I think they can answer your sleep questions a lot better.

"There is no place for someone like him on a forum like this." -Madalot

"And I wouldn't hold your breath on learning much from anyone in the medical field" - jonquiljo

[snuginarug]

ozij, there is something wrong with the link you provided.

[-SWS]

Calist has been methodically undermining the purpose of this patient forum---with an arrogant opinion of himself and plenty of WRONG information ironically. Calist, in his megalomania, has clearly decided that cpaptalk.com does not deserve to function as it so successfully has for many years:

I have a problem with a DME store website that creates a forum for the purposes of generating traffic to their business and paying people to pose as forum users and telling patients that they don't have to listen to their physicians.

ozij, there is something wrong with the link you provided.

Here is the link: viewtopic/t56442/viewtopic.php?p=529502#p529502

[Hawthorne]

This has to be addressed immediately. Calist is risking the continuation of a very helpful forum as well as possbily causing medical harm to forum members.

Since he has been challenged so many times on the forum he is now resorting to PMs to get at people. Very dangerous!

While this is not a medical site, and that is made very clear, the experiences of many people on this fourm, has helped many, many people over the years, to successfully deal with sleep apnea and cpap issues.

I would hate to see people stop coming here because of a supposed sleep tech trying to undermine the forum members, the site and cpap.com.

[snuginarug]

calist wrote:

This forum is not intended to give out medical advice.

No forum, on any part of the internet, is ever intended to give out medical advice. Your implication is that this other site IS a place to get medical advice. I would rather participate in a forum that is openly based on personal opinion and experience from the consumer point of view than have anything to do with an internet site that pretends to give "real" medical advice. I know nothing about binarysleep.com, so i am not necessarily finding fault with them. But the implication that there is an appropriate place on the internet to get medical advice from is dangerous as well as ludicrous.

People here share their experiences and express opinions, but no one is pretending to be a doctor. No one is pretending to offer medical advice. A person may not agree with the feedback given here, and that is their choice. I ignore certain things on here. That's my choice. Everything here is opinion. If someone doesn't like what's going on here, they are welcome to leave.

[NotMuffy]

That's really the last straw. His advice is poor and frequently incorrect. He's a pathological liar. He and all his posts need to go.

[Madalot]

That's really the last straw. His advice is poor and frequently incorrect. He's a pathological liar. He and all his posts need to go.

Amen to that.

[helpful1]

I received the same PM last night, fwiw.

I also received a very nice PM from a different person actually offering me his backup machine since I was having trouble with mine! (though I declined since my problem was from using the mask wrong.) I appreciate this site very much.

[chunkyfrog]

I received much very good help here, and have been referring new people here, expecting they will get the same help as I did.
Thank you to one and all. Please remove the troll (calist).

[danimal71]

I received the same PM too with the link. I took it with a grain of salt. When I look for information i don't stop after I've found it in one spot. Also I don't let one person's opinion make or brake anything for me.

[Breathe Jimbo]

Of course, the Binary Sleep site has the following disclaimer:

THIS SITE IS NOT A SOURCE FOR MEDICAL ADVICE! PLEASE CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS SPECIFIC TO YOU OR A PERSON IN YOUR CARE. THIS SITE IS DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK IN SLEEP MEDICINE OR HAVE A GENERAL EMPIRICAL INTEREST IN SLEEP MEDICINE.

It appears to be a web site for sleep professionals who have a financial interest in having CPAP users be completely dependent on them for everything.

Our host here does not appear to exert any influence over the content of the discussions here, let alone censor any information on other suppliers and sources for CPAP equipment or supplies.

[DoriC]

Is this the only way to alert Johnny or can we contact him directly in some way? I don't imagine he reads here every day. I wouldn't mind making a phone call if that would expedite matters. This is bad stuff and I'm concerned about his possible negative influence on newcomers. They might not all react like danimal. If even one newbie is scared off it would be a crying shame.

[ozij]

Dori,
Johnny once told us that some of his people browse the forum and call his attention to things they think are important.
When I saw those "I got this PM too" messages crop up, I also alerted Johnny to this thread by email -

Breathe Jimbo, not only does binarysleep have the disclaimer you mentioned, it also states, clearly that they are:

a co-operative effort by a group of sleep professionals to take care of their own

.
And

The birth of the site is due to what seems to be a desperate need for an impartial source for people working in the sleep industry

calist, as NotMuffy said correctly, is a pathological liar.

Added emphasis mine.

O.