BariatricPal Policy Reminders – Everyone Please Read!

[NotOnMyWatch 54]

So if we did want to delete our account, how could this be accomplished? Unsubscribing is different from deleting an account. I am having surgery next month and am disappointed that the vets are being banned. Vets are what run this forum.

You can't. Alex won't let you. We're all in the same sinking boat now.

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

So if we did want to delete our account, how could this be accomplished? Unsubscribing is different from deleting an account. I am having surgery next month and am disappointed that the vets are being banned. Vets are what run this forum.

There are many vets that aren't mean or confrontational. Good luck with your surgery!

Please see the Terms of Service you agreed to upon signup:

Account Modifications

We do not remove member forum accounts on request. You are welcome to stop visiting BariatricPal at any time. Members have the ability to change or update their display names and any information available in their public profiles. Members can stop receiving email notifications from BariatricPal.

[sgc 538]

And now he's apparently changing the banned users names to things like Time To Grow Up and Stop Being a Child.

This is your leader, folks.

Is that it? I thought people were changing their own names, wih your new name and the examples you gave those members' comments to Alex.

It has nothing to do with "leader." There is no leader in this site. It's Alex's business, not a workshop or class sort of operation. . .

>No you all are just annoying. I've never heard people make this much noise about leaving an internet forum..

What you're not getting is that leaving a place involves taking your things with you, such as your name and personal property. If you've left a job, for example, didn't you take your things from the desk or locker you'd used? Those who want to quit BP want to take what's personal, but none are things that can be packed into a carton. You registered for BP only a few weeks ago. You're speaking without knowing what's been going on that led to the current climate. One of the worst if not the worst, is today's revelation of the website owner's forays into reading personal messages that members exchange. That's dirty business.

You don't get to take your desk and chair or any of the work you previously did. You leave and stop whining about being fired. Do you expect us to delete the posts that other members took their time to respond to? Every member agreed to our terms of service and forum rules upon signup.

If we receive complaints from a member that they're being bullied by a certain member or group of members via private messaging. We will go ahead and investigate and read through the reported messages. This is common practice on any internet forum, Facebook included.

Fancy that, it's written right in the terms of service that everyone agreed to but probably didn't read that accounts will not be deleted.

[lurker lora 89]

I've been running BariatricPal in one form or another since 2003. I can count on one hand the times that I've had no choice but to log in to a members account to read through their PMs. One of these cases involved a suicidal member who called me a few weeks after an incident to thank us for saving her life. It takes a lot for us to go into an account and read through PMs. Privacy means a great deal to me. What "trumps" privacy though is member safety. Our members need to feel safe here. I'd love to post screenshots of the PMs that were recently discovered but our policy is and always has been to keep all member information private. There was a coordinated effort to make fun of members and another to bully them because they didn't conform or agree with certain members. I have three kids, two dogs and a pretty busy life. The last thing I find entertaining is reading through member PMs. Yes, we have full access (even to deleted PMs) and we've never hidden that fact.

We currently have 310,273 members. Do you really think it's going to impact our membership levels if I delete 10-20 accounts? I think not. I'm not deleting your accounts on principle. You are more than welcome to WALK AWAY and never come back to this website. Nobody is forcing you to return. You can click on UNSUBSCRIBE from the forum as well as the store emails you might receive. We have never shared our email list with others and we don't ever plan on doing that.

I knew this purge was going to cause a mini uproar but I think it'll benefit BariatricPal in the long term. I'm tired of seeing members bullied in the name of tough love or whatever twisted logic some members come up with as an excuse to terrorize others.

Thanks very much for this, it is much needed. I agree, it will be a great help.

[recreatingcate 132]

I'm relatively new here, as you can see. I'm in the pre-op stages, but will probably have surgery by March. I lurked for months, and then joined here, and post sporadically. I post especially when I'm in need of advice, and I've always gotten feedback that I NEEDED. Sometimes, it might not have been what I WANTED to hear, but the lesson was learned and I moved on and forward.

I would rather have someone tell it to me like it is so I can get on with my life and, like I said, learn the lesson that needs to be learned, then have someone be afraid to tell me that I'm making a huge mistake and not assist when needed or necessary. This is the Internet, I am not having a face to face, verbal conversation from you, therefore the tone of my post cannot be understood sometimes the way I am trying to say it.

Guess what? I've spent my entire life being bullied, and that's never once happened to me here. I spent my entire life being fat, so I've built a pretty thick skin, and the words or someone on the other side of the screen will not hurt me. Maybe I just don't understand the concept of banning individuals who you, as the person who runs this board, views to be rude and "terrorizing" others wants to get in here and be all passive aggressive in your replies to your members. We're a board full of adults - if there's a reason for a discussion, it should take place, simple as that. There's no need to get offended if someone says something you don't like - just ignore it!

All of this happened for zero reason. This board is now full of (1) people seeking information, (2) people giving moderately decent info because they're not far enough into the game (3) people getting offended when the damn wind blows too hard. The fourth group we're missing is the vets, who were here to give their knowledge and experiences, but have been shoved away with the very same rudeness and disrespect they were accused of. Not only is it hypocritical, it's unfair to all.

[WLSResources/ClothingExch 3,443]

You don't get to take your desk and chair or any of the work you previously did. You leave and stop whining about being fired. Do you expect us to delete the posts that other members took their time to respond to? Every member agreed to our terms of service and forum rules upon signup.

If we receive complaints from a member that they're being bullied by a certain member or group of members via private messaging. We will go ahead and investigate and read through the reported messages. This is common practice on any internet forum, Facebook included.

I referred to personal property and to those who leave of their own accord. I'm well aware of terms of service, as any internet site in which I've participated includes a standard provision that applies to me with about 5% exception. The provision is one that I favor because it protects me. Employment contracts and agreements at resignation cover enough of the same ground and more as terms of service.

I appreciate a sense of duty to protect life, limb and sanity of users. What you write now is not quite the same as your earlier versions. You left room earlier to question your standards for accessing what users believe is private. A big hole remains in that area.

I would be interested to know when the the "terms of service" available tonight was last amended.

Edited January 15, 2017 by WLSResources/ClothingExch

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

You don't get to take your desk and chair or any of the work you previously did. You leave and stop whining about being fired. Do you expect us to delete the posts that other members took their time to respond to? Every member agreed to our terms of service and forum rules upon signup.

If we receive complaints from a member that they're being bullied by a certain member or group of members via private messaging. We will go ahead and investigate and read through the reported messages. This is common practice on any internet forum, Facebook included.

I referred to personal property and to those who leave of their own accord. I'm well aware of terms of service, as any internet site in which I've participated includes a standard provision that applies to me with about 5% exception. The provision is one that I favor because it protects me. Employment contracts and agreements at resignation cover enough of the same ground and more as terms of service.

I appreciate a sense of duty to protect life, limb and sanity of users. What you write now is not quite the same as your earlier versions. You left room earlier to question your standards for accessing what users believe is private. A big hole remains in that area.

I would be interested to know when the the "terms of service" available tonight was last amended.

You can see a history of our terms of service at https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.bariatricpal.com/page/terms_of_service.html . It's been ages since anything was edited or updated.

[khoktzen 2]

If one wants their account deleted, they generally don't respond to a post and ask the individual in charge of the forums to delete their account. The onus is on you to delete your account. You can't claim that Alex isn't deleting your account because he doesn't want to see numbers go down. It's simply common sense that you need to do that yourself.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

I'm closing this topic. You can PM me if you'd like to clarify or discuss anything related to this matter.