I have so little time to glean information from the boards. More and more it seems that there are posts that are essentially advertisements that waste precious time.
I think this was already wished for, but couldn't find it to respond: I also wish that folks who post to the boards should have to provide contact information, not just a login name. It seems like there are also a number of folks who post to our boards who in one way or another are detractors of Amazing Charts. It's one thing for members/users to let off steam. It's another thing to have to sort through posts of competitors or others with an agenda.
Vicki Roberts, MD Family Medicine of Southeast Missouri Sikeston, MO
I agree about the contact information. I once asked everyone to list his or her email address, and the response I received was that some on here did not want to have extra email. My response to them was I would rather get email from fellow AC users than SPAM. Plus, one would be allowed to block someone they did not wish to hear from.
The members' only idea is a good idea. I will think about it and discuss it with Jon.
How about opening another new category - one where members could post complementary products, ideas, sales pitches - like dragon dictate sales, microphones, touchscreens. They would still have to open an account to post there, but we could only open and look at that section if we had the time and inclination. That way people with time could peruse and possibly find something that would help them with the AC experience.
1. They are here for profit even if we would benefit some 2. I really only want true ACers here for ACers. 3. The big problem is we already have members here who post general things in problems and problems in Tips and Tricks. So, when someone posted a product for a Fax Solution or whatever, then some ACer would ask questions and next thing you know there would be an entire thread in this vendor thread. Or worse, even a vendor selling eMDs and next thing you know we are EMRUpdate.
Hello, I really would prefer keeping suggestions about gadgets, accessories, etc to come in the form of a suggestion from one ACer to another who is looking for a solution. That way another ACer looking for a solution to the same problem could search for it and find an answer from someone who is already using it with AC.
_________________________ Vicki Roberts, MD Family Medicine of Southeast Missouri
I agree. But to be clear, what Vicki is talking about is a whole different issue. It is certainly beneficial for Leslie to recommend Paperport or Brother fax machines to other users or Wayne to recommend a really cool and free Acrobat program. It is quite another for the company Brother to advertise directly on the message boards.
If anyone disagrees, please comment here, but I completely agree with Wayne and Vicki on this one.
Thanks Moderator Bert, for removing the spam. I agree with your position--this entire board should be for AC users only (well, maybe some of their associates. My biller might want to check it out) Product pitches from outside should be "personna non grata." But on AC'er commeting to another on a product is actually very useful.
Wayne New York, NY Hey, look! A Bandwagon! Let's jump on!
Perhaps we COULD have a vendor section, clearly stated and possibly charge for the priviledge. This way, they could get their message out, we might find useful info and they could support AC.
I do find the AC user comments very useful and bought a Brother fax on their recommendations. Can't say the same for the vendor junk, but who knows???
Wendell Pediatrician in Chicago
The patient's expectation is that you have all the answers, sometimes they just don't like the answer you have for them
I would be much more inclined to be candid and forthcoming about our experiences with the program and related issues if this forum was available to members only! Between the spam and the lurkers it's not always a comfortable environment to open up in!
These are all good ideas. I will discuss this with Jon and see how he wants to proceed. I know that Vinny once had to approve new users. I could probably do the same.
I liked what Bert said about recommendations from experienced users. Folks like Bert, Leslie, Brian, Stevn and the list goes on and on are a wealth of knowledge. Their experience and suggestions are always appreciated. Their generosity, esp when I was first started was inavaluable. As I said before, I find myself using this less and less because there is so much "spam" and I liked how someone else put it "lurkers". Life's too short to have to slog through all that.
One suggestion-maybe we could start another user board for AC users only that isn't a part of this where we could speak openly if this continues to grow so unruly. Don't know about the cost and the time invovled.
Last edited by Bert; 04/05/200911:01 PM.
Vicki Roberts, MD Family Medicine of Southeast Missouri Sikeston, MO
I don't think starting another board would be a good idea. It would be much too confusing going back and forth between two boards.
This needs to be fairly well thought out. You want potential users to be able to browse through the boards and get some idea as to what is going on. But, you don't want non members or even members posting anything and everything they want.
I guess it would be advantageous for potential AC users to be able to ask questions on the board just as I post questions on other boards which I am not a member of. I also don't mind PMs or emails from potential ACers and, in fact, I have taken several phone calls for same.
There was a time when members had to be approved. I know that Vinny did that then. I am not sure if he had admin status then, because I don't see that in my options as a global mod. I can, ban users for a set amount of time or indefinitely. I have only had to do that once.
Maybe during registration, the information gathering should include something more like an NDI number. A member who didn't own AC could have to put certain info in as well. I don't think there is a perfect solution other than for users to point out people who they think are vendors or spammers rather than true members to me or Jon.
I do not think a "Members' Only" section would be beneficial to the board. Especially if the resulted in two boards. I do think having to register prior to using the board, as with many boards, is not only a good idea but should be mandatory.
Even the post above is posted by an anonymous poster who, if even like Vicki, posted while not logged in would not allow anyone to know, even me, who made the post.
Anyone posting including non-Amazing Charts owners or users should be responsible for their posts.
As such, I have made it so that the next time anyone posts, they will be required to read the user board's rules and agree.
If any user including non-AC users deem that anyone is violating these rules, I would appreciate it if you could point it out to me or another moderator or admin, although I seem to be the only active moderator at this time.
Finally, I do think Jon or I need to find a way so that anonymous users cannot post.
I don't think starting another board would be a good idea. It would be much too confusing going back and forth between two boards.
This needs to be fairly well thought out. You want potential users to be able to browse through the boards and get some idea as to what is going on. But, you don't want non members or even members posting anything and everything they want.
I guess it would be advantageous for potential AC users to be able to ask questions on the board just as I post questions on other boards which I am not a member of. I also don't mind PMs or emails from potential ACers and, in fact, I have taken several phone calls for same.
There was a time when members had to be approved. I know that Vinny did that then. I am not sure if he had admin status then, because I don't see that in my options as a global mod. I can, ban users for a set amount of time or indefinitely. I have only had to do that once.
Maybe during registration, the information gathering should include something more like an NDI number. A member who didn't own AC could have to put certain info in as well. I don't think there is a perfect solution other than for users to point out people who they think are vendors or spammers rather than true members to me or Jon.
Just doing brain storming. It would be clumsy and not in the spirit of AC. Would prefer to see a well thought out plan to recover the dialogue that was such a strength of the boards. I still think having a member's only section that we would have to log into once we were on the boards would be the best way.
Well, I have shared my opinion on this subject.
Last edited by Bert; 04/05/200910:54 PM.
Vicki Roberts, MD Family Medicine of Southeast Missouri Sikeston, MO
It's a tough call, and I am glad you guys are on top of it. What I find to be the great merit of the forum is the candid response of the members. But allowing fakes to market there product when they are a 'member' corrupts the entire process. Likewise banning anyone who we suspect of marketing a competing product saps the credibility of the forum. I am glad you guys are tackling the problem. I agree it seems like a lot of promotion was seeping in, and it made me doubt the credibility, but I really don't know a best solution.
Martin T. Sechrist, D.O. Striving for the "Outcome Oriented Medical Record".
I am not sure it is that tough of a call. I agree with the post that things are nowhere near out of hand. In fact, I rarely come across blatant advertising.
Even if having a registration process requiring approval by a mod, there is no way to really use that effectively.
I think it is on a case by case basis. When someone such as the user that was being pointed out posts eight paragraphs of information on his product and doesn't even mention the word Amazing Charts or how it would be helpful, it is rather evident that he is using the boards for pure advertising.
On the other hand, I think if someone from Brother or Scansnap came on with the intent only to provide some help with products which many users are already using, I think that would be beneficial.
As far as banning someone, I take that very seriously. I would never use it because I did not agree with someone's ideas or opinions or even if they were blatantly attacking me. I have only used it once, and then it was only for ten days with an explanation of why -- which in this case was the blatant advertising -- something which is against the rules of the AC User Board. I have now asked everyone to at least check off that they read them and is only required once. The user can then come back and decide to post on AC in a manner that is more helpful to its users. If not, then I will look at it again.
My email address is in my profile and any user can contact me. Even a banned user could open another account with a different email if only to contact me.
Not sure. People who want to post their ads on the internet/your board seem to lose all marketing common sense and post it in spite of anything you do or say. But it can't hurt.
Wayne New York, NY Hey, look! A Bandwagon! Let's jump on!
I just spoke with Tom Hamilton. Lost in all this has been his contribution to the boards in the past when DNS was a hot topic. I think he feels bad for the controversy. My guess would be he would rather come on and address it. I will see how he would like to proceed.
Bert,thank you for for mentioning my past contributions, and for allowing me to come on now to say.....
I'm sorry that posting my product reviews has upset the physicians on this forum. In the past I've had physicians thank me for doing so, saving them the trouble of searching out products and reviews on their own. However, I now appreciate that this obviously offends others and will cease doing so. I would like to keep posting, but only in response to questions that fall into my particular area of expertise. I have really enjoyed participating on this forum for more than a year now and hope that you will still allow me to remain active in the future. Again my apologies –Tom
I always found your posts and your website informative. If I don't want to read about Dragon I would just skip your post. It would be helpful if you could allow private messages to be sent to you so that if a user wanted to ask you about your product they could (your account has this turned off).
I can vouch for Tom. His insights into voice dictation have been very valuable for me, and KnowBrainer is one of the reasons I have been able to successfully use DNS with AC. I'd like him to stay on the forums and post items related to dictation software and hardware, as relates to using AC.
I have no problem w/ Tom contributing to this board or any other. In fact, any vendor that has something good to contribute is OK also, but w/ one caveat. We need to know who the vendors are!!! It is not clear except from the signature line (if someone elects to includes it) the disclaimer that the poster is in fact a vendor and not a medical provider (MD, DO, PNP, PA, etc).
I personally think that if someone is a vendor, they should register as such, and these individuals should have some sort of identifier by their name (perhaps under their Avatar) given by the administrators when they register and are accepted, that says they are a vendor, This would let us all know that there may be a disclaimer that what is being contributed may be influenced by their position. This is much like a lobbyist being registered in our government.
The trouble with the board now is that when someone enters this board, under the guise of anonymity or as a "provider" and attempts to mislead w/ anecdotal evidence about a particular issue that attempts to sway the opinion about something for which they may have financial gain.
Last edited by supermang; 04/08/20097:56 PM.
Neil E Goodman MD, FAAP, FSAM 2500 Starling Street,#401 Brunswick, GA 31520
Leslie Hospital Employed Physician Who Misses The Old AC
"It's a good thing for a doctor to have prematurely grey hair and itching piles. It makes him appear to know more than he does and gives him an expression of concern which the patient interprets as being on his behalf. "
