Posted by ert on October 3, 2018, at 7:23:03
In reply to Re: dr bobs activity is illegal, posted by ert on September 24, 2018, at 9:14:17
even though the permission is given to him, it does not mean for eternity eg. when somebody revokes the permission of his/her copyright. With this policy he violates intellectual property and privacy rights and if he does not respect someones claim this is intellectual property theft and not blackmail but coercion.
There were some other people who don't like the policy here who wrote comments in the nytimes article:
Harry
Chicago April 20, 2010
Indeed, Dr. Bob's message board is an "experiment" -- and nobody should become a member of it unless they want to be studied by a man who forgot to get his own university's IRB approval before publishing his first study on the community. A study, by the way, that he also didn't mention to anyone in his community until after-the-fact. Conducting research on fellow human beings without their explicit knowledge or consent is questionably ethical. This is the same guy who has his photo on every page. I think you can piece together the full picture from such information.
5Recommend
Levetation
Atlanta April 20, 2010
I prefer sites that advocate for the rights and safety of people with mental health issues such as http://www.worstpills.org/. You can also get their reference book at Amazon. There is also an excellent set of databases at http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/. Both these sites are not connected with psychiatrists or drug companies and work for patients rights and education.
1RecommendThanks Dr. Bob.
Joanna
2Recommend
Multi-Forum User
Mass April 19, 2010
Clearly the author decided that best way to review the site is to talk to the site owner, and review a few posts on one of several boards there. Perhaps talking to/emailing some of the users may have helped? Perhaps you could have looked at the declining site stats? Or talk to others in the business? This site is dying a not-so-slow death. It has been for years.Yes, this is the only place to go for peer info on psych meds. But I'd go ANYWHERE else. The civility rules include blocking posters for up to a year. That means taking away contact with their supportive friends for a year. And some of these people have impulse control issues that cause them to act out and get blocked. Posters have pleaded with Bob for years to limit blocks.
And his disappearing acts! We never know when he'll just go *poof* and be gone. And btw, there are ZERO volunteer administrators currently because of this problem, and others. Bob has treated posters disrespectfully for years. The Twitter debacle is classic Bob-ness. No warning. He just opened our Babble posts to Twitter. It was ironed out eventually, but it caused vast numbers of posters to leave ship.
And the posters suicide mentioned earlier? Bob never contacted her family to ask if it was OK for him to publish her heartfelt Babble posts in his related journal article, lectures, etc. He had their contact information. Clearly, he earned money. He never mentioned donating that money to her family or anywhere else.
Seriously, this article is an extremely inaccurate portrayal of PsychoBabble.
5Recommend
south west dude
Yuma, AZ April 19, 2010
Reading this site it seems to be a how to in choosing meds and treating oneself without the assistance of a doctor. Often these meds are not approved for use in the US. I think this is an unwise practice, especially in a complex field like psychiatry.
1Recommend
weezilgirl
Texas April 19, 2010
When I joined the site, Bob listed the University of Chicago as being connected with Babble. After I had been there long enough to question Bob's administrative actions, 4 members joined me in notifying the university about the "connection" . We wrote, emailed and spoke to staff members in the president's office. We were told that the university did not know that Bob had used their name on the site. Bob removed their name. He is listed now as sole owner of Babble.
2Recommendsydferret
t or c April 18, 2010
Anyone who sees a psychiatrist should have their head examined!-someone else
2Recommend
weezilgirl
Texas April 18, 2010
All that glitters is not gold.I joined Babble when I needed help from someone who had experienced problems with withdrawal from a med that I was trying to quit. I received great help from the Babble posters. I am very pleased.
After I had been a member for awhile, I noticed that some rules and regulations were hard to understand. For instance there are "civility" rules that Bob insists the posters use. Civility is a great attribute to have regardless of where you are or what you're saying. But it appears to me that in general the civility rules are floating around in Bob's head. It is difficult to understand what would or would not pass as civil by Bob.For instance a long time member said the s word and was banned for a year. I believe that the block for that poster wasn't so much as a punishment for using the s word as it was coming from feelings of ill will that Bob had towards that particular poster.Bob doesn't like for posters to disagree with him on the boards. That poster wasn't shy about expressing her feelings. I believe blocking can be most hurtful to someone who is vulnerable and Babble is the only social contact that the poster has. When we have mental health issues ofttimes it is difficult or next to impossible to form relationships with people IRL. I don't think that anyone should be blocked more than two weeks. When a poster is blocked unless they have an email address from other posters, they are totally cut off from the site. No chat and no "babblemail".....a personal message service. I know numerous posters have lost their main support system when they have been blocked. For someone who is already in a "dark place" being cut off from your friends and support can be devastating. And only recently has Bob come up with a very bizarre request for posters. When he is getting ready to block someone (after he draws it out for days and days) he will ask other posters to help the first poster keep from being blocked. I couldn't think of anything that I would be less likely to do. Particularly with a poster that I did not "know". It puts a burden upon someone who may have trouble posting anything on the boards and now they are encouraged to "help" someone avoid being blocked by Bob? I felt that if you don't help the poster avoid being blocked you may in some way feel guilty for not speaking up. I also saw what I believe is/was favoritism for certain posters. I am convinced that some could say anything they pleased and somehow they were under Bob's "radar".
Another troublesome issue is that Bob might not show up at the site for a month or more. The site was in crisis and Bob didn't show up for several weeks. His deputies were pleading with him to help.
The writer of the article seems to be particularly enamoured with the medication board. As I said earlier, I received invaluable support from posters and they helped me in difficult times. However, I see problems with the med board. I saw people discussing meds as if they were something to be purchased over the counter at the nearby pharmacy. I also saw posters giving others advice that concerned me. Telling someone, who is your online friend, that they should definitely get off of Med X and start Med A immediately. The first poster is convinced that "so and so" obviously knows his/her stuff because they post so much and seem to really have a grasp on meds. He/she may go to their physician and be told that they absolutely will not be prescribed that med because they don't feel it would be the right one for the patient. Now the poster can be conflicted about how to proceed. Trust his "friend" or his doctor?
I will speak to one more issue while I am commenting. One morning people logged onto the website and there was a Twitter and Facebook link under everyone's posts. The link could be clicked on and your post went straight to Bob's pages at both of these social networking sites. Bob did not ask one poster at Babble if they minded if he added that feature. There was a firestorm on Babble that I believe is the worst I've seen concerning Bob's "ideas" for the site. Some posters were afraid their employers might be able to find them on Babble. Others were afraid their families would be able to read their private posts. Eventually a list was started and the posters could opt-out of having their posts moved to Bob's Facebook and Twitter pages. Feelings were very hurt and a lot of anger was generated towards Bob. Many "old timers" left Babble. A specific situation that upset people was the fact that Bob linked to a post where a poster was talking about taking his life.I cannot imagine how a person would feel about having his posts available to the "public". Those who "talked" to the poster were in the thread. Somehow Bob believes that linking personal posts to the social networking sites will help bring new people to Babble.
All that glitters is not gold. I, along with many others, left the site last year for good
5Recommend
angie55
NYC April 18, 2010
The stated purpose of this website is questionable when the doctor who runs it continues to market and promote it through means such as Twitter and Facebook while refusing to let users who once revealed personal, sensitive information to edit or delete their posts. Some people are held hostage to text written about their personal mental health issues posted on that site over a decade ago, before internet privacy issues were a topic of concern. While there are now visible disclaimers about how the information might be used, it was not so apparent in the past.Having said that, it seems the website benefits the career of the Dr./owner through the books (see the book Dr. Bob wrote about a Psychobabble member who committed suicide) and research published at the potential expense of those who provided the information. How did the family of the poster who committed suicide feel about the publicity?
Legal? Perhaps. Ethical? I do not think so-not when a psychiatrist runs the website which can lead to a false sense of security to those who contribute. Before using the site, I would have never guessed a professional psychiatrist could be so nonchalant about mental health privacy issues.
poster:ert
thread:1100606
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20151112/msgs/1101166.html