Started a New Forum dedicated to Orthognathic Surgery

grossjaw · **Joined:** Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:29 pm **Posts:** 31

Hey guys, my new forum is open to the public today.

www.jawsurgeryforums.com/

Some things I improved on:

1. More user control (you can edit/delete your own posts, share your surgery date on the public calendar, send private messages, create a buddy list, upload photos directly, change your avatar at will, etc.)

2. More user interaction (e.g. I feature the best surgery blog each month, have a +/- "karma" system for user responses, etc).

3. Better organization. If you're looking for overbite cases, you can simply look in the "overbite" forum for before and after photos. Also, all forum menus are collapsible, so if you don't use a certain forum you can minimize it.

4. Improved search function.

5. A surgeon review and lead forum--A huge problem for orthognatic surgeon patients is finding leads in their area. I'd ideally like to categorize these by State/City, but that might be difficult using a forum set up. We'll see how it goes, but at the very least there's a forum to write reviews of your surgeon and give others leads. And the information is all easy to find.

6. A forum dedicated to users uploading academic papers on orthognatic surgery. This is extremely important to me. Knowledge is power.

7. I could use help making the forum more aesthetic. If anyone knows how to code phpbb and stylesheets shoot me an email with your design ideas.

I think it's a much better platform. But who knows, maybe people are more comfortable here using what they're familiar with. I'll leave it up for a year and see how it goes.

-grossjaw

John18 · **Joined:** Thu May 17, 2012 9:35 pm **Posts:** 5

Great new forum Grossjaw; organised, interactive, and great user control - you can actually modify your own posts!

Not to mention Spam patrol which is becoming an issue on this site . . .

I look forward to using the new site and seeing how it progresses . . .
--------------------------
John
Double jaw surgery (18mm lower jaw, 12mm upper jaw widened, genioplasty)
doublejawoperation dot com

dayeangphurr · **Joined:** Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:49 am **Posts:** 81

grossjaw,

I love, love, love how organized your new forum is with the categories lol.

I, too, look forward to seeing how your forum progresses.

Thanks for creating it.

bbsadmin · **Posted:** Tue May 22, 2012 11:53 pm

It's nice that you are giving your readers so much freedom, but as someone who has run a big message board for 10 years, I can tell you that it will not be easy. It is very difficult to keep out the constant stream of spammers and trolls. Hence the need for "spam patrol."

When this message board started, the readers had a lot of control. Full control, actually. Then stuff happened. Over and over again. We even had a moderator who started posting members' photos on a German braces fetish website without their permission. I began realizing that the internet can be a free-for-all, even in a niche community like this, and things can get really ugly really quickly.

I began realizing that without certain rules, one can lose control of a message board very quickly, and it spirals from a valuable information site to a junk site. And that is the reason why things are the way they are on this message board 10 years later, in 2012. Sorry if you don't agree with it or like it, but believe me, none of the rules or prerequisites on this message board were instilled lightly. They were instilled with great thought and consideration, based on past experience.

And if you knew how many spam IP's we've banned this year alone, it would make your head spin.

Good luck with your board. I think you have very good intentions. Jaw surgery deserves more attention. It's a scary thing to embark upon. I hope you can help to make a positive difference!

grossjaw · **Joined:** Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:29 pm **Posts:** 31

bbsadmin wrote:

It's nice that you are giving your readers so much freedom, but as someone who has run a big message board for 10 years, I can tell you that it will not be easy. It is very difficult to keep out the constant stream of spammers and trolls. Hence the need for "spam patrol."

Yeah, I actually run another forum and deal with spam all the time. Usually the only problem is bogus/bot registrations. So I made users verify via email and that solved it. I haven't had much problem since.

I'm not looking to steal your traffic or compete with any forum. I just thought the two forums I visited didn't focus enough on two issues important to me: educational/academic papers and surgeon information/referrals. Personally I've had a difficult time picking a surgeon because of the lack of user reviews and shared experiences. There are probably people choosing bad surgeons as we speak because nobody warned them and visa versa (i.e. people missing out on good surgeons).

Your site is so much better than jawsurgeryblog (by far the worst set up ever), yet the oral surgery section is quiet. People seem attached to jawsurgeryblog so I'm sure my site will go the way of the dodo, but the two things I mentioned above are so important to me that I felt the need to start a forum that puts more focus on them.

Thanks,
GJ

bbsadmin · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2012 4:29 pm

Just be careful with opinions and reviews of doctors. Last year, we received quite a serious letter from a surgeon who was upset about what a member posted on this board. Apparently the member had some sour grapes and wanted to vent publicly. So, there are liability issues you need to consider.

Marisama · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2012 5:09 pm

How does a surgeon have the right to sue for one's right to address their feelings toward inadequate service? If my chosen surgeon has negatively affected a previous patient, I want to know. It doesn't make sense that surgeon reviews should be skewed and only positive reviews be allowed. I don't know the specific laws behind publicly venting, but I have a hard time understanding how a legitimate negative review can be illegal.

grossjaw · **Joined:** Mon Apr 02, 2012 1:29 pm **Posts:** 31

bbsadmin wrote:

Just be careful with opinions and reviews of doctors. Last year, we received quite a serious letter from a surgeon who was upset about what a member posted on this board. Apparently the member had some sour grapes and wanted to vent publicly. So, there are liability issues you need to consider.

Thanks for the head's up.

I don't understand, though. Did the patient sign a gag order where they couldn't share their experience or opinion?
Also, my board has the members sign a waiver saying they're responsible for what they post. I'd hope people would be ethical and only write accurate reviews of their experience. Like Ryan said, I fail to see how doing that is a crime of any sort. My brother is an attorney, and my understanding is that it's only slander or libel if it's a lie.

bbsadmin · **Posted:** Wed May 23, 2012 8:17 pm

Well, I'm as eager for honest doctor reviews as anyone else. I've been dealing with a situation with my hip that may require surgery. Yelp has been very helpful in giving me an idea what some of these doctors are like. And the negative reviews of one doctor were correct. Some people said that the doctor was very skilled but was an a-hole with no bedside manner. And indeed, that was what I found when I did a consultation with him (he was one of only 2 doctors in my area that do this particular surgery, so I sorta had to see him).

It can be a bit of a slippery slope. You might want to consult a lawyer, just be be absolutely sure that you will be protected as the message board's owner. Perhaps a legal disclaimer is all you'd need. But it would be better to be safe about it. You might also ask whether your board should fall under a corporation or LLC, so that your personal assets would be protected just in case something did happen.

Started a New Forum dedicated to Orthognathic Surgery

Who is online