TOPIC:

I sent this message to Medelp's forum support a couple of days ago:




Alsdad

Nov 19, 00:48

"Hello, I note that you routinely delete posts from people offering to sell medicine (which is good policy), and you do the same with links to other forums (which I understand). But why do you allow all and any contact details for US pharma co's, but routinely delete any contact details to foreign pharma co's?"


And received this reply yesterday:


Amber_MHModerator (MedHelp)

Nov 19, 10:30

"Hi there,

Thank you for your note.

We do not permit the advertisement or sale of medication from any countries (US or outside)- can you send us a few examples of posts where you have seen this occur so we can take a look?

Thank you,

Amber"


I was in the process of compiling a list (nay, a myriad) of posts containing info and links to Big Pharma "support paths" and insurance "co-pays", when I today received this email from Medhelp:


"Dear Alsdad,

Your MedHelp user account has been deactivated for creating multiple user accounts. As stated in our Terms of Use (www.medhelp.org/termsofuse.htm), registering under more than one name and/or e-mail address is not allowed.

Sincerely,

The MedHelp Team"
Medhelp International
929 Market St Suite 300
San Francisco CA 94103
415-882-4600




In view of the fact that I have never opened multiple accounts on any internet forum ever, I can only assume that I was 'disappeared' from Medhelp because I asked an awkward, embarrassing question.

So, now we have a good idea who pays for the Medhelp staffs' vacations.

We need to start documenting these cases and get a good, reliable list of the sites employing this behavior. Documentation will come in handy when we start getting more media attention and can include the behavior in the storyline.

Edit: Are you willing to push this? How about you call that phone number and take good notes during the conversation.

Hi,
I went there, signed up and what a waste of a domain name.
I probably visited that place two times in one-my first and last.
Mike

The site has a slanted editorial policy which degrades it's usefulness as a resource. But one-or-two of us managed to guide quite a few people over to here, Greg's resource and my killthedragon forum from there. So it has served some use other than as a human warehouse for Big Pharma.

Another really bad one is hepcentral delphi, the moderator there quickly removes any mention of generic drugs and prominently scolded me one time equating chinese generics to poison chinese dog food. She posts in huge letters that " IT IS ILLEGAL TO IMPORT MEDICINE INTO THE US".

Yesterday I posted this very simple, I thought non-controversial factoid, and it was scrubbed within 10 minutes. I posted it because all of the people on there were recoiling at the thought of taking medicine from India or China, when they don't realize half the stuff they are already taking probably has api's manufactured in India or China. With regard to generics at least, there is a lot of misinformation and censoring of good info on that site. Here's what I posted and what the mod scrubbed:

"According to Boehringer Ingelheim, countries such as India and China, which now supply over 40% of APIs used in the U.S. will double that figure to a whopping 80% in just the next 10 years."

medhelp.org has warned me several times. I dont like that site. But the truth is that it is ranked and many new patients can find it easily.

I just found out the mod on that hepcentral has now blocked me from posting anything at all, extremely aggressive anti-generic policing on there, cant even post a factoid of generalized information that mentions api's. I did manage to help one person from there find their way here before I was effectively banned.

Enkel wrote: But the truth is that it is ranked and many new patients can find it easily.

Yes, compare that to this site where you almost have to put "fixhepc" into your search engine to find us.

This will be part of why those other sites remove comments about us and generics as quickly as possible. It stops Google bots and various other web crawlers from registering and caching us. So, if you are not too shy and frequent other non medical forums and social media sites, it doesn't hurt to mention this sites existence and aims.

Good point on the google hit factor GAJ. I've tried and failed to get registered on two other forums, but hepaustralasia (where em & Joan have a prescence) isn't resistant to the mention of generics, so that is positive.

Sorry to hear about the shabby treatment of some posters at medhelp, but if they are so anti-generics, how has the thread below survived?
www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Generi...n-India/show/2451872

I have been following it for a while and there does seem a fair bit of culling of posts happening,but contact details keep reappearing.

but but even this thread on generics from India has no links allowed my posts there get deleted ever so often

medhelp.org closed the threat Generic Harvoni in India

This discussion was closed by MedHelp moderators.

Part 2 thread was opened here www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Generi...-part-2/show/2793228

From Medhep this morning:

We noticed that you posted a link to fixhepc website. You may not be aware that MedHelp has a policy of not permitting links to other sites without prior consent. In addition, MedHelp does not permit links to other message boards. We need you to refrain from including this link in your future posts.

Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

The MedHelp Team
Medhelp International
929 Market St Suite 300
San Francisco CA 94103
415-882-4600
Privacy policy:
www.medhelp.org/privacy.htm
M
MedHelp Support


We noticed that you posted a link to Hepmag. You may not be aware that MedHelp has a policy of not permitting links to other sites without prior consent. In addition, MedHelp does not permit links to other message boards. We need you to refrain from including this link in your future posts.

Thank you. I will refrain from posting. Free speech is precious to me.
Thank you,

Mike

And don't bother feeling free to let them know if you have any questions, because you will be 'found to have opened multiple accounts' and will be banned.