Another website goes to the Dark Side

[Joe Poppa]

I agree that so far there appears to be less censorship on this site than b-pal. Hopefully it stays that way.

No, not really. I have seen it first hand here. I am sure there are a many instances here, BP's website and other WLS websites.
If we never saw that a post or reply was deleted by going back to a post we once visited, or it was deleted without us ever seeing it, we would never know.

Even just one instance of censorship (when it is due to a negative comment about a website's owner or advertiser) is too much in my book for any website.

[Dawn306]

Hi Sleeveroo, I am scheduled for the sleeve with Dr. Jaime Ponce de Leon. He is the head of bariatric surgery at his hospital. Is he the convicted felon? What did he do? Or can you direct me to where I can get more information about him? I just want everything to go well with my surgery, so I choose one who seemed to have the most experience. Was I wrong?

[Sleeveroo]

He has a very good reputation. Best of luck.

[Dada]

Oh no! One of their Surgeons is a convicted felon? What a terrible, terrible thing. Please provide the name of the doctor, I had my sleeve in Tiajuana in May, did not go through Bariatric Pal but i know several persons from my area that are using them and i would like to warn them. I used a medical facilitator that took care of everything, she was with us from the moment we arrived until we were on our van to take us back home.

So sad to see that information resources turn into feeding places for greedy people, what a shame.

[Band07Sleeve13]

I too was an avid follower on BP and yes the politics were obvious. I loved how they changed surgeons constantly and the one that they were singing praises of one week was a surgeon to be hated the next! I often spoke against Dr. Almanza and they were always quick to defend him until they could no longer keep hiding all the damage he had done and then just like that he was off their list and they moved onto the next. My advice to anyone seeking surgery is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH and always beware of ulterior motives!

[Dada]

well, it happened, it's official, I'm banned by BP! All I did was ask if they have some sort of quality audit or way of making sure that the doctors they sell advertisement space for are good, legitimate doctors and that was the end of that. I don't understand why they only promote a certain group of doctors as being the best of the best (which I have no problem with) BUT also sell advertisement space for other doctors. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

I took it very hard, I was actually in tears when I was banned from the site because talking about my journey and reading and giving advice to others is so important to me. My daughter found out, she made an account and asked why I had been banned for asking what she thought to be a valid question. And, 15 minutes later she was banned too. Go figure!

[Sleevedup]

Congratulations! Welcome to our elite club of banned BP members.
I guess I was initially hurt when I was banned, mostly because of my need to be "liked" and I felt "disliked" after that. But when I thought about it, it's actually a compliment. They want people who don't research or ask questions. They want nice stories about people and the doctors they endorse. But when they discover themselves that the doctor is questionable, they take the low road and make dramatic posts about how they "discovered" issues with the doctor and facilities. When we'd been telling them the information all along and getting banned for it. Hypocritical.
They said I could come back, but couldn't post or read anything about surgery in Mexico. No thanks.

[Luann]

Dada, if you get banned for asking intelligent questions, it sounds like a good place to avoid. I spent a little time on that board but never felt at home as I did here. I hope you find similar support & community here.

[Sleeveroo]

The non Mexico /Self Pay Forums were pretty good. The Mexic forum became alovefest for primarily bariatric pal doctors.

[Kindle]

After leaving BP I actually discovered what a "disfunctional" site it really is. I've been to several other WLS sites and the members aren't nearly as confrontational as they are on BP. Obviously, Alex and the other admins are as corrupt as they get, but there's also a lot members and hosts that get off on bullying anyone that doesn't agree with their personal views. I've had some pretty nasty PMs sent my way. This and other sites (Thinnertimes, in particular) may not have as much activity, but are much more pleasant to participate in.

[Sleeveroo]

Agreed Kindle. Why did you receive nasty messages? You were a wealth of info and shared your experiences.
I was outspoken and never received a nasty message, they just banned me.

[sue60]

How are you doing? Would you recommend Dr. Juan Antonio López Corvalá? I do not see any cost information on his website. Can you elaborate on your experience?

[Sleevedup]

I paid $8500 in 2015, my niece had surgery 3 months ago with him and paid less than $7000. So, you'll just need to check with them directly.
I had a very positive experience, so did my niece.

[Shirl]

Well the title of the thread caught my attention, so I read the thread front to back.

Yikes!

I actually only joined this forum because my nutritionist recommend it for online support group. I didn't know about Bariatric Pals until after being here for a few weeks, think in my early days of joining this forum I happened to research a topic that I found on BP and tried posting here and it didn't let me. I shuck it as maybe they were competing sites. I am pretty anti social media, so I only have tolerance for one forum at a time. And for what it is worth this forum has been God sent.

BUT I did have one of my posts deleted here, it was a reply on the Tiki Hut, someone had posted on how awesome Jungle Book movie was and I actually refuted it with my knowledge of it's white supremacy roots and racist origins of the book's author and the book topic itself in the late 1800's to turn of the century, and how those subliminal messages are being sugarcoated and perpetuated by Disney.

I'm shucking it as another Live and Learn lesson.