Total Pageviews

Thursday 24 September 2015

diabetes.co.uk. Boss Mr. Panesar replies to my open letter.

Mr. Panesar replies to my open letter here.

"Thank you for your letter. I appreciate you taking the time to outline your concerns. But frankly, your complaints are based on a deliberate misinterpretation of what we do. The Diabetes Forum has played a key part in the low-carb movement: the community was the driver, and the forum the platform.

You accuse us of deliberately silencing the low-carb voices on the forum as part of a collusion with pharmaceutical companies. As even the most cursory glance at our website shows, this is completely untrue. Here are just a few examples:

“Every last shred of evidence”: Why low-fat dietary guidelines should never have been introduced

We’ve published a book in association with Dr. David Cavan, head of Policy and Programmes at the IDF, on reversing type 2 diabetes. The book fully supports a carb-restricted diet.

We’ve published low-carb meal plans (and haven’t charged a penny for them) and thousands of low-carb recipes. We’re working on three projects (the details of which, for now, are top secret) focused on food.

The forum is full of low-carb success stories. You’ll notice that none of them have been banned or otherwise silenced.

We have been featured in the Daily Mail, Mirror and a number of magazines where the diabetes community forum is referred to as the place individualsfirst find out about the benefits of low carb. Real people saying that if it wasn’t for the community and understanding the impact of food, their health wouldn’t have improved. The community is absolutely fantastic – propagating positive health outcomes through engaging.

I have a personal connection to all this: type 2 diabetes runs in my family. My grandmother passed away from heart complications. When my grandfather was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I supported him in reducing his carbohydrate intake. His doctor is amazed by his blood glucose and HbA1c results.

Safe to say, we support low-carb. I support low-carb. But it doesn’t work everyone, and our project has never been about aggressively insisting on a particular lifestyle. The Forum, first and foremost, is a place of support, where members can respectfully and kindly debate diabetes management. We encourage these debates, but we demand that they be conducted decently. Health is a deeply sensitive issue, and we won’t tolerate bullying.

Which, unfortunately, is what much of your behaviour constituted. We saw the relentless trolling, bullying and victimisation of the diabetes community that you and your friends have spearheaded. I have consoled many members of the Diabetes.co.uk team and fielded calls from at least 15 people in the last 18 months alone, all of whom felt harassed and threatened by your community. Most of them agree with low-carb in principle.

You and your friends publicly “outed” Giverny, our forum moderator, because she didn’t align with your paradigm and attempted to troll her on Twitter simply to ‘get off’. You did the same to Ben when he was Forum Moderator. Your blog is littered with hatred and contempt for those that don’t share your agenda. Moderators have resigned because they couldn’t handle the harassment that ensued with supporting a moderate view to diet. You repeatedly victimise diabetes forum members who don’t share your world view. In 2014, you wrote a series of spoof blog posts about how wearing a turban would help improve blood sugar levels. As a Sikh, it was upsetting and insensitive; the behaviour of a man more interested in doling out personal abuse than having a constructive debate. The IP addresses were from the same pool as other accounts you had created. We took legal advice. We had a strong case to impose a cease and desist, but we didn’t pursue it: it’s a distraction and we don’t want to engage with it.

Beyond this, what exactly are you accusing us of? Yes, we connect patients to clinical trials – in order to not only provide a very valuable service but also to generate revenue – which is significantly reinvested into worldwide education, apps and management services. Yes, we are (or were) a start-up. Yes we’re interested in hearing from insurance companies – but you don’t understand the motive. We want to help (and we are!). We have evidence to suggest that using services such as the diabetes forum or Diabetes PA helps improve control – and that in turn can reduce insurance premiums. It’s for the benefit of the community.

Most companies generate venture capital – we haven’t. Why? Because our mission is simple – to help the community reduce their HbA1c; outside investors may not share the same motive. I’m not interested in generating revenue. I’m interested in improving healthcare through digital engagement. When I was presenting the benefits of the diabetes community and the Hypo Awareness Program, having been nominated for Social Enterprise of the Year, and I was asked ‘why is your profit so low?’ The answer I have to the interviewer is the same I will give to you: because profit is not our motive. Influencing change is. We’re not interested in politics, geographical boundaries or prejudices – we want to change the future of healthcare. And we’re doing it. 7 out of 10 improve their understanding of diabetes and 1 in 2 improve their diet choices as a result of joining the forum. Hospital admissions reduce when you join and complete the Hypo Program. As I said, our motive is simple – improve health.

I ask you to sincerely engage with what we’re achieving, rather than picking fights on spurious grounds. Look at what we Diabetes.co.uk and the diabetes community has done over the past three years. 10 years ago, the prospect of reversing type 2 diabetes was implausible. Now it’s very much a reality.

As always, you’re welcome to come to our offices for a chat. We have nothing to hide – we’re improving the health outcomes of those who engage with us – and we’re proud of that.

I wish you all the best."

I will reply to Mr Panesar fully in due course. But in the meantime note this.

"You and your friends publicly “outed” Giverny, our forum moderator, because she didn’t align with your paradigm and attempted to troll her on Twitter simply to ‘get off’."

All I did was post a link to Giverny's open to the public domain twitter page (since closed). Which showed her reclining on a sofa with a can of Carlsburg in her hand. As for "getting off" I have six children older than her and have worked for the last twenty years subject to regular full disclosure criminal record bureau checks , because I work with children. BTW the Coventry Police did contact me, as witnessed by some members here, it came to nothing. I had broken no laws.


Please also note this.

"In 2014, you wrote a series of spoof blog posts about how wearing a turban would help improve blood sugar levels. As a Sikh, it was upsetting and insensitive; the behaviour of a man more interested in doling out personal abuse than having a constructive debate"

This was taken directly off your forum as a cut and paste (we have the proof) Who are you trying to fool, what are you trying to pull, the race or the religion card? are you that desperate? whatever it is, you are certainly not fooling me. We only copied and pasted it to show the lunacy that was occurring at the diabetes.co.uk forum. That being said, most of your mods let much of this lunatics posts stand for far too long.

So, this is the way you operate Mr. Panesar, attempting to besmirch my good name, accusing me of "getting off" over a person not much older than a child. Veiled accusations of racism or religious abuse, if this is the level of your argument, I think it says far more about you than me.

Eddie

11 comments:

chris c said...

Does he REALLY believe you are "Dr Jones"? unbelievable, he should be questioning the integrity of whoever told him this and hopefully sacking them with immediate effect.

He should ask his mods whether ANY non low carber has EVER been banned from the blog.

He should ask his mods why the likes of Sid Bonkers are permitted to attack low carbers and if they respond get them banned, as has been happening for years, and why his mods have been colluding with this for years.

Yes I agree the website itself seems to be low carb friendly but why isn't the forum? Or more specifically why aren't his moderators?

It's the highly biased and in some cases dangerously clueless mods and the even more dangerously clueless posters who have Protected status that is in question.

Lowcarb team member said...

Thanks for your comment and support Chris. You have been an observer of the flog for a long time you know the score. Clearly Mr. Panesar has spent little or no time reading his own forum if his reply is to be considered sound. I am away tomorrow but look forward to replying and shredding Mr.Panesar's reply line by line. It's amazing a Man of his position and standing could reply in the manner he has.

Regards Eddie

PhilT said...

"IP addresses from the same pool" - all that says is you might use the same ISP, like for example BT Internet or Sky or Talk Talk, which narrows it down to about 10m people.

It shouldn't be beyond the wit of a forum admin to have moderators that are appropriate for a section of a forum like the Low Carb part of diabetes.co.uk but I can see it may be more conflicted in "General" sections.

Anonymous said...

Mr Panesar is being too modest. His family business, Diabetes Digital Media Ltd. has financially gone from strength to strength. With six shareholders putting up a share of £1000 between them in 2012 they must be pleased to find their last published accounts (2014) show a rise in the share value to £568224.00.

Not bad in just two years

jo said...

There have been times when I have cringed at some of your posts Eddie, in the main because of your brutal uncompromising approach to low carbing, but, I have never, ever doubted your total dedication to improving the lot of us fellow diabetics.

I stopped looking to diabetes.co.uk to help me deal with my diabetes when the constant sniping by certain members made me uncomfortable and the verbal attacks/banning of the members who were actively supporting my LCHF way of life sickened me. Quite frankly I had enough on my plate health wise without such a high profile Forum such as Diabetes.co.UK trying to undermine my hard won, newly fledged, diabetic control.

I look forward to reading your reply to Mr. Panesar. He clearly believes his own interpretation of events and it will be interesting to see his spin on the illuminating copies of posts, many of which were wiped by certain members of his team, which I am sure you have filed away.

Jo Catza.




Lowcarb team member said...

Thank you Jo you have made my day. Yes I have all the ammo.

Good luck and good health to you and yours.

Eddie

Lowcarb team member said...

Thank you Andy. I have always had great respect for you and regret deeply our falling out. Maybe we are too much alike, maybe I flatter myself. Mo calls me the lose cannon can't argue with that. Thank you for your support, you can imagine how much it means, especially with our recent track record.

No one would be more warmly greeted than you back at the forum, but maybe, well you know the score.

Trust me on this, I will not let the low carbers down. I will fight the flog until my last breath, or they change their ways big time.

With respect Eddie

Andy12345 said...

Mate, we haven't fallen out, I have the greatest respect for you, you can tell by the use of punctuation in this reply lol, i don't agree with your political views, not your low carb ones, i fell out of love with forums not low carbing, if something stops making you happy then stop doing it, was my reason for leaving, best wishes to your good self and good lady, i do pop past occasionally and am very happy to see you grumpy old sods still fighting the fight, best wishes to all

Lowcarb team member said...

Thanks Andy. Are you up for a day out on my fishing clubs lakes before the Winter sets in? Being an old duffer I can't take the cold like I used to. I still have your phone number I will give you a ring.

Eddie

Lowcarb team member said...

Andy12345 said...
red rag to a bull, morons

go get em tiger


Hey Andy were have you been mate? Paul's distraught at your absence and sends his love and hugs.

Graham

paul1976 said...

Annnndddddyyyyyyy!!!!! :-D

Graham's right!! I have been distraught at your absence!! I've missed ya being around you ol' tart! lol

Hope all's good with you and the family matey!

Regards

Paul