Lest we forget DCUK the forum of flog.

For the last few weeks I have been taking it easy on the blogging front, by my standards I have been positively comatose. Every now and again I suffer from blog/forum burnout and this usually occurs around Christmas time, this Yuletide time was no exception. One place I have kept away from is the diabetes.co.uk forum known as the forum of flog. Although great information can be found at the flog and many helped including me, I have been extremely critical of the place. In my opinion the flog is an exploitation outfit. The management has clearly stated on numerous occasions (often issuing retractions) it is a for profit company. As the owner has said to the Coventry Telegraph "One of the ways the website makes money is by charging to put organisations such as pharmaceutical companies doing medical trials in touch with forum members who have diabetes"

This was a Ratner moment if ever there was one. Not for the first time, the management had clearly stated its raison d'être. When the Coventry Telegraph article was posted up on the forum, a swift rebuttal was posted by the forum admin to the effect flog owner Mr. Arjun Panesar had been misquoted and the flog would be ordering a retraction from the newspaper. No retraction was ever made, the article still stands un-edited as of today (see link below).

So, had the Telegraph got it wrong? had Mr. Panesar been mis-quoted? checking the flog today it appears not. Posted by a member yesterday.

"I have just received an e.mail from Catherine about a survey for users of Bydureon, and again promising £30 for taking part in the 30-minute survey.

I took part in the survey about Victoza and I'm still waiting for my £30. I don't think anyone else here has received payment for participating. This seems to be a ruse for gathering personal information. The survey was quite intrusive, and I think the site owners here should not promulgate such surveys that don't seem to be quite legitimate."

Amazingly for the forum of flog the post still stands, usually any criticism or exposés of the flogs modus operandi is swiftly deleted and the member often banned. As regular and long time flog watchers know, countless low carbers have been banned over the years, and thousands of low carb posts have been deleted. One thing is for sure, the flog owners know the big money is with big pharma, and the low carb lifestyle for diabetics is the last thing big pharma wants to encourage. 

This is the reason the flogs latest low carb promotion and information gathering exercise, started a couple of months ago is seen as a scam by many. As I say so often, follow the money, and where diabetes is concerned, you will usually find big pharma and junk food is paying the money. If you believe these outfits have your health and well-being at heart, I recommend you seek psychiatric counselling swiftly.

Link to the Coventry Telegraph article here.

Link to the forum of flog here.

Eddie

The members post.

The admins reply