04/10/2002    Sloan Gordon, DPM

Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)

RE: Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility
(Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)
From: Sloan Gordon, DPM

I must say as a loyal reader of PM News I'm sad
to see the bickering that has occurred from two
trailblazers of our profession in cyberspace. I
know Dr. Block has printed many of my letters
and unequivocally has not changed the substance
therein, but corrected errors of spelling,
grammar, etc. I feel when I write that my words
represent what I say and that is what's
important to me. I know Dr. Sherman's magazine
represents a segment of podiatry that I enjoy
reading.

Regarding Listserv's in general, they are only
as good as their readers. I think there is a
place for both, although I generally only have
time to read / respond to one. If there is an
agenda, implied or otherwise, I guess I agree
with it, since I am rarely offended by any
editorializing.

Last, but by no means least, there are not the
best of times. There was 9-11, there is
Afghanistan, there is the Middle East, there are
podiatry privilege laws that are all screwed up
(in my state and elsewhere). We should be
standing side-by-side and not across the fence
tossing cyber-placards at one another. Can we
try to stick together and accomplish something
that's good for all of us, rather than tearing
down our profession?

Sloan Gordon, DPM
Houston, Tx
www.myfootdoc.com

--------

Editor’s Comment: The posted note by Dr. Sherman
and my response have clearly articulated our
descriptions of the functions and standards of
our listservs.

We frequently exchange communications, and while
we occasionally disagree with each other, our
relationship is amicable. To say we “bicker” is
a bit of an overstatement.

We both have a healthy respect for each other
and of the enormous amount of time and energy
that goes into running a 5,000+ member listserv.
Putting out a daily listserv involved
maintaining an ever-changing subscriber list,
coordinating advertisers, organizing a
searchable database, editing letters, scouring
the Internet for stories that relate to
podiatry, and much, much more. We hope his wife
is as sympathetic to him as mine has been.

Putting out a listserv requires a tremendous
amount of devotion to your profession. It is a
truly a labor of love and it is clear that Dr.
Sherman shares that passion.

That being said, by mutual consent, we’ll close
this topic and move on with our job in
disseminating information to our readers.

Other messages in this thread:

---

04/10/2002    Philip M. Traynor, DPM

Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)

RE: Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility
(Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)
From: Philip M. Traynor, DPM

With utmost respect for Dr. Barry Block and Dr.
Alan Sherman, I appreciate the services both
provide in PM-News and Podiatry Online. You
have BOTH helped my practice IMMENSELY (forgive
the shouting) and I hope you both continue to
prosper in your work. I believe Podiatry Online
has 'weeded out' more of my letters of mine,
because of untimely, religious, or 'overly-
altruistic' (i.e., 'missionary') content.

Are our editors providing 'free press' in the
broadest definition, i.e., 'freedom of speech'?
I perceive they both want what is professionally
best for us. But, I do not perceive them to be
providing unrestrained 'free press'. I believe
many podiatrists would contribute more if
allowed more 'freedom of speech' (vs. 'free
press'), I may be wrong. Nonetheless, I greatly
appreciate what both have offered to my 'well-
being' in practice.

Philip M. Traynor, DPM
Albertville, AL
docpro@mindspring.com

---

04/10/2002    Larry Kollenberg, DPM

Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)

RE: Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility
(Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)
From: Larry Kollenberg DPM

First of all let me say "kudos" to you both. I
have had the pleasure of working with both of
you when I was in practice and actively
publishing etc. As a "retired podiatrist" I do
not pick up a nail nipper or treat a heel spur
etc. Instead I watch from the sidelines.

Alan, let me tell you honestly that in all the
things that Barry has edited for me, I’ve
appreciated it because I am a lousy typist. In
addition, he has always checked with me before
he changed a single word of my articles.

Barry, Alan was a great editor for me when I
worked on the E & M Book in 1997/1998. Without
Alan's modifications in editing and cleaning up
my typing etc., my book would not have been what
it was. Others tell me it was a very useful
tool. Ironically, I still get questions from
people about it. With the need for information
and the speed of electronic information, I
credit both of you for each doing your service.

That being said I would be really upset to see
silly things such as defending one’s posture
printed in either of your forums.

I hope other readers have had similar pleasures
in knowing both of these fine gentlemen and will
take the time to share their views of them. Oh
yeah Barry, Please clean up my typographical
errors as you always do, before publishing this.

Larry Kollenberg, DPM
Jacksonville, FL
lkollenberg@hotmail.com

---

04/09/2002    Alan Sherman, D.P.M.

Brian Gale, DPM Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)

RE: Brian Gale, DPM Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv
Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)
From: Alan Sherman, D.P.M.

The DIFFERENCE between the Podiatry Online
NewsFlash and PM News

Dr. Block wrote a letter that appeared in the
April 6 issue of PM News, which was really an
Editorial, in which he refers to "another
listserv" and goes on to accuse that listserv of
poor journalism for not checking sources
and "editing" the letters that it publishes.

For the record, he was referring to Podiatry
Online, it's editor Alan Sherman, D.P.M. and
specifically, the letter that I recently
published by Brian Gale, DPM, in which he gives
his account of the APMA Board of Inquiry issue
that so affected his dispute with the North
Dakota Board of Podiatric Medicine. Dr. Block
took offense to inaccuracies in Dr. Gale's
letter, and opinions expressed in it, which Dr.
Block apparently doesn't share. For the record,
I have sympathy for this guy and offer him a
public voice. I don't fact check him, I don't
critique him. He's been persecuted, not unlike
the guy in Kafka's The Trial...not unlike what
compelled some of our grandparents to leave
Eastern Europe, Ireland, the deep south, and
other forsaken places. I wouldn't wish what has
been done to him on anyone. I've given him a
forum to gather support for his issue for his
peers. I'd do the same for any of you.

Rather than diving into the debate between Dr.
Block and Dr. Gale, I'd like to just briefly
discuss the differences between PM News and the
Podiatry Online NewsFlash and how they each
serve different needs that our profession has.

There is no doubt that podiatry needs timely,
reputable news reporting that we can trust. To
fulfill this need, we have the APMA DAILY eNEWS
and PM News, both of which do a very good job.
The APMA DAILY eNEWS tends to print original
news items that it is privy to as our national
organization. PM News tends to reprint news
items of interest to podiatrists that Dr. Block
finds using effective Internet search tools and
by long hours scanning healthcare email
newsletters. This is a useful service that I
believe podiatric readers appreciate. Podiatry
Online also publishes news items that are
collected in this way, and items that are sent
to us by our members that they wish to share
with the others in our online community, but
reporting the news is not our main focus or
purpose.

First and foremost, Podiatry Online is a
community, an online virtual community, in the
tradition of the early adopters like The Well
and Compuserve, but adapted to the particular
needs of podiatric professionals. Much of our
materials come from our members, offered in the
spirit of sharing. An online community has
public conversations....it's not the New York
Times, and that's OK. Don't mistake our Letters
to the Editor section as journalism. They're
not. They're a community conversation and they
needn't be censured, or fact checked. All of
the technology that we've developed and employed
for this purpose, including our Automated
Classified Ad system and our Professional
Profile Directory, were all built for the
purpose of allowing better networking among our
members. We pride ourselves in connecting
podiatrists, residents, students, office
managers and industry vendors when they are
looking for one another. In this regard, we
serve as high tech matchmakers, and we are proud
of this capability that we have. We make sure
to include an email address with every message
that we publish, and we estimate that there are
3-4 times as many private communications that
fly back and forth between our members as there
are the public messages that we publish in the
NewsFlash. We bring podiatrists together.

We are also something that has never existed in
podiatry before: the free press. In the
tradition of the Village Voice, the Daily Worker
and thousands of underground publications, we
allow foot care professionals to speak to each
other freely in an open forum in which they know
they won't be censured or shouted down.

Barry Block prides himself on the job that he
does "editing" material, including your
letters. He says he does this to assure you
that you only read the "truth" in PM News. I
agree that serves a purpose for you, but it also
serves a purpose for him. You never know if a
letter that he publishes has been changed or
altered to represent what he believes is the
truth. You never know what he leaves out. We
rely on his discretion to edit our letters.
Generally, I trust Dr. Block and believe that he
acts in our general best interest, but we all
know that he has his own agenda as well, and
that is reflected in what he leaves out. In
fact, we even don't know if this letter from me
that you are now reading appears as I wrote it,
or if it was "edited" by Dr. Block, to ensure
that it represents the "truth". The pen is
mightier than the sword.always has been, and
Barry exercises that power by his editing. He
does not yield to his readers' opinions, he
publishes what he likes.

This is the difference between the "Free Press"
of an online community like Podiatry Online and
edited "Journalism" like PM News. They each
have their place.and as long as you, the reader,
knows what you are reading, they both can
coexist and serve the independent needs of the
podiatric community.

Alan Sherman, D.P.M.
Editor - Podiatry Online, Inc.
asherman@podiatryonline.com

---------------

Editor’s comment: Dr. Sherman’s letter is being
published without changes. Generally, editorial
changes are made to correct spelling, grammar,
and mistakes of fact, not opinion. If letters
were merely posted “as is”, they often would not
reflect well on the author. Every attempt is
made to accurately reflect what an author wishes
to say, but due to poor grammar or spelling,
cannot.

Occasionally, a letter is edited or rejected
because it is deemed libelous or against the
self-interest of the author or the profession
and could result in civil or criminal action.
Some letters are edited because of excessive
length or rejected because a topic has been
temporarily closed. We consider these editorial
judgments, not censorship.

We attempt to publish a balanced perspective on
issues and consistently publish letters by those
with opposite views from the editor. Not a
single letter has ever been rejected because it
opposed the M.D. degree, The BMS boycott, or any
other issue that PM News has proposed or
supported. We encourage debate on a wide variety
of clinical and political topics ranging from
LLD to Board certification. Dr. Sherman’s
comment “He publishes what he likes” is merely
his opinion and is not supported by any facts.

Some letters are outright rejected because they
do not meet our journalistic standards.
Fortunately for those authors, Dr. Sherman
presents a forum for the posting of such letters.

Unfortunately, even after editing thousands of
letters in the last 20 years, we cannot
objectively measure how well we do our job.
That’s a task better left to our readers, the
podiatry profession.

---

04/08/2002    Ray Mollica, DPM

RE: Brian Gale, DPM Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)

RE: Brian Gale, DPM Facts vs. Opinion, Listserv
Credibility (Barry H. Block, DPM, JD)
From: Ray Mollica, DPM

Dr. Gale was inaccurate when he stated that the
entire delegation from New York State voted
against him in the just past House of Delegates.
Keeping with the old adage the "no good deed
goes unpunished", quite a few of us in New York
voted not to accept the BOI findings. Having
been through much suffering over the past seven
months, some felt that we should give this guy
his life back. I personally suffered the
approbation of a few of my dear friends who
served so admirably on the board for my negative
vote.

We here in the Empire State have had the
unenviable reputation of being a little rowdy
and tough, however, nothing as down and dirty as
this Dakota mess has happened here. We try and
keep our spats to a minimum and use negotiation
and mediation rather than Hatfield and McCoy
tactics. My advice to Dr. Gale is thank God you
have a life and now get on with it. Many of our
dear
brothers and sisters in New York don't!

Ray Mollica, DPM
Brooklyn, NY
Docfoot558@mindspring.com