My eMail To Wellsphere and HealthCentral
This is the email I just shot off to Wellsphere … and for good measure, to their “buyers”. They should know that they’ve been duped.
To whom it may concern:
Please remove me, my blogs posts, and everything that concerns me, from Wellsphere. I will otherwise be forced to resort to tactics I’d rather not employ.
Once I realized that being a “health maven” meant that I was going to be ENCOURAGED to answer medical questions that I’m not trained or educated to respond to, and that there was no medically responsible oversight of what people were being “advised” to do … it really scared me. You put “Expert” and “Top Health Blogger” next to the names of practically every non-medical person in there, giving your readers a false impression of security and trust. That’s conscienceless … and if people were actually harmed, criminal. When seen alongside the sale of Wellsphere … it’s also a misrepresentation to both your bloggers, and to those who are buying Wellsphere, not to mention that it was a very dishonest way to make a buck on other people’s work and trust.
It’s sad to realize that Wellsphere turned out to be just another glorified blog scraper … and particularly dangerous one, at that.
Doris “Moof” Ballard
All Blogged Up: A Moof’s Tale
A few more interesting links:
Beyond Meds … via Robin from Survive the Journey
A Different Perspective on the Sale of Wellsphere via Dr. Val from Getting Better with Dr. Val
(Thanks for the TWEETS ladies!)
Wellsphere:
- Just Another Blog Scraper …
- My eMail To Wellsphere and HealthCentral
- An Offer to Chat … and a Reply
- Phone Conversation – an Overview
- To Tie Things Up
January 30th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
What a great letter! As someone who formerly worked for Wellsphere (for just six weeks, see my blog), I can tell you that I’m not surprised by this unscrupulous behavior. I’m thrilled that you had the gumption to write this to the acquiring company, because they likely had the wool pulled over their eyes. I’d be interested if you get any follow up (though I doubt it!)
Mark Johnson, former Wellsphere product manager