Physician friends, your favorite physician group admins may, in fact, be taking advantage of you.
You heard that right, and there’s a lot here to say.
In this particular article, I’ll be laying out exactly how some of the manipulation takes place, by sharing one powerful and specific example.
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But first, a question I’ve posed to myself many times before, and you may be, too: why are colleagues not speaking up against the online groups that, for lack of a better term, do bad things? Why are the Facebook group dictatorships getting away with what they do?
Let’s define what we mean when we call these “dictatorships”. Dictatorships refer to spaces ruled by actions which include censorship, banning, and the exclusion of people, due to beliefs, religion, politics, or even business creations.
These spaces are literally just like real-world “dictatorships,” because they work in the very same way as any country in existence that’s headed by a dictator.
Say something that questions the validity of the space – even if it’s a question innocently posed to understand the way it’s run – and you’re likely to get punished or, worse, banned.
Talk about someone else positively, who the dictator doesn’t approve of, or like, and you’ll face the same consequence.
North Korea works in this way, in real life. If you speak out against those at the top, or question their leadership, you’ll likely disappear.
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Some of my colleagues know this.
Many of them have already been punished and censored, too.
Sometimes we don’t even know that it’s happened to us because we don’t get the feedback that’s optional to give (when a comment gets deleted, or someone gets thrown out). These actions can simply be taken, online, without getting announced.
(Can you imagine if they did actually announce what they do behind the scenes? If you know that voices were being repeatedly silenced for doing the things we’re supposed to do and sharing what we’re supposed to share, would you stay, knowing that at least you’re safe?)
Physicians don’t speak up against Facebook groups that act as dictatorships because they may think it’s a petty thing to do.
What they don’t realize is that there’s greater implication to this. Their having been censored could be affecting other members in a much broader sense than they think.
North Korea works in this way, in real life. If you speak out against its leadership, or question leadership, you'll likely disappear.
Another reason for not speaking up is that physicians in these dictatorships don’t want to be kicked out of that dictator-led group in the first place.
There’s nothing that screams dictatorship than a space in which you cannot freely communicate, for fear of repercussion.
When you are scared to answer others, or say something that may be deemed as offensive to those at the top, you’re in a dictator-led space.
It quite frankly reminds me of something else that we’re all collectively grappling with – the health systems that control us, and against which we can’t speak up against, either.
Now it’s time for the examples, though we’ve already published one such first-person narrative, from a physician who submitted theirs to our outlet. Read Silenced by a Peer in an Online Space here. Stay tuned for more, as we are collecting more such instances, in which physicians are finding themselves in this predicament. We won’t be naming and shaming any groups, per se. We will merely allow these commentaries to provide open conversation and reflection about the world that we rely on, to connect.
The main example is one that I feel clearly explains how the “erasing” of select physician comments takes advantage of, and harms, more than just the physician who’s silenced.
Say you’re a member of a Facebook group and you post about having $10,000 to invest. You ask everyone there where you should invest it.
What you’re expecting, in posting, is that the huge audience (these groups typically have 60,000 members and more) will weigh in, and you’ll get a myriad of honest replies representing everyone in the group. This is especially true when there are tens of thousands of members (or so you think).
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Here’s the background you may not know.
In an online dictatorship, the admin will have established affiliate relationships with different companies, including, for example, those that offer investment opportunities. This means that for every purchase/investment made, will earn the admin money.
Now, I want to make sure you know that I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with affiliate relationships, when they’re done right. In fact, we establish some of these relationships here, on SoMeDocs, especially with doctors who have created services, products, and courses and want help with marketing and visibility. Or newly, with experts for doctors who we built a new directory for, and who we’ll share with you all, in time.
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But here’s what happens knowing this, after posting your question in the dictator groups.
Comments that offer differing options for investing your money into are erased. *Poof* – disappearing into thin air.
Admin will sometimes defend this action by stating (only to the person who’s trying to post, not to the entire members of their community) that group rules state “no spamming or marketing”. But in reality, the person who’s asking where to invest their money is being robbed of a fair chance to see what others’ suggestions are, even though they think that the tens of thousands in the group have weighed in.
The other members of the group aren’t made aware that the comment was placed, nor that it was deleted. So literally no one knows.
Admin will leave up the comments that don’t compete with theirs, and will often do this by picking and choosing. This is why you’ll still see some replies with suggestions and links, for example. But there are also replies that you won’t see. Because they’re getting deleted!
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The person who’s posted and been reprimanded typically cowers in shame, especially because we’re physicians and therefore, by nature, are people-pleasers.
Our reaction often resembles the Pavlovian response that I wrote about in our recently published A Pavlovian Physician Social Media Space. The deletion and reprimand serve as the “electric shock”, much like the pain of touching a stove as a child. You’ll think twice before doing it again.
Other times, admin won’t even tell you when your comment has been deleted. It will simply disappear into the nebulous online space. You’ll often think it’s still up, when it isn’t.
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Examples number more.
Some are financial, just like the one I shared above.
Others are political.
Others are centered on advocacy and personal belief.
The greater implications of this will be highlighted by the various first-person experience narratives shared here, in our magazine. We invite you to weigh in, share what you read, and even send in your own. We’re dedicating our magazine pages to publishing truths that aren’t always openly shared, in an effort to open eyes and facilitate discussion.
