Weight Loss Surgery Forums

 

SUBJECT:  How ObesityHelp is helping to protect your privacy. 

Dear ObesityHelp members,

ObesityHelp is committed to our members’ privacy.  Since our inception in 1998, we have endeavored to protect the sanctity of our members’ privacy.  Over the years, we have been asked to sell and lease our database or grant unrestricted access to the same.  We have continually refused all such requests as we deem our membership to be our dearest obligation.

ObesityHelp conducts operations in a social network environment which means postings, content, blogs, and any other ancillary information sharing on our website message boards is 100% open and searchable by all major search engines.  This means that posting on ObesityHelp.com requires members to be conscientious of their own levels of comfort when posting any information on the Internet. 

Historical review of our commitment to your privacy over the years has been as follows:

· 2004 Email addresses:  We removed email addresses from showing up on every profile. While still required for membership, your email will not be visible to the public.

· 2006 Customizable Avatars:  This allows members to post without using a personal photo.  This was done to help protect the identity of our members from public viewing of a member’s likeness.

· 2006 Member names:   ObesityHelp website was augmented (usernames created) to allow privacy for our membership.  Your name was no longer required to be public.

· 2006 Private message (email) system created: This allows our members to communicate privately one-with-another.  This system is similar to other social networks currently in existence. 

· 2007 Launch of private groups: This feature allows individuals the ability to have discussions in a privately member-moderated environment.  This was done in response to requests to be more like “Yahoo Groups? and other social media.  Private groups are not visible to search engines and are considered privately operated by the creator of the group.

· 2008 Integrated privacy settings: Allows you to set who can see your profile (*can be set to keep your profile completely private).

· 2009 Health Tracker Settings:  Allows you to share your information with your surgeon/hospital or keep the information private.

· 2012 Privacy Policy:  Released new Privacy Policy here. 

 

 

We have limited control over the indexing, linking and sharing of your publicly shared content on ObesityHelp.com, however, we have created customized tools in order to help you protect your privacy. If you are concerned about your privacy, here are some ways to protect your privacy while enjoying our website:

 

 

We appreciate and respect the privacy of our members.  If you need assistance with your privacy settings, contact us at [email protected].

 

Sincerely,