Author Topic: Are programs getting safer since the internet?  (Read 2143 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« on: June 07, 2007, 11:22:59 AM »
Has anyone been documenting this trend if it really does exist?
Now that parents and kids can go online and review and tell the world their experiences does this help parents avoid abusive programs?
Do detailed accounts by program survivors put pressure on programs for them to improve?
Has the information revolution helped kids in the ability to network after they get out and to tell their story?
Do you think programs are any safer today than they were ten years ago?
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2007, 12:11:23 PM »
In my opinion, having access to internet marketing has expanded their business.  Negative reporting or criticism is handled only by advocates and reporters is small in comparision to the massive marketing campaigns by the industy.

Communication with the parent is a huge factor in behavior modifcation programs and may influence a parents decision.  Some programs are offering an on-line report of their child giving a FALSE sense of security and safety to the parent.  When the child come home I suspect it will be harder for the parent to believe the abusive experiences the child had.  After all, they logged in everyday to check-in on them.  

I think the programs are getting smarter NOT safer and learning how to hide the issues in the back pages of google.  

Here is what I pulled off one site:

Parent Check-In
While your son is attending Stone Mountain Boarding Schools for Boys, you can follow his progress through our secure ParentCheckin website. We update this site with photographs, program announcements, news and information, and progress reports. Visit www.parentcheckin.com to for a demo and ways for you to learn more about Stone Mountain School. This secure website requires a username and password, username: JD522 password: JDoe.

Also, our Parent Handbook includes a list of all requirements and our Parent References are great ways to become more familiar with the school.


I can not tell you the impact Jeremy made on all of us during his recent visit home. He was polite, well mannered, calm, attentive, thoughtful, respectful, observant, sociable, considerate, tidy, understanding when we had to rush through things, up early and ready to go each day, pleasant, trustworthy, never argumentative, caring and helpful to others. In all honesty, we did not have any difficulties with Jeremy. I want to share with you the growth and maturity in which Jeremy showed us this weekend. I would like to take a moment to thank you for your continued support to Jeremy and our family. Each person at SMS is making a difference in not only Jeremy's life but in our family life. We have enjoyed each visit with Jeremy more and more. We are feeling like a family that is whole again and the healing that has taken place this last year has been amazing. Thank you! ~Denise
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2007, 12:24:16 PM »
Hello?

Ever heard of Reputation Defender?  Look em up - and see how they have helped orgs. like PURE to manipulate information that is critical of the industry being accessed by parents and others using the Internet.

It's a whole new game folks.  A dangerous one, IMO.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline hanzomon4

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2007, 12:30:02 PM »
I'll give you my opinion, however I don't have any way to know if they're correct so take it with a grain of salt..


I think the net helps some parents avoid bad programs, but not very many. Too many parents hold the belief that a good program won't have tons of people on the net talking about being abused. However a lack of abuse allegations doesn't me that it's not happening. In many ways these under the radar programs are more dangerous because the "do no harm" pose they put on has no counter. Parents may avoid a wwasps but get taken in by some other program that's less notorious but no less abusive.

I don't think survivor stories get programs to improve. If anything survivor stories motivate programs to get better at ass covering. That's one thing I had to realize, programs already know that what they do is wrong and they have no desire to improve. It's a money game and offering quality care(my new favorite term) is expensive and faces strict scrutiny, a "program" would not survive this.

I do think that the net has provided the new generation of survivors with something the older generations didn't have, mainly a community of folks who are truly empathetic  because they've all been there. It's great that the older group of survivors care enough about the new folks to set up websites, like Fornits and ISAC, and to show through their experience that true happiness and successes has not been stolen forever. Being able to know that others acknowledge that what happened was wrong is a powerful thing that should not be underestimated.

No, programs are not safer in my opinion. The problem mutates and changes with time, but the evil stays the same. This is evident in the fact that reading survivor statements over decades all kinda sound the same.

Ultimately, however, the internet has brought progress. Not in the sense of safer programs, but it has gotten harder for them to hide.
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i]Do something real, however, small. And don\'t-- don\'t diss the political things, but understand their limitations - Grace Lee Boggs[/i]
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Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2007, 12:32:42 PM »
Internet Google-Proof PR?

May 25, 2007
By Andy Greenberg
Forbes Magazine

Sue Scheff's business, Parents Universal Resource Experts, places troubled teens in reform schools--and generates a lot of controversy. Disgruntled clients have accused Scheff's company of sending kids to abusive programs, and the Web is full of complaints: A quick Google search used to reveal sites describing her as a "fraud," a "con artist" and a "crook."

Google Scheff's name now, however, and the first few pages of results are far less controversial: They include Scheff's own sites about teen pregnancy, her upcoming book, and, until recently, recipes for broccoli casserole and pork chops.

That last one might seem strange to Scheff's friends, who know she doesn't cook. "The truth is, if it doesn't go in the microwave, I don't make it," she admits.

So who wrote the cooking advice at sue-scheff.net? Not Sue Scheff. That site, and many of the others in the first several pages of Sue Scheff's Google results, were designed by a company called Reputation Defender, which sells what its founder, Michael Fertik, calls "Google insulation." For a fee, Reputation Defender pads the Web with friendly-sounding content like flattering blog entries, personal sites and other positive pages, and then pushes those sites to the top of the Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) results for clients like Scheff, thereby hiding the online insults of her enemies.

And there's plenty of vitriol to hide. In 2004, she filed a defamation lawsuit against one of her critics, Carey Bock, in a Florida state court. Scheff won an $11.3 million verdict last year, but some negative commentary remained on the Web. Scheff says those comments were ruining her business, driving away more than half of her customers. "She had just slandered me up one side and down the other side of the Internet," Scheff says.

So Scheff turned to Reputation Defender. Founded last October, the company says it monitors what's written about clients online for a monthly $10 fee and will have specific content "destroyed" for an extra $30. The removal of content usually involves polite take-down requests that occasionally escalate into cease-and-desist letters and legal threats when necessary, says the company's chief executive, Michael Fertik.

But Reputation Defender recently began offering users a subtler approach: hiding unwanted Web comments with a barrage of positive, Google-friendly content, either created by the company or dredged up from elsewhere on the Web and optimized to appear at the top of search-engine results.

"Say you have 20,000 delighted clients and five clients that hate you," says Fertik. "We'll tell your story on the Internet and find press about you and start promoting that to the top of the Google chain. It's very Internet-specific PR, a very different game." For that labor-intensive service, officially called MyEdge, the company charges a hefty price: Fees start at around $10,000. Fertik says he has more than 25 clients for the service.

MyEdge's success is based not only in creating reputation-boosting pages but also in convincing Google to float those sites to the first few pages of results, the only results that most Web users ever see. But gaming Google can be tricky. The search giant, which declined to comment on Reputation Defender's service, spends significant resources trying to prevent Web site owners from pushing up their ranking artificially. And it will punish sites it thinks are cheating by pushing them into the back pages of search results. (see "Condemned To Google Hell").

Fertik won't reveal the details of MyEdge's tactics, but he says he's confident they don't break Google's rules or those of any other search engine. He also says his company draws the line at publishing lies about individuals or businesses--the cooking site created for Sue Scheff, he says, was an unfortunate exception, one that he removed after talking to this reporter. But Fertik sees nothing wrong with manipulating Google to focus on the positive aspects of someone's persona.

"Google is not God," he says. "It's a machine, a superb machine that benefits millions, but it's still just a machine. And what it turns up can have remarkably deleterious impact on hardworking people and businesses."

Some might still argue that MyEdge misleads Web users or that it muzzles them by hiding negative opinions. But Kevin Bankston, an attorney at the Internet free-speech advocacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sees MyEdge as a healthy alternative to the usual angry-lawyer school of reputation management.

"As long as they're not committing some kind of fraud, I think this is the way to deal with bad speech," says Bankston. "This shows that you don't need to counter speech by attempting to censor it, but rather with better and more accurate information. As the truism goes, the best answer to bad speech is always more speech."

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

http://suescheff.net/

Book Site designed by "My Edge"

Sue Scheff Blog @ Interview with Forbes

http://suescheffcomments.blogspot.com/
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Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2007, 12:50:45 PM »
Well there ya go - that explains the nauseating number of blogs put out by Scheff and Zehnder (though it looks like Zehnder does her own work).

But what if the information in these blogs is not truthful?  Then what?  Does one have to hire reputation defender to promote exposure of an opposing view?

What a racket!
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Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2007, 01:05:24 PM »
Quote from: ""hanzomon4""
I do think that the net has provided the new generation of survivors with something the older generations didn't have, mainly a community of folks who are truly empathetic  because they've all been there. It's great that the older group of survivors care enough about the new folks to set up websites, like Fornits and ISAC, and to show through their experience that true happiness and successes has not been stolen forever. Being able to know that others acknowledge that what happened was wrong is a powerful thing that should not be underestimated.


Fornits is not a place for survivors to got empathy and feel good statements from people. You get TheWho and other program trolls who call you a liar, and need to be in your program longer, so I don't see these forums the same way you do I think. Isac I thought was started by a program parent, a lawyer?
How can there ever be any resolution among a group of people who were forced half to tear down the other half and the half being torn down the next generation of tearing downers.

The way you describe the situation in your quote, wouldn't it be great it that were true?
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Offline psy

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2007, 02:28:12 PM »
Quote from: ""Guest""
Well there ya go - that explains the nauseating number of blogs put out by Scheff and Zehnder (though it looks like Zehnder does her own work).

But what if the information in these blogs is not truthful?  Then what?  Does one have to hire reputation defender to promote exposure of an opposing view?

What a racket!


It's basically spamdexing.  It is EXACTLY what WWASP did, and Sue complained about earlier.  Such bullshit... Niles.. did you read that article?  "Reputation Defenders"...  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Benchmark Young Adult School - bad place [archive.org link]
Sue Scheff Truth - Blog on Sue Scheff
"Our services are free; we do not make a profit. Parents of troubled teens ourselves, PURE strives to create a safe haven of truth and reality." - Sue Scheff - August 13th, 2007 (fukkin surreal)

Offline hanzomon4

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2007, 05:27:42 PM »
Quote from: ""Guest""
Quote from: ""hanzomon4""
I do think that the net has provided the new generation of survivors with something the older generations didn't have, mainly a community of folks who are truly empathetic  because they've all been there. It's great that the older group of survivors care enough about the new folks to set up websites, like Fornits and ISAC, and to show through their experience that true happiness and successes has not been stolen forever. Being able to know that others acknowledge that what happened was wrong is a powerful thing that should not be underestimated.

Fornits is not a place for survivors to got empathy and feel good statements from people. You get TheWho and other program trolls who call you a liar, and need to be in your program longer, so I don't see these forums the same way you do I think. Isac I thought was started by a program parent, a lawyer?
How can there ever be any resolution among a group of people who were forced half to tear down the other half and the half being torn down the next generation of tearing downers.

The way you describe the situation in your quote, wouldn't it be great it that were true?


I tend to ignore trolls but you're right you have your wHos here. I've been reading in some of the other forums here and sometimes threads descend  into survivors defending themselves against program-plants, trolls, and other survivors.

But you got many intelligent, thoughtful, and compassionate folks here also. Connecting with those people through pms or email can help you avoid the negatives you might run into in the "wild" so to speak. And other forums exist like Cafety and Psy's board that are moderated. Psy's has a special password protected section for survivors only.

The net has allowed survivors to connect to each other, in ways that were impossible in the early 90's and on down, for support or some other positive communication. Thats the point I was trying to make and, trolls aside, I think fornits provides an avenue to this end if not the end itself.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
i]Do something real, however, small. And don\'t-- don\'t diss the political things, but understand their limitations - Grace Lee Boggs[/i]
I do see the present and the future of our children as very dark. But I trust the people\'s capacity for reflection, rage, and rebellion - Oscar Olivera

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Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2007, 07:21:38 PM »
Oxymoron - Reputation Defenders.

The good news is anyone who read that article in Fornits, now knows there is another side to Sue Scheff and PURE and be intriqued enough to do some googling past page 3 ...

Interesting these folks designed her book promotional website?

Guess you get what you pay for ... it certainly didn't make me want to pre-order the book.  I may buy it if it shows up in the dollar bin of BIG LOTS but most likely won't even bother with that given I'd still feel like I was throwing money away on something I have no real interest in or need/use for.

  8-)
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Offline Anonymous

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2007, 07:25:02 PM »
The good news is anyone who read that article in Fornits, now knows there is another side to Sue Scheff and PURE and be intrigued enough to do some googling past page 3 ...

Meant to say FORBES.
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Offline Ursus

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Offline hanzomon4

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Are programs getting safer since the internet?
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2007, 05:49:42 PM »
Can someone email this report the facts about Sue Sue, the irony of this lady is ridiculous.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
i]Do something real, however, small. And don\'t-- don\'t diss the political things, but understand their limitations - Grace Lee Boggs[/i]
I do see the present and the future of our children as very dark. But I trust the people\'s capacity for reflection, rage, and rebellion - Oscar Olivera

Howto]