Thanks for the recent reviews on Great Nonprofits! By working together, OCF has become one of the 2014 Top-Rated Nonprofits.

Great job, thank you!!!!

OCF 2014 Top-Rated Great Nonprofits Award

Thanks for your efforts too, Christine.

Great news! Glad sufficient prods and pokes in the A got the ratings up! lol

Great!! I knew we could do it!

Christine, do you know of any similar sites for ovarian/peritoneal cancer. You seem to know a lot about these things and I've searched with no success, even though I used a forum based at the University of Pennsylvania back in 1997. I'm in a cancer support group with people with different cancers. Breast cancer and melanoma seem to have foundations and online discussion but ovarian-type cancers?

There may be something on the American Cancer Society's website. They have a forum for all kinds of different cancers. Ive heard their forum is a pale comparison of what members experience with OCF. Things like monitoring and incorrect info arent a priority like it is here. If I come across anything like what you are looking for in any of my travels I will let you know.

Thanks. Yes, there are other solid looking foundations but without the patient forum facilities we have here.

[quote]Ive heard their forum is a pale comparison of what members experience with OCF. Things like monitoring and incorrect info arent a priority like it is here. [/quote]Christine,
Naturally, you have a bias to OCF and I too, like many here, feel OCF is a fantastic gathering place for well vetted information and community sharing.

Being diagnosed with cancer affects people in different ways. Some react proactively seeking to learn as much as they can while others stick their head in the sand like an ostrich and everything in between.

While you offer some OCF strengths, other boards offer different strengths so it depends what one needs and seeks as to which pales to which.

Each forum has its own rules for posting and moderation. What serves well for one may not for another.

Just wanted to reassure others that it is fine to participate in other forums if it better suits what one needs while experiencing cancer up close.

Thanks for all OCF and volunteers like you do everyday to make this place just super!

Don

In respect to Don's post, there are forums for cancers in general that have strong religious aspects to them, others that are geared towards alternative treatments, and some which take a shotgun approach to it all. As these are subjects are some which we specifically ask people not to discuss here, clearly if those were your desires in talking to someone else, another forum would be better suited.

We learned long ago that we cannot be everything to everyone. The two things that we can be; are true to current scientific thinking, and supportive of people in emotional need.

I also feel very strongly about people's privacy, and the information that they share. Unlike Facebook forums we will not harvest any of that nor like they do sell it to others. Even in the Not for Profit world there are organizations that do seek your information, as there is a whole lot of money to be made in doing so. We intentionally do not collect things that can be used in that manner.

The weaknesses I was referring to in other forums is their lack of moderating. This results in having advertising posts and promoting false cures which can be harmful possibly deadly to readers if they follow dangerous untested remedies.

Yes of course I am biased! Im actually very proud of the OCF forum, its standards, dedication to honesty and integrity to its members. After several years of spending hours of my time every single day of the year (no matter what else I need to do on any particular day) moderating this board I am too familiar with what can happen when forums are not constantly watched. Within a few days they can become overrun with ads for Prada shoes and the latest diet fad. Ive also seen other groups where the tone isnt always very friendly. In the end, every board is different (just like we all are) and what works here doesnt always work elsewhere.

Your pride is justified, Christine and your work is very much appreciated. I remember an ovarian cancer forum which had similar strict scientific standards with links to the latest research. This was way back in 96/97 when the internet was new. Over the years I lost touch with it and now it seems to have disappeared. I used to access it via a dial-up modem ...

Believe it or not, the Internet started in the late 60's, although just used by the military (ARAPNET). Then Al Gore tried to take credit in 94. The rest...as they say...is history.

Alpaca, I didn't even know how to spell forum back then! My mother battled ovarian cancer 98-2000 and a lot of communications with her doctors was via email and I sent digital photos for diagnosis of issues. They thought that was pretty leading edge back then.

The only forums I found in 2003 were Delphi and About and it was really more like a chat room. One thing I really liked about OCF, besides the science and neutrality with respect to politics and religion, was not having all the ads and annoying popups. I will chime in on many political or religious discussions but I don't want to have to argue those topics while trying to focus on all the oral cancer things. I even joined OCF after treatment and found I learned everything I needed to know to get through recovery here.

I�ve also had occasion to visit other forums, specifically re robotic hysterectomy surgery. It did not have the ease of navigation that OCF has and was so overrun with ads, that I soon became discouraged and did my own research, checking with my two doctors about their research and qualifications before making a decision.

In the 8 years since I joined OCF, I�ve learned that I can always depend on the very latest news and scientific research. If anything �new� appears from other sources, chances are that OCF has found it and already commented on it. When I came to OCF, I found accurate information and support from people who cared about my son and his oral cancer. I, too and proud of OCF and all the people (visible and behind the scenes) who make it what it is, and for all the reasons stated in the two posts above by Brian and Christine. If that makes me �biased� � maybe so, but I like to think of it as being well informed and educated.

I thank all of you for your comments, I am pleased that people find value in it all. I am greatly indebted to Christine for agreeing to be the face of OCF, and our representative here and away at trades shows and walks, as she took a huge load off my plate. So did all the other regulars who I won't mention by name, but who dedicate part of their week to helping someone behind them on the path. While I live immersed in the research world most of my days, so I by osmosis, organically learn a great deal about our disease, I am always impressed at the quality of information that long-term posters have absorbed through many years of discussions, and how true to the science they generally are. All of you that come back to help others are heroes in my book, and those of you that have become, even if by proxy, students of the scientific parts of it all so that you can speak with accuracy, are the backbone of what I always hoped the support group would be. When combined with those whose strengths are the emotional support aspect of it all, you guys are the best of OCF.