TheOpenForce.com

Dennis Wolf Undergoing Treatment for Devic's Disease

 

Dennis Wolf, former CFO of MySQL, is in the hospital undergoing treatment for neuromyelitis optica (NMO) also known as Devic's Disease.  This is a spinal cord inflammation with similarities to Multiple Sclerosis.  Dennis is a very special guy to get such a rare disease. He's also a tough son-of-a-gun, so I have no doubt that he will put this behind him with a full recovery just as he did 18 years ago.  But it will take some time, attention and help from many people. 

He has started Plasmapheresis treatment tonight whereby they pump out his plasma, remove the anti-bodies and pump in fresh-frozen plasma.  This can take several sessions before there are results, but the doctors are confident that this is what's needed.  

Overall, Dennis is in good spirits and is dealing well with the discomfort.  Dennis is quite happy if folks get the word out on his condition via twitter, email, blogs etc.  

Please keep Dennis and his family in your thoughts and prayers. 

• Wikipedia: Devic's Disease, Plasmapheresis
• Other Resources:  Myelitis.org, Mayo Clinic, Google Group - Devic's Support

Whatever Happened to "Do No Evil?"

 

A buddy of mine, Doug Marks, recently opened my eyes to some sites that are putting out misleading product reviews fueled by Google Ad Words.  I wrote about this on my InfoWorld blog with a story entitled "FTC and Google need to crack down on scam review sites" which provides a counterpoint to the concerns on the US FTC's blogger disclosure rules that become effective this week.

When the FTC announced that it would require disclosure of fees and endorsements by bloggers starting Dec. 1, some complained this was overkill. I have several personal blogs outside of InfoWorld, and I don't mind disclosing that I've occasionally received review copies of books, CDs, and the like. I also run Google ads on some of my blogs. All told, the money that comes in is less than the price of a decent guitar, and I dont believe I've compromised my integrity as a writer. I suspect many bloggers are similar; if they make any money, it's to fund their hobby.

This isn't just a simple case of some over-zealous fan astroturfing as happens from time to time in open source projects (and elsewhere.)  As I Googled around, I noticed these scam review sites for not just piano and guitar lessons, but exercise equipment, language learning software, vitamins, even web development tools.  So its not just an isolated incident.  Doug Marks has complained to Google that these sites violate their policies, but so far, there's been no response.  Hopefully the FTC will crack down on these sites or force Google to do so. 

To be clear, I have purchased Doug Marks Metal Method DVD Course and have no hesitation recommending it to others.  And in the spirit of full disclosure, I'm an affiliate.  I have not tried out the competing courses, but I'm suspicious of any company that engages in these kind of misleading campaigns.

Have you seen these scam review sites for other products?  Let me know.

Metal Method: Main site, Complete Basic Course,Speed Kills, Forum

GuitarVibe: Guitar Lesson Scams, Guitar Mastery, More Time for Guitar