That Recommendation May Not Be 100% Pure

Quite awhile ago, I read a post at The Fertility Advocate that really stirred me up. (The Fertility Advocate is an excellent blog, written by Pamela Madsen. One of those blogs where you never want to miss a post.)

The post, “What You Need to Know When Posting on an Infertility Message Board”, revealed that recommendations you may get on fertility message boards for a particular clinic may not be coming from real fertility patients. Really, they may be fertility clinic employees, pretending to be fertility patients.

When I read this, all I thought was yuck, yuck, yuck. It’s not easy choosing a fertility clinic, and given that most people don’t have a lot of “real life” friends going through infertility, seeking out recommendations online has always been a way to make connections and get the “inside scope”.

But how do you know if the person recommending their clinic is a real fertility patient – or an inside-guy? Honestly, there’s no sure way to know.

I’m sure that this extends to other fertility businesses as well. See a post on a message board talking about supplements that helped? Or maybe a post recommending a particular acupuncturist? Perhaps those posts are also coming from “clever marketers”.

Sometimes these types of posts are obvious, but not always. My question is – how can you know if a recommendation you get online is genuine or not?

While there is no sure fire way to know, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, I’m betting that recommendations from a fertility board member who has a very low number of posts are less likely to be genuine.

Second, I think it’s important to always do your own research into a clinic or product before buying, even if you get a five-star recommendation from someone online. I still think fertility message boards are a good place to get advice – just be sure to take that advice with a grain of salt, especially if you don’t “know” the poster.

What are your thoughts on fertility clinics “planting” people in forums? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!