Guest kosmo14 Posted June 21, 2002 Report Share Posted June 21, 2002 Congrats vpe glad to hear you are in. I started a new topic for this to avoid getting off topic in the Accepted/Rejected/Waitlisted posts. Congrats to all who were accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest monkey Posted June 21, 2002 Report Share Posted June 21, 2002 hey vpe, good stuff! where will you be going? Queens or UofS? again congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vpe Posted June 21, 2002 Report Share Posted June 21, 2002 hey guys, thanks very much. (kosmo14 - why aren't you our moderator yet?) congratulations all on getting in! zhuhe ni! there's also something i should also mention... in a past life, i posted here as "governorgeneral"... long story, but suffice it to say, i _did_ pass the u of s interview. so it's all good. sorry about the charade - long story. as for where to go... we've got a long weekend in quebec (st jean baptiste day) so i can think things through. u of s was my first choice, but there are so many reasons to go to either one... it'll be a difficult decision for sure. i'm open to suggestions. (i know some people who were waitlisted at u of s, so right now i'm leaning towards queen's, just to improve their chances.) anyone else in the same spot? either way, you'll be the first to know - i know what it's like to be on a waitlist, so i want to make a choice as soon as i can, as soon as i'm completely sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest monkey Posted June 21, 2002 Report Share Posted June 21, 2002 wow you must have one heck of a story to mislead ppl the wya you did. but anyways, i'm really happy things worked out for you vpe...err governorgeneral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vpe Posted June 21, 2002 Report Share Posted June 21, 2002 sorry... didn't mean to _mislead_ anyone... but yeah, it's long. thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 23, 2002 Report Share Posted June 23, 2002 I've sorted things out with governorgeneral over email, and I agree that there's a long story behind all this. I think the intentions were good (there wasn't any attempt to mislead or deceive people), but perhaps the end result is a bit convoluted and difficult to follow. What we're going to do is close the VPE account, and governorgeneral will continue posting on this account. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest governorgeneral Posted June 23, 2002 Report Share Posted June 23, 2002 thanks ian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zack2006 Posted June 26, 2002 Report Share Posted June 26, 2002 As I was browsing through some of the threads today I came across something very disturbing. It appears as though govenorgeneral had previously posted that he/she did not pass the interview at US which was patently untrue. The deceipt did not end here unfortunately as govenorgeneral continued to add posts discussing the unfortunate, but still untrue, state of affairs. In actuality this person had passed the interview and was still very much in contention for a position at UofS and later posted under the name vpe that he/she did in fact receive an offer of admission. For shame. This is behaviour that is both morally reprehensible and ethically unacceptable on a BBS such as this. We mustn't be fooled into thinking that this was an accident or a mere slip of the pen. No, this was wilful and intentional deceipt which completely goes against the cooperative and supportive spirit of this board - an environment fostered by Ian Wong. There is now a very serious problem. The integrity of the board has been called into question. The fallout from this deception appears to have been nothing from Ian as "it was explained" to his satisfaction. My dear Ian, can there really be any rational explanation for this behaviour? Is any conceivable "long story" really to be trusted from someone who can casually concoct tales to mislead other community members at will? Is this an isolated incident of lying? Of course not. However, there is a crucial difference in this case. Govenorgeneral not only lied (it can't be called anything else) but cavalierly admitted to doing so with an "aw shucks I goofed" response. This is not an appreciation of wrongdoing and there is no hint of remorse. The role of the moderation is a difficult one but it is also one of total discretion. If Ian choses to allow behavour such as this he may certainly do so. This would be a grave error. Although it would be difficult to ferret out specific incidents of blatent deceipt this one has fallen squarely in the lap of Ian and has, thus far, been handled poorly. This unfortunate mistep may easily be remedied by more definitive action by Ian that more accurately deals with the transgression. This site has been a great resource to many and may continue to be so in the future. It is unfortunate that if this case is not adequately dealt with the high regard in which the majority of users hold this site will deteriorate. The position of govenorgeneral is not a lifetime appointment. Let right prevail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest princejr13 Posted June 26, 2002 Report Share Posted June 26, 2002 Zack2006, I agree with you on the main thrust of your message if governorgeneral's intention was indeed to mislead people. It certainly appears that governorgeneral misled the people on this forum and that it was unethical to do so. But perhaps there REALLY IS a long story. I think that without having the specific details of his situation we cannot and should not jump to conclusions. Perhaps he felt that his interviewers did not treat him fairly and thus requested a second interview. Sask med school does allow you to schedule a second interview if you felt you were not treated fairly but I am not sure if you can do that only before you recieve the results of your first interview. Maybe there was some other mixup. His scores may not have been added correctly or maybe one of the interviewers' assessment was very skewed compared to the assessments of the other three interviewers. The truth is that we don't know what happened and unless we know the facts we should not jump to conclusions. Ideally, governorgeneral should just tell us what happened. But then there is the issue of his privacy. What if his identity is revealed at school? How would his classmates feel about him? Is it really fair for governorgeneral to HAVE to outline his situation for the rest of the world to see. Ian does not tolerate liars and trolls on his forum, therefore if he is satisfied with governorgeneral's explanation then we can be sure that there indeed is a long story behind this situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest governorgeneral Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 hey zack2006, hey princejr13, okay, there was _one_ person i wanted to "mislead" (i hope you'll agree with me after you read this that that's a harsh word), and it was certainly not one of you. zack2006, i wanted to email you this personally, but i couldn't get your address from your bio page. but as you wish, here's the story: one of my close friends (and fellow forum lurker) didn't pass his u of s interview, and naturally was down about it. at the time, instead of saying something like "well, _i_ passed... but better luck next time" (okay, none of us would be as curt as that, but you get the idea) i felt making governorgeneral - a anonymous regular evidently intent on getting in - fail the interview, it would make him feel better. misery loves company. about 1/4 of applicants apparently failed the interview, but you certainly wouldn't get that feeling seeing all the regulars pass and ultimately get in. i also felt that my continued posts accepting the "failure" would provide him (and others) advice on regrouping and trying again next year. why didn't i share this earlier? 'cause i thought it'd be embarrasing for him to see this. if i confused anyone, i'm sorry. if you're actually _harmed_ by this, please let me know how (here or privately - governorgeneral@canada.com), and i will try to make amends. if you believe that this was unethical or immoral, then you're touching on the "is honesty always the best policy" debate, and that can be discussed on the Interview scenarios forum. i hope this clears everything up. (i also hope this doesn't come across as cavalier or casual - less than a week into my med acceptance and there are ethical scenarios already...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest princejr13 Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 Hey governorgeneral, Thanks for clearing up the situation. But you know that is not as long a story as you might think, what you did is probably quite normal. Water under the bridge. Have you decided where you want to go next year? Queen's or Sask? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 I think governorgeneral and Ian have worked this out, and it should be a closed topic. governorgeneral has apologized and I think we should move on. It is not our job to judge others, particularily when we don't know the details. As with any ethical senario I don't think there is an absolute correct answer, just opinions. Therefore, to continue to debate governorgenerals intentions would be fruitless and lead to mudslinging in the end, which is certainly not what I want to see on this board. I trust Ian's decision, and have had the benefit of seeing some very informative and interesting posts from governorgeneral and I think this person is worth hearing from into the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 Thanks for being so civilized all. I debated between simply deleting off all the VPE messages, or leaving them up for others to view. Ultimately, governorgeneral was trying to shed some light on the admissions process in light of his lurker friend's experiences by posting his friend's experiences under the governorgeneral's login name. Unfortunately, governorgeneral was ALSO applying to U of S, and was more successful, but obviously couldn't then post his own personal information in light of what he'd already written about his friend. So he created the VPE login to share that information with you all. I agree that the whole situation looks messy, and that's because it is! However, I stand by my view that there wasn't a malicious intent here, and that is a huge component in governorgeneral's favour. I think that closing the VPE account down was the right thing to do, and I still think that I'll leave up the VPE messages, as they are representative of someone else, just not governorgeneral. Hope that helps, Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zack2006 Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 After reading govenor's explanation it is safe to say that the intent, while misguided, was not intentionally malicious. While I was not aggrieved personally by this little charade my sense of moral decency was offended. Good reasons for posting untruths do not lessen the gravity of the offense but serve only to aid in understanding why it occured. However, if Ian is satisfied with the explanation and decides, in his absolute discretion, to overlook the incident we are left with no choice but to consider the matter closed. As an addendum it must be recognized that open and frank discussion is the foundation of this site. The success of premed101 relies on the honour system. Truthful exchange of ideas, stories, and questions allows members to learn from others experiences. Fabricating a tale of failure to assuage a friend's disappointment while seemingly noble could be received as patronizing and condescending. Although misery may love company, misery gets ticked off when duped. A true friend sympathatizes with the pain and doesn't try to treat it as anything other than what it is - a major disappointment. This is an approach which Ian himself has followed. When someone posts regarding lack of success the invariable response is "That sucks." Is this harsh? Perhaps, but it is also the truth and the reason this site is successful. There will of course be times when someone is having a particularly difficult time dealing with a rejection and this "medicine" most likely won't help. This may well have been what govenor was thinking. In these cases premed101 simply won't be the best place to work out the failure. I hope my posting will be taken for what it is - a reaction to a behaviour that I simply cannot support. I hope this has caused govenor to perhaps reconsider the wisdom of creating fictional failure-buddies for his friends. I think we're all adult enough to experience life straight-on. Govenor, I must state for the record that I bear you absolutely no ill will personlly and I wish to sincerely second the best wishes you have received for this coming fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest monkey Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 as harsh as it is, and a topic that i am sure should be buried soon enough, i agree with zack when he says "Although misery may love company, misery gets ticked off when duped. A true friend sympathatizes with the pain and doesn't try to treat it as anything other than what it is - a major disappointment." Does your friend still not visit this site? because if he/she does, i am sure they are very embarrased and disappointed by such behaviour. and even if they didnt, the fact that you got into some school when you siad you hadnt really undermines the value and strength of your friendship. But whatever. its done with and hopefully everything will be back to normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest governorgeneral Posted June 27, 2002 Report Share Posted June 27, 2002 hey zack2006, hey monkey, thanks all. like i said, this is perhaps a matter for an "is honesty always the best policy debate". creating a "failure buddy" was one minor way of sympathising and providing support with the unfortunate turn of events at cost to no one. seems silly now, i agree, but at the time, every bit helps. "embarassed and disappointed" by seeing all this here - my belief exactly, which is why i simply called it a "long story", and wanted to email zack2006 personally. better yet, zack could've emailed me or ian directly with the (valid) concerns. no worries though. zack2006 - will you be at u of s next year? good luck with everything, and look forward to reading more of your adventures in the the year to come. [edited to respond to zack and monkey] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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