Price vs Happiness, in glasses

[mervinek]

Not everyone on Optiboard has the luxury of owning our own business and being held accountable only to ourselves for what we post online. Many optiboarders work in retail locations or for ODs who may not appreciate the honest opinions or views of their staff being posted on a public forum under their own names. An optician who honestly believes that X is the best lens style but works for an office that is contracted to push Y (or whose OD holds that opinion without any sort of influence/incentive) cannot come here under his or her own name and post "X is the best lens, despite what my office says" and not expect ramifications. Ditto for sharing practice management strategies, vis a vis what works and what does not.

The anonymity of the internet lets a lot of people get away with s---, but it also allows others to bring the s---- into the light. It's a tradeoff.

agreed! +1

[Craig]

Not entirely true, Chris. Pseudonym use is not always about posting crap without repercussion.

There is no reason to hide behind a fake name and spout crap! If you don't have to be known there is no filter necessary so the comments about working for others is garbage! If you are respectful and intelligent you and your employer should be proud of what you say and who you work with; idiots hide behind psuedo-names and say **** they would never say in-person. I will not take seriously anyone who will continue to hide.

[userod]

I see a few people here who are open-minded to the topic. Thanks for replying!

[Tallboy]

Tallboy was my nickname given to me by the mostly carribean born Lab staff at the first tiny surfacing lab I used to pull laps in when I started in the industry knowing absolutely nothing 13 years ago. I used that name, now I am extremely lucky to own my own place (or partners anyway) and I can say my own name (Ian) - but I would never have felt comfortable doing so at many of my other (mostly corporate owned) places of employment.

[Browman]

There is no reason to hide behind a fake name and spout crap! If you don't have to be known there is no filter necessary so the comments about working for others is garbage! If you are respectful and intelligent you and your employer should be proud of what you say and who you work with; idiots hide behind psuedo-names and say **** they would never say in-person. I will not take seriously anyone who will continue to hide.

I once worked for an OD who ran their office incredibly poorly. We alienated customers with long wait times and aggressive sales pitches by the doctor, had high churn, and were beholden to whatever rep had the best deal 'o the week. We blindly sold whatever product our Essilor rep told us to, because our rep and the OD were besties and hung out on the weekends. Our OD was also incredibly insecure about dissent in the office and would most certainly have brought some kind of disciplinary action against me if they knew that I was writing here on Optiboard. During that time, Optiboard was a lifeline-- a place to come and learn the things I wasn't learning on the job, vent to my fellow opticians, and see that there was a life beyond this particular store.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of the blessed few who has the money and resources to work for himself and be held accountable only to himself. Your standards of non-anonymity would create a veritable oligarchy where only business owners and sanctioned company representatives would be able to post here. Opticians working in chain retail, big box, or simply for petty, vindictive employers would have no outlet for their frustrations, avenues to broader knowledge, or networking opportunities. It would be a board of the rich and powerful for the rich and powerful, and de facto stamp out the very dissent that created the need for pseudonyms in the first place. That is not a world I want to live in; and I doubt very much that many other Optiboarders do, either.

[AngeHamm]

There is no reason to hide behind a fake name and spout crap!

There are a lot of reasons to hide behind pseudonyms on a publicly-searchable board if you want to ask questions or give answers your employer may not like. You're painting with an awfully broad brush here, my friend. I've gotten great info from pseudonymous people here and "crap" from plenty of people using their real names. The quality of the information has no relationship to the screen name.

[Quince]

I find it interesting that if I use my really name- whatever I say is transformed from crap into something worth reading. Craig, I'm sorry, but your attitude is not going to gain you any new customers. I'm not saying anything I wouldn't with my real name, but guess what? This is the internet and I like being anonymous. This is the only form of 'social media' I use and that often baffle those my own age. I'm not promoting anything so why do you need to be able to look me up? In fact, I don't even use my real last name for anything that isn't for legal purposes. I use my middle name because it has a nice ring to it and I never met my biological father. Is that enough information for you, or should I add my SSN?

...deep breath. But really, I do want to know why you care if I use my given name or not? Are you Facebook stalking OptiBoarders? Why else would it matter? Serious question.

[Quince]

Also this nit-picking has NOTHING to do with the OP, so I apologize for adding to this dialogue. Just getting tired of self-promoting and user bashing on here by founders of whatever companies. Funny how the only ones who care about pseudonyms are the ones pushing product...

[Craig]

There are a lot of reasons to hide behind pseudonyms on a publicly-searchable board if you want to ask questions or give answers your employer may not like. You're painting with an awfully broad brush here, my friend. I've gotten great info from pseudonymous people here and "crap" from plenty of people using their real names. The quality of the information has no relationship to the screen name.

The difference is the ones who attack and are nasty behind a fake name; not real humans who want to ask a question or for help. I think you can't have a fake name and be an ***----.

90% of the folks are fine but if you read there a few who are just plain mean and hide behind a fake name; that will never be OK with me.

Just sick of the few who think hiding behind a keyboard is a sport.

[lensmanmd]

I am about people hiding and talking crap not legit conversation or questions!

All I said was that pseudonyms are not always used to spout crap, and yet you attack.

idiots hide behind psuedo-names and say **** they would never say in-person. Just sick of the few who think hiding behind a keyboard is a sport

You do have a point here. These types of idiots are called trolls. And some trolls use names that seem real.

I will not take seriously anyone who will continue to hide.

Sorry to hear that. Many of the most interesting discussions and contributions here are made by those that "hide" behind a pseudonym.

To completely butcher a most powerful quote by MLK, "I have a dream that one day we will not be judged by the name on our screen but by the content of our character"

May your future posts be fruitful.

[mervinek]

This thread has gone off topic.

[Kwill212]

.... I will not take seriously anyone who will continue to hide.

Hate to break it to you, but the vast majority of users on this board probably don't care one iota if you take them seriously or not. We are here for the optics, not to please our high and mighty overlords from LenSync.

[Quince]

To be fair, Harry isn't stirring the pot.

[Chris Ryser]

Funny how the only ones who care about pseudonyms are the ones pushing product...

The most pushed products right here on OptiBoard are:


Progressive lenses............and................AR Coatings

and all of them are posted by anonymous names

[lensgrinder]

"Wearer trials"....that's what I'd like to see. All I see is marketing otherwise, and of course, our great success with just about all PAL designs.

We publish white papers on our lens designs that encompass data from the wearer trials, these papers are not marketing and they provide technical information about our designs.
Great success can come from a standard PAL design (we have standard lenses that are free form with an optimized design that you control), however it is standard based on averages. You are unable to design for position of wear, center of rotation, base curve, more inset, less inset, etc. Knowing these parameter help improve reading, corridor width/length, driving, etc.
Effective Rx from a standard lens will be different than what you refracted, much like the difference between a CL Rx and the refracted Rx.
Free form allows you to design a lens based on chief complaints and not trying to fit all problems into one lens.
I will be happy to send you our white papers if you are interested.
My email address is brent.mccardle@zeiss.com

[Quince]

The most pushed products right here on OptiBoard are:


Progressive lenses............and................AR Coatings

and all of them are posted by anonymous names

I would consider the topics of AR and PALs to be more about comparison. I don't get paid if someone else starts offering a lens design or coating that I like.

[Browman]

The most pushed products right here on OptiBoard are:


Progressive lenses............and................AR Coatings

and all of them are posted by anonymous names

So can everyone who posts here anonymously safely assume that you'll give us jobs and pay for relocation if we're terminated for posting under our real names?

[Uilleann]

The most pushed products right here on OptiBoard are:


Progressive lenses............and................AR Coatings

and all of them are posted by anonymous names

Spoken like someone permanently stuck 4 decades in the past. PAL & multi-layer Anti Reflection design have come light years from where the industry once were. Only a fool in this business would look down their nose at quantifiable advancements in the field.

[Kujiradesu]

So can everyone who posts here anonymously safely assume that you'll give us jobs and pay for relocation if we're terminated for posting under our real names?

(^0^ ) Thats the rub isn't it.

I wholeheartedly support the right to remain anonymous. However, Chris, let's be frank if someone wanted to find out a persons identity on here there are ways to do so. There are basement dwelling troglodytes who can back-track internet traffic to an IP address and use that IP address to pinpoint a location and use that location to determine an identity. Kids in high-school can do this. So, just let us have our illusory anonymity and don't make us feel bad about it.

[Chris Ryser]

Spoken like someone permanently stuck 4 decades in the past. PAL & multi-layer Anti Reflection design have come light years from where the industry once were. Only a fool in this business would look down their nose at quantifiable advancements in the field.

This is not the first time I have been called a fool in this business ....

However I have been able to live a good life in a self made independent optical business environment, from owning a 50 ft motor yacht for 30 years, to spending 24 winters in my own house on the golf course in Florida.

Maybe whenever I will get another lifecycle I might choose another another one to become a fool, as this time.

[Chris Ryser]

(^0^ ) Thats the rub isn't it.

I wholeheartedly support the right to remain anonymous. However, Chris, let's be frank if someone wanted to find out a person's identity on here there are ways to do so.

So, just let us have our illusory anonymity and don't make us feel bad about it.

No problem you can keep it. I have been around the OptiBoard for 15 years on a regular basis. This discussion has come up on a regular interval, and sometimes even gets into arguments.

Having been around computers since they started out in the early 1980s.

I am familiar with most basic Internet rules.

[mervinek]

I'm an OD.

I only know what I read and have experienced so never ever call me an expert in anything.

This isn't a question about selling more or making more money.

When I read in my trade journals, I read propaganda. I don't know how much better a FF is to standard form.

I'm trying to get to my question here.

Ok, here it is.

Why do you think the price of what you're selling (in a lens or coating) is really worth more than a less expensive product?

You might wonder why I ask. And this brings me to that more deeper question.....are the more expensive products really worth the extra dollars? And if so, why are they worth that extra amount? If they are so much more advanced, why are they not worth $500/lens or more?

How do you get your drive to sell it as if it's $100 better knowing the marketing is leading you to say the things you might say?

Is happiness really just how much you spent or saved on this kind of product because I don't know how you explain a lens that they can't use until it's in their glasses.

Reminder for those who need to know what the original post was!

[userod]

Is there a standard format for a white paper on a lens design? Maybe not. Maybe I'm getting somewhere with this. What are the criteria? Or what are the words that people use to define their lens?

And is there a repository for all the white papers for lens designs? I'd like to peruse that.



Jamie, my real nickname, ha ha for that

We publish white papers on our lens designs that encompass data from the wearer trials, these papers are not marketing and they provide technical information about our designs.
Great success can come from a standard PAL design (we have standard lenses that are free form with an optimized design that you control), however it is standard based on averages. You are unable to design for position of wear, center of rotation, base curve, more inset, less inset, etc. Knowing these parameter help improve reading, corridor width/length, driving, etc.
Effective Rx from a standard lens will be different than what you refracted, much like the difference between a CL Rx and the refracted Rx.
Free form allows you to design a lens based on chief complaints and not trying to fit all problems into one lens.
I will be happy to send you our white papers if you are interested.
My email address is brent.mccardle@zeiss.com

[Hayde]

It would be nice to have a simple, regularly maintained library for comparative PAL analytics. In many ways, patient care could really benefit. I do see the hesitation of the lens designers, however. I hate to say that enough dispensers would grossly oversimplify what they read, and their kneejerk judgments would quickly wipe entire manufacturers off the board. If there were one brutal coliseum arena for lenses to live or die on being 'the best' of whatever metric makes it into column A, we'd quickly have less competition, not more. We'd have fewer companies researching, not more. Consumers would have fewer options rather than more.

Frustrating conundrum. For now, it's 'Cola Wars.'

[Tallboy]

The Lensguru.com used to be similar to what you say Hayde. But that was back in the day before a progressive "lens" was actually a widely varied digital portfolio of different designs and corridor lengths. It would be almost impossible to do now, and like you say I doubt lens designers would be interested in helping to make it possible.