I love the regimen and I think it is what “saved” my skin. However, it was the learning and the “transformation” I went through in my thinking and practices that made the regimen actually work for me. By transformation I mean that I learned to be gentle. You preconceived idea is to scrub and scrub and to use certain ingredients and try and get rid of the oil all day long. I had to really train myself not to do that because it was so ingrained in me to do those things. I learned to do differently. But more than that I learned how to know ingredients. I learned how skin works and what makes acne happen. I learned how the regimen was preventing it. I can actually answer almost anything anyone has to ask me and I can give a good explanation on what a person needs to do. If it was not for all the “other things” this site has to offer I would not be like that.

So, while I think the regimen should shine brightly as the center of what the site is built around I definitely think that everything else that the site offers is necessary and beneficial to all. I would not get rid of anything. Possibly you could design it so that it seemed that the regimen jumped out at you more, but I think it is pretty good as it is.

First of all, I wanted to thank you for the Regimen. I’ve tried seemingly every product with no success until now. I’m almost 5 weeks into it and my skin is completely clear. I get a few bumps now and then, but they are small and disappear quite quickly. In short, I’m a complete convert.

I wanted to throw in my two cents about the focus of the site. As I’m sure most of us here are aware, there are tons of ads all over the internet for acne miracle cures which either underperform, or don’t work at all. When I first visited Acne.org, the Regimen seemed like another scam that promised impossible results. What convinced me otherwise was the fact that you not only allow users to list and rate other products, but also offer mainstream commercial alternatives to the Regimen products you yourself manufacture.

In my opinion, Acne.org’s focus on the problem of acne as a whole, strengthens the focus on the Regimen as well. The blogs, forums, product reviews and alternate options for Regimen products all convinced me that you are more concerned about the problem of acne as a whole, and not necessarily in shilling your own personal products (which work quite amazingly I might add.)

It is a bit strange that so many people on the forums seem to be either not using the Regimen, or using some highly modified version of it. I think this might confuse some new users, but I think it’s also important for those who haven’t found success with the Regimen to have a community with which to discuss alternative treatment options.

On a side note, I do think a clinical trial would be a good idea and would make the Regimen seem a little bit more legitimate to new visitors of the site.

In my opinion, what you do at the end of the GET CLEAR section, you compare products which is perfect! This is incredibly helpful, and this is the kind of input I need. I need the visual comparison to make a better choice. I always check in with that section as opposed to the review forum. It helps to know what my other choices are, but then I feel like I am back to ground zero trying to figure out what to use. This is when I leave that part of the website, and go back to the regimen.
Thanks Dan and good luck!

Go ahead and make The Regimen the star of the show!

thanks so much! your awesome!

thanks Dan

Also, I just recently ordered a starter kit, and it’s been a good seven days, and it still has not arrived, I just got notice from UPS that it will be arriving March 02.. 3 more days? I wish it would have came quicker.. I have a big pimple on my forehead!

thanks for everything Dan

I immediately assumed it didn’t bring anything new to the table or focus on a particular regimen. If I knew it did I would have then investigated what that was, and found the personal videos of you highly appealing, namely the honesty and non-commercial feel, which your benzoyl peroxide prices confirm – and it *would* be necessary for me to check them to corroborate your word. Unfortunate, but we’ve both seen the Proactiv commercials versus the actual minuscule overcharged bottles.

I agree with Voce as well, and will say that the forums seem much too broad and disorganized in a sense. I see far too many people with their own strange and unique treatments saying, “THIS one works, use THIS one”. I’m sorry but there’s too much conflict here – it isn’t helpful, and a trial and error of each is infeasible.

The signal to noise ratio is too low, and it’s a fault of the technology for not making this stupid easy. For one thing, user interfaces must be designed to require the *ABSOLUTE LEAST* interaction from the user. An example: To centralize discussion and reduce redundancy a user should search for an existing topic related to their query before creating their own. But this will very rarely occur, there is too much friction – yes, even the small amount that exists right now is far too much. The solution is to reduce that as much as possible – you dynamically search for existing similar topics AS a user types in a new topic, using that text of theirs. (See uservoice.com for instance. Actually you should just check this out anyways: http://uservoice.com/)

There is a new site for computer programmers about programming, called stackoverflow (http://stackoverflow.com/about). As it’s for programmers by programmers I think they have a bit of an edge. It’s a carefully engineered and constantly improved hybrid of various techniques, such as those from Wikipedia and digg.com for getting the cream to rise to the top.

So my bottom line advice for the forum situation is: technology. To quote that about page I linked, it really needs to be like falling into the pit of success. Stupid easy. As wonderful as people are and as much as I love them, a page of guidelines (or similar) will be of little success, for many many reasons.

I can give you sources and detailed explanations of my opinions I’ve expressed here upon request.
I’ve been a hobbyist programmer most of my young life so far, and I’ve interest in usability (especially) and crowd-sourcing. I’d also love to volunteer whatever skills and services I can to acne.org, I’ve just been busy, but I should get in touch.

Just to be clear, the website is just fine for spotlighting the Regimen. I only meant that the FORUMS seem to be filled with folks who haven’t heard of the Regimen. Are they passing up the Regimen info on the webpage & going straight to the forums, or are they following a link from somewhere else that takes them directly to the forums? Sorry for the confusion.

Once again, I gotta say I love the way you do business. Where else can we interact with the guy who produces our products, & know that we are heard? I loves me some Dan.

Thanks Dan!