Industry is Blogging These NewsGroups | John Sayers’ Recording Studio Design Forum archive

WARNING: Industry is Blogging These NewsGroups to Protect Their Monopolies To : All participants and readers of sci.med, misc.health.alternative, uk.people.health, talk.politics.medicine Please be aware that many comments and responses posted to this forum are not those [spam link removed by moderator] of casual posters interested in an honest exchange. A number of individuals with ties to industry are attempting to shape public sentiment about the risks of mainstream medicine while attacking the benefits and validity of natural medicine. I refer to these individuals broadly as [spam link removed by moderator] "Pharma Bloggers" (see footnote). For obvious reasons, pharma bloggers on usenet don't promote a specific company or product, as might be the case with standard "blogging" on a weblog, but there is a common thread between [spam link removed by moderator] industry blogging in a web blog and industry participation in a newsgroup: both are done under the pretense that the poster is not professionally affiliated. Most of these people are likely to be associated with a PR project whose "blogging" efforts are underwritten anonymously by the media or marketing groups of industry. They are not difficult to identify due to specific patterns in their posting. Please familiarize yourself with these tactics so you can identify them. See:[spam link removed by moderator] See: [spam link removed by moderator] What to look for while participating in usenet newsgroups: 1. Pharma Bloggers on usenet use intimidation, mockery, and insults to silence those who express belief or interest in natural medicine. They actively discourage a scientific discussion and disrupt ongoing discussions that explore alternative treatments in healthcare. 2. Pharma Bloggers on usenet attack those who question the effectiveness of mainstream medicine, asserting that disease-management "healthcare" is the only viable form of treatment. Their comments are frequently embedded in pseudo-scientific jargon, but without supporting scientific documentation. 3. Pharma Bloggers on usenet post the majority of their responses simply to bury the comments of others; they also strive obsessively to have the last word. 4. Pharma Bloggers on usenet are much faster at posting than casual participants; they almost always respond first to a new thread, question, or observation. 5. Pharma Bloggers on usenet use multiple "bloggers" in a swap-&-relay fashion to create an aura of the "consensus view" in an effort to isolate [spam link removed by moderator] posters who express interest in natural medicine approaches. You will see this tactic used more often than any other. 6. Pharma Bloggers on usenet refute numerous quality studies published in major medical journals showing the benefits of natural medicine applied in naturopathic healthcare, [spam link removed by moderator] including nutrient supplementation, exercise, stress reduction, biofeedback, accupuncture, accupressure, reflexology, and other approaches. You can find the science supporting a variety of natural medicine methods at [spam link removed by moderator] 7. Pharma Bloggers on usenet frequently refer readers to "quack-busting" websites designed to attack natural medicine approaches and their proponents. Under the guise of "consumer protection," the extreme bias of these promoters belies their true motives and reveals their ties to industry. 8. Pharma Bloggers on usenet rely on junk science references to support their attacks on natural healing methods. They decline to provide meaningful scientific references in support of their defense of most conventional treatments. Since most [spam link removed by moderator] conventional medicines are either marginally effective, unproven, or dangerous, it is not suprising that purely anecdotal or observational studies (usually sponsored by the drug makers) are the only "science" available to them. 9. Pharma Bloggers on usenet assert that conventional medicine is "evidence based," however the lack of corroborating science disproves that claim. Chemotherapy drugs, for instance, are unproven in the majority of cancers, yet FDA permits these drugs to remain in use as "experimental trial" medications, as has been the case for more than thirty years. For most cancer patients, there is no proven benefit in the use of these expensive and toxic chemicals. 10. Pharma Bloggers on usenet ignore iatrogenic studies that show the dangerous side effects of prescription drugs (ie., at least 100,000 deaths annually), as well as a 20% recall for all previously approved drugs. They also ignore hundreds of studies showing a disease relationship to use of such [spam link removed by moderator] and other unsafe medical treatments. Tip: If you find yourself engaging a poster whose defense of mainstream medicine is unusually dramatic in tone, or inexplicably vicious toward others, and if that response is an attempt to attack natural medicine, you can be sure you have stumbled upon a "Pharma Blogger." Unfortunately, there are more of these individuals posting to usenet on a daily basis than almost anyone else, which is why I am posting this alert. [spam link removed by moderator] If you find it odd that so few people on health-related usenet newsgroups are expressing an interest in natural medicine, it isn't because they aren't there, it's because they have been intimidated into silence. The Pharma [spam link removed by moderator] Bloggers have over-run the various newsgroups with their industrial brand of dogma, mockery, and ridicule. Many casual posters are simply[spam link removed by moderator] frightened away. That's a primary goal of these industry-sponsored media grunts, and they are very good at it. * Comment on objections about use of the word "blogging" in this newsgroufunction as an internet forum. Internet forums typically allow any user to post (into the discussion). Blogs [spam link removed by moderator] typically limit posting to the blogger or to the blogger and approved others. The distinction between blogs and forums is sometimes gray.[spam link removed by moderator] Sites such as Slashdot, Indymedia and Daily Kos combine elements of the two...many bloggers differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. SOME INSTITUTIONS SEE BLOGGING AS A MEANS OF "GETTING AROUND THE FILTER" AND PUSHING MESSAGES DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC [emphasis mine.] Some critics worry that bloggers[spam link removed by moderator] respect neither intellectual property nor the role of the mass media in presenting society with credible news." Also from Wikipedia: "A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of [spam link removed by moderator] weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is[spam link removed by moderator] called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are called "blog posts," "posts" or "entries". A person who posts these [spam link removed by moderator] entries is called a "blogger". A blog comprises hypertext, images,[spam link removed by moderator] and links (to other web pages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular "area of interest", such as Washington, D.C.'s political goings-on. Some blogs discuss personal experiences." While the advent of [spam link removed by moderator] blogging was preceded by newsgroups, there are more similiarities in the nature of interaction between posters in these venues (mainly distinguished by their software platforms) than there are differences. [spam link removed by moderator] Also note that I didn't refer to the newsgroup itself as a weblog, I referred to individual posters as "blogging" here on behalf of industry[spam link removed by moderator] . While my focus is on behaviour and science, the pharma bloggers rely on semantic arguments, non sequiturs, and personal attacks in their effort to distract from the real issues. Pharma Blogger: An individual who uses the Internet, and Usenet newsgroups, to[spam link removed by moderator] : 1) promote and defend maintstream medicine and disease management; 2) attack those who express a preference for natural medicine; and[spam link removed by moderator] 3) cite a variety of junk medical science funded by industry for the purpose of establishing markets for marginally effective, and often dangerous, medical products and devices. any thoughts from anyone? THANKS FOR HELP