55 Comments on Quackometer Comments…

  1. I agree.

    I though skepdic.com what THE INTERNETS PREMIER source for lies and deception.

    It is now second fiddle to this!

    Jesus H Christ, just look at the links… every skeptic fuckface on the planet is here!

    Look mush….

    James Randi = Liar
    PSICOPS = Liars
    Skepdic.com = Liar
    Australian Skeptics = Liars

    Black Quack = LIAR!

    If I had my way I’d have this website banned/destroyed on the grounds on prejudice against certain beliefs.

  2. Welcome all,

    Always a pleasure to have such erudite and eloquent discourse.

    PS It’s INTERNET’S PREMIER not INTERNETS PREMIER

  3. Just to let the anti-skeptics know that I welcome all constructive comments and input to this project. If you feel that I may have made an error or you believe there are ways I can improve this site then feel free to let me know.

    If, however, your CAPS LOCK key is broken, or you appear to have internet tourette’s syndrome then I am at liberty to delete your comments. It’s quicker for me to delete comments than it is for you to type. This is a bit of fun and about making arguments.

  4. Well said,

    First let me say I am neither an ‘anti-skeptic’ nor a ‘pro-skeptic’, but what worries me is the bile spat by both sides against each other. I think the ‘truth’ (for want of better word) is being buried under the lies and deceptions of BOTH skeptics and believers as they insult and ridicule each other in a battle for dominance of the minds of the public!

    If, indeed, these ‘alternative practioners’ are fakes, then they deserve all the ridicule they get.

    But be honest Andy Lewis, is the protection of the public from fakery your main goal?

    Or is your main goal just to spread skeptic debunkery, regardless of it’s justification?

    What makes me think this is your highlighting of the ‘skepticism is the path to truth’ quote, in big red letters.

    Not true…. if we all disbelieved everything, we would, as a species, have got nowhere, because we would have considered nothing worth researching!

    ‘Open mindedness is the path to truth’

    Now, take a belief in something, then scientifically study it, and find out if it’s true or false… that’s the way!

    And I also note the huge list of skeptic and ‘anti-spiritual’ science websites, which are outside the scope of alternative medicene. Pure skeptic propaganda IMO!

    I think you are coming from that pure militant skeptic philosophy. I believe you are here to just ridicule and debunk for sheer skepticism’s sake.

    I am afraid I must declare, then, that absolutely every single word this Andy Lewis writes is most definately contaminated by skeptical hatred and not to be trusted 100%. But, that is NOT to say he is a total liar, not at all!

    My advice is to think for yourselves, think on what Andy says, but not take it all in like wet nappies!

    My advice to GENUINE alternative meds that have been ridiculed on this site. This is actually known as slander, a criminal offence, challenge Andy Lewis in the courts, if you can, simple as that!
    Prove to us you are geniune!

    My advice to FAKE alternative meds is this… tough… you deserve all the ridicule that can be thrown at you…. and with fake meds, good luck in your war against them Andy. Just don’t let your hatred of all ‘sprituality’ and religion blind you.

    PS/ If this message vanishes… then this will merely confirm that I really do know exactly what kind of ‘skeptic’ you really are Andy.

  5. Thanks you ‘Anonymous’ for a little more straightforward post.

    I think you misunderstand what being a sceptic is. All we ask is for appropriate evidence for the health claims being made. Being open-minded is one thing, but we also have the mind to reject nonsense when there is no evidence or accept a claim when there is. That is both having an open mind and also using it. Only having an open mind leads to credulousness.

    Whilst we are on the subject of evidence – you have made a number of accusations against me and the site but provide nothing to back up your claims. If you have evidence of any errors then please let me know. Otherwise, it just looks like a rant.

  6. Ok – I suppose I did sound accusational in that message, so I’ll put it differently. I get the ‘feeling’ that you are the kind of ‘untrustworthy’ skeptic that I described. Funny enough I think the same about James Randi, and a lot of the skeptical organisations out there…. but you see, to be skeptic is their job! Maybe they fear, if they admit to ‘believing’ in anything, then their stoic reputations will be tarnished…. and that is sad if they really are thinking that way!

    I certainly think I do understand skeptics quite well – in my own idiom… and I’ve had many a bad experience with them (eg intimatidatory emails, bullying etc).. so whenever I hear skeptics claiming to be the ‘good guys – just trying to winkle out the truth’ I always think “how utterly sanctimonious”. Wolves in sheep’s clothing springs to mind!

    Anyhow, put very briefly, it is just the general writing style and the general content of this site that gives me those suspicions! So I wont state you have made any errors, deliberate or otherwise, but maybe, maybe you are a little conservative with the full story! Only telling half a story (the half they like) has been a very common, and very powerful weapon in the skeptic’s arsenal… and done cleverly (and skeptics are definately very very clever, in an evil genius sort of way LOL!;-)) such things can be virtually impossible to expose!

    Mind you.. I looked at some of those sites you make fun of… and I also thought – what a load of old crap! Maybe I’m getting skeptic myself.

    I did try hypnosis once to stop smoking, but it didn’t work – presumably because I didn’t want to stop – it was only a nagging spouse that drove me to it!

    Since then, I have quit the weed, without the hypnosis too!

    BTW… I’m not ranting my friend! It’s just I get very verbose sometimes… like now…. hope you’re still awake!!

  7. Not awake – bust just about now.

    I have to say that yet again you write just more accusations about this site without evidence. If you can present an argument about something that I may have got wrong then I will fully respect that and listen to you. But just ‘feelings’ that I might be an ‘evil genius’ really isn’t saying much, is it?

  8. I ended up here after searching for “Wendy Denning”. Despite what she writes on her website (which makes her sound like a very lovely person with a good background in conventional medicine), she’s very much gone over to the other “quack” side.

    I have personal experience from a consultation with her and believe me she’s not a “private GP”, whatever that is.

    Your site gives her 1 out of 10. I’d give her an 8.

  9. Le Canard Noir

    Thanks for posting your site!

    The general comments on Quackery are very good.

    The quack-assessment of my site seems to be accurate to me.

    I’ve been called a Crank by just about everyone at one time or another. ha ha.

    What I am is a Medical Maverick. When the world said it couldn’t be done, out of desperation, we did it anyway.

    All are welcome. The site is free.

    http://www.FibroFix.com

    Tells the Symptoms, Diagnosis, Discoveries, Treatment and Meds for an effective method to treat Fibromyalgia, CFS, RLS, ME.

    Anne
    Orlando, FL

    407-925-4139

  10. I take issue with one one the many anonymous comments that “if we all disbelieved everything, we would, as a species, have got nowhere, because we would have considered nothing worth researching!”

    Most of the great advances in science have been made by those who questioned or denied accepted beliefs.

    The early explorers who refused to believe the world was flat for instance.

    The astronomers who believed the world was not the centre of our Universe might also be described as sceptics – especially brave in an age when such theories were considered to be heretical and punishable by death.

    How about Dr. John Snow (1813-1858) who did not believe that cholera was spread in the Victorian atmospheric ‘miasma’ but was in the water supply?

    The Wright brothers also refused to accept the impossibility of ‘heavier than air’ machines capable of sustained flight.

    Of course it might be argued by anti-sceptics that much quackery is simply another challenge to accepted beliefs.

    The only difference being of course is that the early explorers proved the world was round, the astronomers proved the world orbited around the sun, John Snow proved that cholera was water borne and the Wright brothers proved that man could fly.

    As for advocating that ‘genuine’ alternative medical practitioners sue for slander – this could be a bit tricky as most courts require some element of proof.

    It is obvious from the poor spelling and appalling language of hatred they use, that many anti-sceptics are sadly ill educated and have to make a living somehow – and that quackery is their only option.

    An excellent blog and hugely informative and entertaining – keep up the good work!

  11. How this site has grown! Hate mail and everything, truly wonderful. I may be using the QoM to mine for SciencePunk targets in the near future.
    Mostly I’m writing to say thanks for including me on your blogroll! I’m thinking, in future I may footnote all my articles with a “see results for XXX on Quackometer”. I think that would be neat.

    Best,

  12. I am not a fake or a quack and I would sue you if I could find you. Meanwhile, I will publicise your appalling witch hunt as much as possible. What cheek you have…..how on earth do you think you can award me (or anyone else) 10 ducks based on my website because of a few key words you have decided are “quackery”. I am a properly trained nutrtional therapist registered with BANT (an orginastion not in the habit of taking on fakes or quacks as members. I am NHS approved and could send you a list of hundreds of patients whose health has improved 100% because of my advice. See you in court matey. I haven’t looked up Dr McKeith but she certainly has the means and the power to sue your bottom off. I’m on the case!

  13. I am neither a fake nor a quack and I would sue you if I could find you. Meanwhile, I will publicise your appalling witch hunt as much as possible. What cheek you have…..how on earth do you think you can award me (or anyone else) 10 ducks based on my website because of a few key words you have decided are “quackery”. I am a properly trained nutrtional therapist registered with BANT (an orginastion not in the habit of taking on fakes or quacks as members. I am also NHS approved and could send you a list of hundreds of patients whose health has improved 100% because of my advice. See you in court matey. I haven’t looked up Dr McKeith but she certainly has the means and the power to sue your bottom off. I’m on the case!

  14. I keep trying to leave a comment about your giving my site a full 10 Quacks, but it won’t go through. I wonder why?! I would like to communicate with you further before I threaten to take you to court for slander.

    Suzi Grant,
    Nutritional Therapist & Author.

  15. Dear Andy,

    I don’t really think of myself as a sceptic or a quack (your terminology) but as a scientist; albeit one with a foot in the commercial world, as a quick google search will reveal. On the whole, however, I agree with your attempts to winnow (and harrow, where appropriate) the dangerously uncritical nonsense that some alternative therapists push; and am involved in various programmes designed to create national schemes of training and accreditation for nutritionists, nutritional therapists and medically qualified persons who wish to work with nutritional or pharmaco-nutritional tools.

    You must be aware, though, that there are a number of structural reasons why the levels of proof you (and I) would like to see to support nutritional therapy are so rarely achieved. There are well understood regulatory and financial reasons for this, and political issues as well which have made progress difficult and slow.

    Notwithstanding, I would be happy to debate the merits or otherwise of pharmaco-nutrition with you, in this or any other arena.

    By the way, I would be very interested to know if you work within the healthcare industry in some capacity; and whether you are in receipt of pharmaceutical monies, either directly or indirectly. Let us make our positions clear!

    All the best,

    Paul (Clayton)

  16. Have you thought of linking up with ‘The Dirty Duck’ pub in Stratford Upon Avon & finding out what the “luvvies” think? I am a 1st year not born again student reflexologist who lives in the town.

  17. I am requesting an update to 0 on your scoring system. http://www.msreversed.com is not quackery. I have put my heart and soul into this website.
    I have bonafide proof on my site as to who I am and what I am all about. I am for real. I fought MS and I WON! This nightly email/google update I get of where my site is showing up (and that being here) is getting rediculous. I would love to converse with you, only if you are an open minded person, and I’ll be more than happy to explain how kinesiology works and why MS, along with most all other diseases are reversible. Again, would appreciate an updated grade.

  18. Dear Anonymous, I am afraid that on this occaision, your request for the http://www.msreversed.com site to score 0 canards has been denied. The computer says ‘No’. Should you be able to submit significant non-anecdotal evidence on the efficacy of kinesiology then of course the quackometer will reconsider.

    PS Glad your MS is better…

  19. I am glad to see the person running this blog has a hobby. To bad it hurts others. Just because this is “quackery” to you doesn’t mean any of this stuff doesn’t really work.
    You can add me to the list of those that will sue your arse off. I will be hiring a detective this afternoon.

  20. Dear Anonymous. To save you expensive detective fees, and to help you ‘turn me in’, my email address is, as always, on the bottom of my home page. Queries, comments, insults and lawyers letters can all be sent there. Have fun.

  21. Hey!
    I had previously asked you to edit my “canards” to 0. Thank you for just allowing me and my website to be advertised here!
    Actually, thanks for the FREE advertising opportunity!! Sales have boosted this last month and many of my customers have told me where they found me and say your site was their referral! After viewing your site and then viewing my site, they read my story and…. Wow, who knew!
    I have been helping quite a few MS patients, all with outstanding results as your site being their referring agent! Thanks a lot! I do appreciate it. (at first, I did not.) Please send more my way! If they have health problems, MS Reversed will most likely be their LAST stop. Again, thanks!

  22. AS a first time visitor to this site, my only thought is that you need to send all your little black canards to my farm for some PROPER training. Ducks are excellent company when given a chance. Yours seem to be quite nasty. Must be all drakes badly in need of some hen company.

  23. Julie – you said it, “Who knows?”. I’m glad your business is lucrative and genuinely hope it helps people, and is not just cynically taking advantage of desperate people. In the meantime, that non-anecdotal evidence of your claims would be fantastic!

    gtp – intrigued to know what your PROPER training for ducks is. You are not one of those Biodynamic famers are you that likes to stuff duck skulls with herbs and oak bark?

  24. Hello again,
    If you will notice on my site, all the products discussed (and every one of them mentioned in the research area) are clinically tested and there is science behind them all.

    I work with this doctor that manufactures them. He doesn’t manufacture toxic products and they all have zero toxic additives. These are live source products, something most people know nothing about (such as yourself).

    The non-anecdotal proof that you are asking for is all over my website. Each of his products has science behind it. Read the pdf’s.

    I am unsure of what else you are wanting to see. There is science behind brain cells regenerating. There is science behind pH being the key factor to living healthy life styles. There is science behind nutrition.

    You don’t have to take my word for it and neither do the people that come to my site for research or help. I make every single person that comes to me RESEARCH all avenues, and most of the time, by the time they reach me or my doctor, they already have and after a short time of being on the same things I was, they see results. They FEEL the difference in their body. People have gotten out of wheel chairs because of my doctor. People have lost 300 pounds, and KEPT IT OFF, because of my doctor. I mean, I am just not really sure of what you are wanting to know.

    If a person is going to eat nothing but trash, then very possibly they are going to feel like I did and/or have a brain looking like mine DID. If they clean up their diet and watch what they eat, nothing is impossible. Read ingredients. Understand what these toxic ingredients are {like MSG and aspartame, etc} and what they will do. Not what they might do. These two ingredients alone will expidite your death sentence. Want to die sooner rather than later, {which half of America apparently does}? Eat this processed trash that is sold on the grocery store shelves.

    This doctor and these products he has made available for the whole world are pure and non-toxic. And when the body is given the nutrients it needs, IT WILL HEAL ITSELF. 🙂 And there is science behind that, too.
    Sorry to have rambled, I am just explaining in plain english what the body can achieve. It is possible. And I am tired of people being lied to by the “powers that be”, hence my website.
    Julie-MS Reversed

  25. OK Julie, you have my attention. let’s keep this simple. I could bang on about abuse of the words ‘quantum’, ‘natural’ and ‘toxins’ but let’s just stick to Vit C. There is a lot of stuff on the site, but just one published paper showing how Vit C (living, quantum, REAL or whatever) can reverse MS. Any URLs please? You can always email me if you wish.

  26. There is contact page/shoutbox/message board and email links all over my website, so you could email me as well.

    I challenge you to first learn how to and then test your pH and give an honest reading. You will need pH paper and not a duck to do this. 😉 I already know what your pH is, but just entertain me and check it.

    Now for the Vit C page…. Are you misunderstanding the front page? No, it was not just Vitamin C that reversed my MS. I am adding pages to this site daily. You must know as well as everyone else on the planet that you are not going to find a honest website that will come right out and say “This will cure you of…” Or in the USA anyway. Too many “health” officials and pharmaceutical reps that will hang you for that. So if that is the type of information that you are wanting me to post, sorry, I can’t oblige.

    I don’t feel the need to prove myself to you or anyone else, for that matter. The people that I have worked with have found me, not the other way around. These people and people I personally know that has reversed their health problems is good enough for me.

    How this affects you, I can’t help. I just wish you would focus a fraction of your time pointing out the toxins in food and all the important things that are really toxicly affecting people and their pocket books, rather than finding websites to “bang” on.

    I just popped back in to see what your reply was going to be to my 5+ paragraphs. Sadly disappointed yet again. But, maybe I will ask a few of the people that I have worked with to come here and let you know how phoney I really am not. You just sound lonely. Bored and lonely. Unfortunately, we don’t have a complex for that. 😉
    When we start picking on wording that is trademarked and everything else, this is where I have to bow out of the conversation. You can pick, or “bang” on whatever you like. I will again, just say thank you for bringing attention to my website and for helping me advertise these 100% organic, live source, Quantum Rx nutraceuticals which in layman’s terms means = 100% non-tampered with, living foods that won’t kill you.

  27. Julie – you misunderstand me. I don’t want to wade through loads of stuff. I just want a reference to a paper on your claim that Vit C can sure diseases like MS. A published, peer-reviewed paper. No anecdotes.

    Right, back to my hectic, friend-filled, social life. Must dash!

  28. Hello there Little Black Duck.
    Must admit to being tad reluctant to wade through all the woo plus self-promoting individuals to reach here, but now that I’m here, here goes!

    Love the site, enjoy your comments, and recommend it to colleagues frequently!

    But your little quackometer needs a teeny adjustment. I’m often asked to comment on the weird and wonderful foods/tests/supplements/practices that income generate for the mock-docs and nut nutritionists. So the quackometer is correct to associate me with these…..BUT I’ve never endorsed such amateur musings, preferring evidence based or biologically plausible approaches instead.
    So perhaps the Quackometer Mark II can incorporate such anti-quack comments??
    Catherine Collins RD
    not going to sue, whinge, or drown my favourite bath duck if nothing changes. No conflict of interest. No website to direct web traffic to. Pure NHS and proud of it!

  29. Catherine!

    A pleasure to see you here and can I just say, keep up the good work!

    Um, I’m not sure though what your request is about. The quackometer gives you a very healthy 0 with various combinations of your name. A result I am happy to stick with.

    Am I missing something?

  30. Great site! It illustrates how easily quackery can be identified–even a computer program can do it, so why is it so hard for some people?

    I found a site with nine out of 10 canards!
    http://www.nudgez.com

    If the quackmeter gave points for egregious use of rainbow colors, Kristin Kopp could have gotten all ten. Better luck next time, Kristin.

  31. Hurrah! A naturopathist gave a “presentation” (read: sales talk) to an ME support group I am on the email list for. She got the full 10 Canards!

    I am sick of people telling me that because they have been lucky enough to spontaneously recover from *whatever illness* with the passage of time, I should give them all my money in the hope that the same might happen to me.

    That said, there is (so far as I know) no law against extracting money from the gullible. So good luck to ’em.

  32. What a neat idea! I look forward to watching your quackometer improve over time in response to reasonable feedback (unlike quackery).

    To those who post rants on your message board because an ALGORITHM ranks their website a certain way: Methinks the quacker doth protest too much…

  33. We’re currently spending £250 per month (actually the missus is not me) with a company who’s website you give 8 canards to – good job I have a sense of humour…..

  34. Dear Old Duck,

    In light of the adage that you can tell a man by his enemies – you’re doing the right thing.The self-regarding ignorance and hostility to reason demonstrated by your detractors reveals that they are still living, for the most part, in a pre-enlightenment world. People might not like what clarity and rationale show them – but the alternatives are even less appealing.

    Good luck, and check out Ben Goldacre (if you are not he)
    Paul C

  35. Your top banner doesn’t display properly in the google Chrome browser. Everything else is fine.

    This is not important, I only mention it in case you hadn’t noticed.

    Please continue your excellent work.

  36. What have you got against Steiner Education? I have 4 children who went to Steiner School until they were 14 when they went to a local comprehensive. The Steiner School was AMAZING. No pressure, no exams, no judging your ‘success’ by comparing yourself to others… The curriculum is rich, age-appropriate and meaningful. So Steiner thought that human beings were more than flesh and bones, he believed they had a soul and a spirit too. What’s quakers about that? have you got a personal gripe?

    • Tracey – if you read my articles, you will discover exactly what my criticisms are of Steiner Schools. Let me know if you have any questions.

    • Yeah, it’s all fun and games… until someone gets hurt. I’ve collected and published hundreds of complaints from parents just like you Tracey – parents who thought Waldorf was fantastic… until something went horribly wrong – as it always does… and they always describe having a rude awakening. Yours may be right around the corner for all we know.

      “No pressure, no exams, no judging your ‘success’ by comparing yourself to others… ”

      I guess that must be a necessary part of getting No Education! When compared with others, however, Waldorf kids don’t do too well. Parents typically have to pay for tutoring to bring their kids up to public school level – or worse, their child may have to stay behind a grade to catch up.

      “The curriculum is rich, age-appropriate and meaningful.”

      Nothing could be further from the truth Tracey. Leaving aside the fact that they taught my child blatant racism as if it were scientific fact (I don’t know at what age you think that might be appropriate), the curriculum is nothing but mythology – even subjects like math, history and science are full of mythology and Anthroposophical nonsense. Waldorf science classes have “rich” sounding names, but you need to look into them to see what they are really about. “Genetics” isn’t about modern genetic science, it’s all about Mendel’s 19th century genetics. Nothing about DNA or the human genome… just cross-breeding peas. Very “rich” – considering how much we know about genetics today, don’t you agree? This curriculum is only meaningful to Anthroposophists.

      Of course Waldorf schools aren’t very forthright about what they teach – so it’s up to people who are not part of the Waldorf movement to explain to parents what Waldorf is about and why Waldorf doesn’t work. That’s what Andy is doing, and it’s what I do on a daily basis.

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