Tweet your Quack Web Pages to @quackometer

In my continuing quest to make The Quackometer the Internet’s premier resource for all your quackbusting needs, I have now taken it to Twitter.

If you don’t understand the title of this blog post, then you had better go and do something else now. Where have you been? Do you use the web? Did you know Michael Jackson is dead?

So, if you are still here then I have now made the quackometer respond to Tweets addressed to @quackometer and that have a URL in them (beginning http://…) The quackometer will go away, analyse your page for quackery and then Tweet you back with its report.

I’ve tested it a bit. It has been working-ish – please be patient. It may take a while for your tweet to get back to you.

Examples:

1) if you want to find out if that scoop the Daily Mail ran today

Medical spy ware: How Russian KGB technology is being used to spot impending disease

where we are told:

Technology developed by the Russian KGB is being used to help diagnose and predict impending illnesses, a scientist said today.

Russian-born consultant Alla Cranham has used the technique to develop the Health Detector, which measures impulses from the brain to pinpoint hidden weaknesses in other parts of the body.

We can send a quick tweet,

and then, hopefully (interweb gods willing) we will shortly get back a tweet:

Clicking on the link in the Tweet takes us to the Quackometer website where we are learn:

Could be average quack fodder. This web site has quite a bit of loosely defined terms and possibly pseudoscientific language. It is heavily using scientific jargon and may be doing this to bamboozle. It shows little or no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with caution! It also looks like this site is trying to sell stuff. Buyer Beware!

Well, that is enough to start arousing our curiousity about this story.

2) And so, we do a little more digging around and find out where this story came from. We soon land up on the site of In Vivo Health run Alla Cranham MSc ABMT, DipHTox, MBRCP, FRSPH, MBS who “practices what is known as Integrated Medicine, combining elements of conventional medicine, homeopathy and nutrition.”

Let’s Tweet this to the @quackometer…

10 Canards. What does the detailed report say?

This web site has more quackery than my village pond. It is full of scientific jargon that is out of place and probably doesn’t know the meaning of any of the terms. It shows no sceptical awareness and so should be treated with a suspicious mind. It also looks like this site is trying to sell stuff. Buyer Beware!

I think that does it. And all thanks to Twitter and the quackometer.

I am sure the Daily Mail will find it very valuable to make sure they do not run such dreadful quack puff pieces like this again. We can tweet this to @pigsmightfly to see if this is true.

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So, to follow what the quackometer is up to follow at http://twitter.com/quackometer

If you want to follow my tweets about this blog and what I have for breakfast then go to http://twitter.com/lecanardnoir

7 comments

DavidMWW 17th July, 2009 7:36 pm

So, when you have built up a massive database of all the quacky websites in the world, are you going to make it searchable, and name it Woogle?

SVETLANA PERTSOVICH 17th July, 2009 7:51 pm

WOW!!! Ha-ha-ha! WOW! My eyes!!!! 😀 😀 😀

Indeed – GREATEST ducks are being born in huge RUSSIAN morasses!!! 😀 And best "spreading cranberry" grows in Russia!!!! 😀
(Explanation about spreading cranberry is here in my comments:
http://crispian-jago.blogspot.com/2009/07/exclusive-photograph-of-bca-compiling.html)

And if more seriously… I see Britain chooses NOT THOSE Russians…. 🙁 It welcomes scoundrels with huge money bags, dirty traitors of native country, prostitutes, bandits, stupid maids with brains of housekeepers and diplomas of pharmaceutists, quacks, and other shit…
While talented Russian scientists work in British Universities as "scientific slaves". Best Russian students, who were lucky to receive little stipend for study in British universities, live in poverty. Moreover – many honest good Russian specialists don't receive any position or job in Britain at all. And most sadly – even some of you are not too scrupulous to say dirty words about such Russians! (Must I show where has your friend written bad words about me? Or will you guess yourselves and make him to remove it?)

And bear in mind – if you take from Russia only shit, don't be surprised after that that it stinks into your noses!

Shame!

Olefin 17th July, 2009 8:33 pm

Do you know that http://www.quackometer.com redirects to http://www.drfostersessentials.com/store/index.php

"You’re not going to believe all of the information on this website – right at your fingertips! Herbal healing, aromatherapy, healing with foods, juice fasting, massage, emotional healing, energy healing, spiritual healing and other natural healing therapies."

That is probably a true statement – I'm not going to believe it. 9 ducks

jdc325 17th July, 2009 9:07 pm

I just got a tweet giving 7 canards for whale.to's measles page. Seems to be working pretty much OK at the moment, then.

Alison 21st July, 2009 6:46 pm

Great technology, but some ducks are still flying past your net. I spent a few idle moments recently typing in some names and website addresses associated with a particular minor brand of woo. What I found was that while all the individual practitioners had 8,9 or 10 canards, the national organisation had none – and neither did the biggest woo-meister I know. When I had a closer look at the sites I saw that the wee folk displayed all on their home pages, while the big organisation had an innocuous front page with the ducks and weasels hidden away on sub-pages (I put one of these sub-pages to the test and it scored 10/10, which in my opinion is probably not enough). Makes me wonder whether the Big Chiefs are doing this deliberately – since in this particular case I know that they are aware of efforts to discredit them.

Prescott 23rd July, 2009 11:38 am

Let's hope that they find already a vaccine for this virus of influenza that this hurting many people in the world, really it is unusual that still do not have anything to offset it, there is a topic on the influenza and indicates that already it goes mas of 17000 deceased in the world for this disease.

Doris 4th October, 2010 8:22 pm

I feel you are a sad case, Andy Lewis, or have nothing else to do in your life.
One thing I understood from your website that you are good at writing impressive words aiming to brainwash innocent visitors on this website.
Why should we believe your statements? What credibility is there? Who are you to make such judgements: a scientist, a doctor, unemployed journalist or just someone with personality disorder? Perhaps you are the best quack of your own website!

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Tweet your Quack Web Pages to @quackometer