Newsgroup & Forum pharma trolls
Medical Control ploys

[Every medical newsgroup, and many forums are infested with pharma shills, and pharma trolls, (eg Mark S. Probert ) and medical people that make it very difficult for newcomers to the game, as they can't see the shills and the politics, and they effectively suppress non-pharma medicine as you can see in alt.support.cancer.  You can see the organised effort here.  Most of it comes from and is organised by Quackwatch an AMA shill.]

"ANY NG posting by a targeted proponent for truth can result in an IMMEDIATE response. The government and other empowered players can afford to pay people to sit there and watch for an opportunity to do some damage. SINCE DISINFO IN A NG ONLY WORKS IF THE READER SEES IT - FAST RESPONSE IS CALLED FOR, or the visitor may be swayed towards truth."--The 8 Traits of A Disinformationalist by H. Michael Sweeney

See: Allopathic 'experts' Pharma trolls Anecdotes Show us the Proof Epidemiology   Rationalization

Forum trolls
'Harradine'  Ben Goldacre Acer

Newsgroup trolls (misc.kids.health & misc.health.alternative, most are on Quackwatch HealthFraud list):
For list: Rounding up outlaw 'net quacks since 2000
Mark S. Probert [the killfile escapee--changes his taglines every day to keep out of your killfile box (blocksender function). Nasty.]
Peter Bowditch [highly abusive towards any vaccine criticism and vaccine victims.  Favourite sayings: anti-vaccination liars, murderer.]
Putz the pharma shill [claims to be an MD, flames all non-pharma medicine.]
David Wright [on 24/7 for at least 10 years flaming all alternative medicine and any criticism of vaccination beliefs.  Just medical propaganda.]
Carey Gregory [lightweight pharma boy.  Not the slightest shred of argument, of course.]
Steve Harris [the heavy hitter medico, haunts sci.med.  Used to inhabit misc.health.alternative fulltime flaming alt med with gusto.  Favourite sayings: COMMENT & moron! (see below). One of the main HIV defenders.]
P.F. Riley.  [Angry medico vaccine zealot, "saving-the-world-with-vaccines" type, flames all vaccine dissent.]

Peter Moran
DC. Sessions
GMCarter (misc.health.aids)
Skeptic
HCN

Bryan Heit


alt.support.cancer:

 "J"  [Flames and effectively suppresses alternative medicine, with help from other medical inhabitants. eg: Jerry (HealthFraud list member), Steph, a  Canadian Physician practicing radiation medicine.]

So when the average cancer patient has this belief, courtesy of the medical mafia, it is easy to suppress:
"I do not believe in censoring posters, but I dislike to see you encouraging those here ill with cancer to depart from conventional treatments.  These have gone through clinical trials and frankly are the best treatments available as they emerge. Trying to seek out other methods of improving a person's health status such as taking green tea or other harmless supplements has merit, but some of the things promoted out there can actually be harmful. (Especially if the person gives up conventional methods) As far as I am concerned, the researchers have a 'way to go' to get a handle on cancer. I do believe there are some more hopeful drugs and methods in the pipeline."

So you can see why you will never find alternative medicine on this newsgroup.


Examples of abuse (which is Ad Hominem propaganda ploy):

The ones with no argument use abuse and always allude to some past triumph that never happened:
"Who knows what John really believes.  He's a notorious anti-vaccine propogandist who occupies slot #1 in my killfile and has for about 3-4 years now.  He and his whale.to site are well known on sci.med where his "theories" have been shot down time and time again. Unfortunately, he is completely devoid of ethics and the truth is of absolutely no importance to him.  No matter how many times his propoganda is proved false, he continues to preach it. His entire site is nothing but a collection of faleshoods, distortions, and rubbish.  It would best be described as a porn site."--Carey Gregory (Usenet)

"Carey Gregory" <nospam@gw-dash-tech.com> wrote in message >
You really are complete scum, John.  Do the world a favor -- fuck off  and die.

John... you are greatly underestimating the depth of your idiocy! Please take credit where it is due.   Your idiocy is *THE* defining characteristic of your internet (and, I suppose, real life) persona---Eric Greene <spamcatcher@ngc1514.com>

"This whale to site is rubish. The author is so ashamed of it, he does not even put his name on the site. The site is clearly not by someone who has a clue about medicine or vaccination. Nor is he interested in the truth. For accurate information go to Immunization Action Coalition http://www.immunize.org/" ---Jeffrey Peter, M.D. <kidsdoc2000@hotmail.com"

Steve Harris:
Possibly.  But people who do know me in life and also read me on the net say the opposite. Something like "Why are you so much more sarcastic in print than in life?"

My answer is that I don't have to deal with too many loons in meat-space, having purged all of them from my non-cyber life (thankfully none were blood relations, so this was possible). Here on the net, though, you meet raving nuts from all over. I'm of the opinion that those who sound initially sane but clearly are not, are helpfully pointed out like rattlesnakes on a trail.

Anonymous John thinks he knows more than an entire profession about everything the profession does. That kind of thing hasn't been possible for anybody in the hard sciences since the Enlightenment (for a good three centuries at least), and even in an applied science trade like medicine, it hasn't been possible at least since WWII. Worse still, John quotes from people who are even bigger megalomaniacs than he is. All seem to have that most basic problem of the subclass of the mentally ill who have personality disorders: they are liars without integrity.

John seems to be their representative in cyberspace. In the Matrix of Usenet he is a cyst full of noxious fluids, a boil full of puss, a giant gasbag full of hot air. I have a whole lab full of needles. I recommend the treatment of Becton and Dickinson here. You might not feel the #30 too much, but by the time we get to the #18, there will be a sliiight pinch....SBH

"How surprising to find that John@whale is a full-on paranoid schizophrenic, not just an odd bloke with a few fixed delusions about vaccines and medical subjects. Not."-- SBH

"Even if it were all true, why on God's green earth would any sane person state the case in a manner so perfectly suited to labelling its authors "insane"? The entire "whale.to" domain is nothing but a sideshow stage for people obsessed with showing off their individual and collective madness."  - Bil

"Well, I would actually have to argue that point. I think John is both unintelligent and insane, whereas for a good example of an intelligent kook, see Gastaldo."PF Riley