That reminds me! There are good reasons to be anonymous other than "I don't want someone saying something to my boss." That will be my REALLY last tweet.
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Replying to @JHowardBrainMD @dfreedman7 and
But avoiding harassment at work IS a legitimate reason to use a pseudonym! Harassing critics by complaining to their bosses about their online activities is how antivaxers and quacks roll. It's their go-to move to try to intimidate critics to silence.
3 replies 9 retweets 48 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
I've lost track of how many times I've been targeted for such harassment. The first time was in 2005, when a cancer quack named William O'Neill emailed my division chief, cancer center director, and department chair with complaints and threats to sue.
1 reply 1 retweet 21 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
One particularly painful example came in 2010, when a group of antivaxers orchestrated an email, letter, and phone campaign against me, complaining to my med school dean, dept. chair, and cancer center director, university board of governors about a made up COI.
2 replies 2 retweets 23 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
It got so bad that my dean called me on my cell phone and asked if I felt physically threatened. I told her I didn't, but in retrospect, maybe I should have felt threatened.
3 replies 2 retweets 25 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
This brings up a point. I work for a public university. There was no danger that I was going to be fired because of my online activity countering quackery. The same is most definitely not true of people working for private companies and community hospitals.
2 replies 3 retweets 24 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
Even so, the anxiety involved in having to explain to high ranking university and hospital officials why the COI I was being accused of was bogus was very taxing. I almost quit my skeptical activities over it.
1 reply 2 retweets 16 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
Then, in 2016, Mike Adams targeted me with a campaign of libelous posts that implied I had committed crimes, been associated with an oncologist whose scam was to give chemo to patients who didn't have cancer, etc.
1 reply 2 retweets 12 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
Adams even tried to imply that I associated with pedophiles. That's how bad it got. I seriously thought of suing, but, although I'm definitely not poor, Adams is very wealthy, thanks to his online alternative health and conspiracy theory empire.
3 replies 2 retweets 16 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @JHowardBrainMD and
The end result was that my Google reputation was trashed for years. It's only recovering now because of steps Google has taken to deprioritize content like Adams' Natural News.
1 reply 3 retweets 14 likes
That's not even mentioning the cancer quack who emailed every faculty member in my department ranting about me. Prior, he'd emailed deans, chairs, and the CEO of the faculty practice plan.
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Replying to @RealJesseLuke @JHowardBrainMD and
It's been so common for antivaxers and quacks to complain about me that the last time I spoke to my cancer center director he asked how it was going, that he hadn't heard any complaints about me in a while.
1 reply 1 retweet 10 likes - Show replies
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