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
Plus, it would have potentially gotten him some free publicity in mainstream media. Why help him get attention?
1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
Also, he very much wanted a chance at discovery, likely to find information he could weaponize. Of course, discovery cuts both ways.
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don't take the bait. the people who actually believe him are not people worth associating with or worrying about.
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