Respectful Insolence

This can’t be right. As I was perusing the blog a little while ago, I noticed this:

That can’t be right, can it? This blog can’t be number one by any measure, be it the Healthcare100.com or anything else. It has to be a bug in the software. Top ten, I can believe. Number one, not so much.

But then, this blog passed the 5,000,000 mark a few weeks ago, and I didn’t even notice. I must be getting jaded. Either that, or I’m full of crap with false modesty. Take your pick.

And I do think there must be a bug in the software somewhere to let me hit number one. I expect that the error will be fixed any day now.

Comments

#1 Kent Sharkey
September 16, 2009

eDrugSearch.com picked the list? Must just be more proof you’re a pharma shill
#2 Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP
September 16, 2009

Congratulations, Dave.

I certainly disagree with most of your posts about complementary medicine but I have learned more from my time here than from any other internet site. The sheer volume of your writing amazes me and you’ve gathered a group of really fine minds in the comments section

Here’s to the next 5,000,000!

Best,

Jay
#3 cohen
September 16, 2009

Congratulations.

But why is SBM only #9?
#4 Dana Hunter
September 16, 2009

Modesty, schmodesty, you’ve earned some recognition! You do outstanding work whacking the woo, and it’s time the whole world knew it! You’re always #1 to us, so forgive us a lack of surprise if others find you #1, too.

See you at 10,000,000!
#5 pinky
September 16, 2009

Just shut up and be happy. Your very entertaining.
#6 Ranson
September 16, 2009

@ cohen #3

SBM has fewer boxes filled with blinky lights. This is the internet, after all.
#7 The Science Pundit
September 16, 2009

Congrats!
#8 titmouse
September 16, 2009

Not enough LOLcats at SBM.
#9 D. C. Sessions
September 16, 2009

Either that, or I’m full of crap with false modesty.

Who am I to judge the sincerity of a lucite box full of blinkenlichten?

As for #1 — keep going, you can make it to zero!
#10 LovleAnjel
September 16, 2009

May I say w00t! Or perhaps dbl w00t!
#11 John
September 16, 2009

Congratulations to Orac. I’m also one who sometimes disagrees but has learned much. I find it curious that Joseph Mercola’s blog or the health blogs at Huffington Post are not mentioned in the top 100. Could there be some ideological bias involved?
#12 Denice Walter
September 16, 2009

Well,*I* can believe you made it to #1. While the science writing is technically brilliant, it never fails to express a human concern for the needs of the audience, patients, or people in general.I once had a teacher who told me that my writing “should sound like me”:I don’t actually “know” you,but I’ll bet you have achieved that – sounding “like yourself”.Oh, and you’re “fun”.
#13 military wife
September 16, 2009

Posted by: John | September 16, 2009 11:07 AM

well, if you consider bias against idiocy to be ideological bias, then perhaps you’re correct to suspect such
#14 Trinity
September 16, 2009

First time commenter, long time lurker –

Congrats! I love this blog. I never comment but I read you all the time and forward my favorite posts to friends and family.

Keep up the good work.
#15 William
September 16, 2009

Congratulations! You and your regular contributors deserve it. If they are basing it on hits to the site, then you got me in your corner. I keep coming back to the site many many times a day for quick reads of the latest info and save several posts and links. Thanks.
#16 FB
September 16, 2009

Well done. Keep up the good work
#17 Rjaye
September 16, 2009

Enjoy being #1! Congrats! Your blog is informative, interesting, sometimes fun, and has Hitler Zombie when necessary (though I think he burst from recent events…).
#18 Orac
September 16, 2009

Yeah, I think the Hitler Zombie needs to go back into his crypt for a while. A long while.

With opponents of health care reform likening Obama’s proposals to the T4 euthanasia program and Obama to Hitler, what once would have been fine fodder for an HZ post has now become so commonplace that I could write an HZ post every day if I wanted to. Worse, if you go back into the archives, the examples that I made fun of a mere year or two ago, with only a couple of exceptions, aren’t as crazy as what we see in the news every day.

I fear the Hitler Zombie’s time may have past.
#19 aunt benjy
September 16, 2009

I read your blog every time I can get online, for a dose of sanity.

It’s also where I send all my fellow new mums when they have been scared away from vaccinating their kids by the vocal tosspots that like to hang out at prenatal groups spreading their poison. The “Why We Vaccinate” link that you posted a few months ago has been most valuable.

Keep up the good works,

Aunty B
#20 BobbyEarle
September 16, 2009

Well done, friend Orac!

I rarely comment here, but visiting RI is part of my daily routine, and I know I am not the only one.
#21 khan
September 16, 2009

It’s because of the distant energy healing vibes we send.
(Please don’t beat me)
#22 Rogue Epidemiologist
September 16, 2009

w00t! Champagne tonight!
#23 Orac's Mom and Dad
September 16, 2009

Congratulations Orac! Now the world knows what we’ve always known. You have always been Number 1. Five-million? “To infinity and beyond!!!”
#24 Joseph C.
September 16, 2009

Wow, you even beat Awful Plastic Surgery!

You’ve certainly earned this. I imagine you’ve put enough time into this blog to get another PhD, or two. You post often and you don’t post crap.
#25 trog69
September 16, 2009

When you achieve both the 10mil. mark and retain #1 status, I hope you’ll ditch the modest route for something a bit more insufferable!

Great work and keep it up!
#26 Sid Offit
September 16, 2009

Well done.
#27 llewelly
September 17, 2009

Your collusion with the Sith Lords of Big Pharma is finally paying off!!
(P.S. When you get one of those cool red double-bladed light sabers, you have GOT to post a video of yourself waving it around.)