Posted by As anyone who has been following the naturopathy thread knows, this blog often covers controversial topics. To help elucidate the problems, there is often vigorous debate, which I rarely censor.
I bring this up because of this blogs recent HONcode certification. As I told you, HON is struggling with the format of blogs. They are rather ambivalent about such a “free for all” format. Hence this email:
Dear DrPal,
We have recently received a complaint concerning your site:
http://www.scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/
It is regarding the post about the Naturopath Challenge.
We make it a policy not to involve ourselves too much in any Web 2.0 as
the posts/comments on these websites , though they may sometimes be deemed
inappropriate by one or another, are open, community participatory and the
whole purpose of such sites is self expression.
For this same reason, we did not see any initial reason to suspend your
certification.Having said this, we do however ask all our certified websites to practice
and ensure the practice of respectful behaviour towards each other.
We realize that the subject of naturopaths and MD’s is a high ‘inflammatory’
topics amongst the professionals themselves, however it still does not call for
a breakdown of respect towards each other.In the posts on your site, we did notice this however, in varying degrees.
e.g. “Mr. Franklin, your reasoning is rather anemic (but I’m sure there’s an herb for that).”
“My advice…either learn to accept reality, or learn to put extra salsa on the taco.”“Let’s look at the physician who posted this blog. He looks overweight,
probably on a few anti-hypertensives to control his high blood pressure. He is
likely on a statin since he believes drugs are the cure-all for disease despite
the debilitating side effects.”“Doug I haven’t called you a witch doctor once yet.
.. Because I have great respect for witch doctors.
At least THEY don’t pretend to be real doctors. ”
We realize that your blog, more than most, allows a greater spectrum of
free speech, however we request you to always keep in mind the importance
of treating all users with dignity and respect. This does not mean that
one cannot have a different opinion, only that it be transmitted in a
respectful manner.Please note that you are obliged to respect the HONcode at all times as stated
in the ‘Conditions of Certification’ during your application for the HONcode.We look forward to hearing from you on this matter and are sure that you
will appreciate our point of view on this matter.Thank you for your co-operation,
Best regards,
The HONcode team.
My response:
As this type of vigorous debate is critical to a blog, especially one dealing with the changing nature of medicine, i will remove the HONcode certification until such as time is you feel HONcode and the format of blogs are more congruent.
PAL
The amusing part of this is that it was ignited by a complaint. Since I get complaints several times a day they don’t really bother me, but this is a clear instance of someone being unhappy about my lack of support for their particular medical cult. Since they have no science to fall back on, and the truth eludes them, they try to censor.
Of course, HONcode has nothing to do with what I write, it actually affects me not at all. Heh.
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