Guidelines
Other members
Be courteous to other members.
Yes: 'I disagree with that.'
No: 'You are an idiot!'
Medical professionals
Do not bad mouth medical professionals.
Preferably, do not name medical professionals.
Yes: 'I did not find my first urologist a good listener.'
No: 'Dr Bart Simpson does not listen.'
Evidence-based medicine
We are trying to find out how to keep ourselves alive with quality life. We need to know that there is quality evidence that something works.
Yes: Only post and discuss evidence-based medicine.
Celebrity 'I cured my cancer' sites
Most non-evidence based 'medicine' is peddled by people who make millions of dollars from it.
Celebrity practitioners take large amounts of money from people at a time when that money may become very important for them and their families, and can distract from treatments that may actually help.
No: Don't use our site to promote them.
Diet gurus
There are quite a number of people making millions of dollars from diet books, courses, products and appearances. Each makes themselves different by overemphasising a key aspect of diet - meat, carbohydrates, raw ingredients, meal timing or fasting, etc. They are very skilled at cherry-picking evidence, sometimes basing their work on studies in rats or very small weak human studies, or mistaken unfounded beliefs (like paleolithic diet).
No: Don't be the person who bothers every member with the diet you are a fan of.
Unproven and disproven cancer treatments
On the internet, sites that cause you harm are made to look legitimate. If you are unsure, there is a list of unproven and disproven cancer treatments at:
Unproven and disproven cancer treatments
No: Don't waste our time with an unproven or disproven treatment.
Poor treatments and doubtful practitioners
Another place to search out poor treatments and doubtful practitioners is:
Quackwatch.org
The doubtful practitioners on Quackwatch are pretty much all from the USA because of the free speech amendment of the US constitution. Doubtful practitioners in Australia are protected by our libel laws.
No: Don't waste members' time with poor treatments or doubtful practitioners.
Is an article from a reputable journal?
Online fakery has reached new heights. There seem to be as many fake journals online as real ones. They claim peer review, and look just a good as the real ones. To see if an article you see quoted is from a reputable journal, search the list of proper, peer reviewed journals at the Master Journal List:
Yes: Check that the article you wish to quote is from a reputable journal.