How to spot a quack (website)

Quackery is the worst form of pseudo-science. Quacks create false hope and take money from people who are sick and desperate. We have all been the victims of this. Oxygen pills, multivitamins, herbal remedies. But how do you spot these bastards. Simple. Just go to their website. There are signs

1. Catchy product/company name

Whats in a name? Well, the names of these products are not boring like ibumol or panafcort. Names like gene enhancer or cellustore. I'm just making things up because i dont want to use real names. Real medicines are made by adcock ingram and aspen. Not very exciting names.

2. Sensational headline

"Amazing discovery!" "Scientific breakthrough!" "The cure they don't want you to know about". They go in all guns blazing with marketing drivel. At this point they are already using extremely subjective language and you should already be worried. Remember that medicine is not sensational, and if it is it usually comes with a huge price tag and a prescription, its not ordered off some dodgy website.

3. Website looks like crap

If I was approached to develop a website I would not do it if it was something I thought was a scam. It could ruin my reputation. So these websites usually look like crap. Graphics from the nineties, bad layout with lots text in different sizes scattered everywhere. Normal professional websites for medicines will have lots of menus and a clear contact page where you can contact the company. These quack websites also seem to like to want to squeeze every bit of information onto one page. I think they may be trying to take advantage of information overload.

4. There are only a few products, or only one

If there is only one product which is prominently displayed it can be a very bad sign. If that product is then pitched throughout the whole website that is bad.

5. There is a picture of some guy

This guy is a PHD with 50 degrees and he developed this product. He is super awesome and pretty handsome too. You can buy his books and dvds here too. Real medicine is developed by scores of different people doing research and testing and funding it, there is no one hero.

6. Lots and lots of testimonials

Jim from Ottowa swears by this product and now he no longer has back pain after using it for 2 months. There are usually tons of testimonials you can read. The fact is that in many cases these people simply don't exist. In some cases they do, but there are many reasons why anecdotes do not prove anything.

7. Cures everything

These quack medicines cure everything from back pains to cancer to depression to insomnia to asthma. There is a very long list of things it helps for. Most medicines are designed to target specific illnesses because that means they are more potent and more effective. Sometimes meds get mixed, like ephedrine and aspirin for a flu or whatever, but almost no medicine heals everything.

8. Its all natural and there are no risks

Normal medicine has risks because it is potent. If you drink an effective laxative you will shit yourself, and side effects may include dehydration. You can overdose on normal medicine because it has an effect. Things that have no effects like water you can have a lot of and it will do noting.

In conclusion

When you read these websites think to yourself: are they trying to convince me that it works? Are they trying to sell this to me or are they just presenting a product? Are they encouraging me to talk to my doctor? Normal medicine sites will not push their products, doctors do that for them. They wont sell this thing to you over the Internet. If you think you have nothing to lose think again. When you give these assholes money they will exploit people that are really sick, and that have more than likely already been bankrupted by medical bills. They have to make a choice between real doctors that can help but have not cured them and this bogus crap they found on-line. Quacks are amongst the sickest bastards on earth because they sell false hope to people who are suffering.
I hope that you will tell your friends if they are being conned by quackery, because with reason and skepticism we can make the world a better place.