Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 12:07, 1 June 2014

Welcome!

Hello, QuackGuru, and welcome to Misplaced Pages! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:

• Getting Started
• Introduction to Misplaced Pages
• The five pillars of Misplaced Pages
• How to edit a page and How to develop articles
• How to create your first article
• Simplified Manual of Style

Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Misplaced Pages:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{Help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! 7&6=thirteen (☎) 18:32, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

An award for you!

The WikiProject Medicine QuackStar Quack! Quack! For your useful spot here, which led to a successful SPI, I award you the WikiProject Medicine QuackStar. Also, good hunting. Alexbrn talk

A barnstar for you!

	The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
	For putting up with baseless attacks against you. Briefly looked at the "evidence" of poor editing by you and didn't find any Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 12:37, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

And another

		The Steady Rate Barnstar
		Tick tock, Tick Tock! All the best, Rich Farmbrough, 02:08, 6 April 2014 (UTC).

Thank you for being one of Misplaced Pages's top medical contributors!

please help translate this message into the local language

	The Cure Award
	In 2013 you were one of the top 300 medical editors across any language of Misplaced Pages. Thank you so much for helping bring free, complete, accurate, up-to-date medical information to the public. We really appreciate you and the vital work you do!

We are wondering about the educational background of our top medical editors. Would you please complete a quick 5-question survey? (please only fill this out if you received the award)

Thanks again :) --Ocaasi, Doc James and the team at Wiki Project Med Foundation

Blocked one week

Hi there Quackguru. I have blocked your account for one week for disruptive editing. Your edits to electronic cigarette are either riddled with error or too one-sided. When you come back I want you to take a lot more care, consider avoiding areas where you have very strong views, and (especially) remember that editing here is a collaborative process (meaning we have to work together) and a privilege (which can be withdrawn). If you wish to appeal against this block you may do so by posting {{unblock|your reason here}}, but you should review WP:GAB first. Best wishes and good luck. --John (talk) 19:25, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

Interesting. Diffs please. You have also set it so he cannot edit his talk page. How is he to appeal this again? Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 22:22, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

@Doc James, in my experience it's fairly common to remove talk page access when a blocked user removes the block notice as in ~Adjwilley (talk) 00:39, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Can anybody point me to any evidence of disruptive editing? -Roxy the dog (resonate) 23:38, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

John, please provide evidence for "disruptive editing", because I want to see it. QuackGuru is among the most competent editors of medical articles on Misplaced Pages. Also, I've checked his recent edita, and they seem to strictly abide by Misplaced Pages's guidelines. I think your block is completely uncalled for. -Fasf14 (talk) 23:57, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

People who are truly the most competent do not normally rack up a block log with more than a dozen entries and a couple of RFC/U discussions (1, 2). Disruption involves how you interact with other editors (social skills), not just about whether or not you promote a scientific POV. WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:04, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

One of the RfC U has no difs supporting it. And when asked none were ever provided. It was an interesting case.

Anyway will give the admin in question a little more time and than bring to ANI. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 03:52, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

• Happy to help. Quackguru was asked about this edit, where he apparently changed a claim from a source about 15% into "a third". Rather than discuss this "mistake" productively the user chose to repeatedly remove the conversation from his user talk page. As I said when I went into this area, I have little time for tendentious editing, and as the user has a block log the length of my arm, and would not engage, I have blocked them one week. If anything I think this was a lenient block, and I only made it such a light one because their last block was in 2009. Removing active block notices is not allowed so the user then lost talk page access. Consensus at the article talk page seems to be against the edits as well. I stand utterly by my actions in this area. --John (talk) 05:47, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

In fact, QuackGuru was blocked as recently as 2011, per this AE thread. He was notified at his talk page here. For some reason this 2011 block does not seem to be registered on QuackGurus block log. Stimpy3 (talk) 06:24, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

? You're mistaken. The reason "this 2011 block" isn't in his block log is that he wasn't blocked, the AE you link to didn't issue in a block. It ends with this inconclusive result. I really don't like Quack Guru not having Talkpage access here, to correct such egregious errors himself. @John, I've restored tpa, hope you don't mind. There is disagreement about the "remove active block notices" thing, discussion between admins about it has erupted several times recently, and even for those who take a hard line, I actually haven't seen tpa being removed over it. For removing it once? — No. User:Quack Guru, consider yourself warned not to remove the notice again. Bishonen | talk 09:27, 30 May 2014 (UTC).

P.S. I have with some effort excavated the whole 2011 AE thread that User:Stimpy linked to above — it wasn't above halfway done in his link. It was closed with a one-year topic ban from pseudoscience and chiropractic. (A block wasn't even discussed as far as I can see — can't face reading every word of it.) Bishonen | talk 12:10, 30 May 2014 (UTC).

QG is indeed an active medical editor, but also one of the most controversial, to the point where I often stay away from articles he edits, which are often my favorite topics, the ones in which I'm a recognized expert in the real world. It's simply impossible to communicate effectively with him. He has a de facto IDHT, very tendentious, form of communication, and merely repeats claims and his own ideas, without addressing the concerns brought up by other editors. That he is usually defending and promoting a scientific skepticism POV (which is usually the same as the mainstream scientific and medical POV) is fine, but collaboration is essential, and his communication needs to be vastly improved. He only gets truly communicative when he's being threatened with a block, and then he suddenly will bend and bow and cooperate to the nth degree, but that stops when he's back into safe territory. When such an editor keeps me from editing my favorite topics, then you know something's really wrong. He gives skeptics a bad name. -- Brangifer (talk) 06:29, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Very well explained, Brangifer. QG has had me stop editing the acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, and GERAC articles altogether, and has been making me look like a TCM-proponent just because I have been opposing his edits. --Mallexikon (talk) 10:01, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Ah an unsupported bit of speculation about someone personally is called "very well explained"? User:BullRangifer you really need to support this "supporting fringe POV and destroying mainstream content" with diffs and remove this "making one wonder what type of mind we're dealing with" Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 11:36, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

I see you totally ignored the bulk of his comment, which was a detailed explanation of QG's obnoxious editing style. He's even worse than me!--FergusM1970 12:14, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Doc James, I removed that part, just so we don't get distracted from the current issue at hand. -- Brangifer (talk) 14:27, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Hum User:Mallexikon the same one who filled out a RfCU without supporting claims and then refused to provide any when called on it. I do agree that QG needs to stop removing stuff from his talk page and set up an auto archiving system instead. Will technically one is allowed to remove from ones talk page, the talk page does not really "belong" to the user in question and is here to improve the encyclopedia. But this is not really a blockable offence. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 11:26, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

That RfCU had ample supporting claims; you simply refused to acknowledge them... Instead, you've used your star power to hold a protective hand over your protégé QG. To repeat a something I've said to you before, Doc James: this discussion here here should give you some food for thought. --Mallexikon (talk) 11:45, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Blocking QuackGuru for this offense is a bit like arresting Al Capone for tax evasion. Punishable? Yes. But he's done far worse to warrant this and many other blocks. Those defending his actions likely do so because he provides a service to you which you cannot do yourself. Like Capone supplying the booze, QG tirelessly push the cynic's point of view... Often times confused with the skeptic's point of view. Unfortunately, when it comes to science, QG remains petulantly ignorant of the difference. He thinks that by pushing only the negative aspects of a fringe-leaning topic, he is doing Misplaced Pages a service. He is woefully mistaken. And what's worse is that his misguided effort almost always in results tendentious editing, battleground / owner ship and stalking complaints, and AE / 3RR antics. I hope that this block is just the start of the necessary effort to get QG blocked for another year or more or indefinitely. He is not capable nor interested in reform. 166.137.210.28 (talk) 15:20, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Well put. QG very rarely works towards consensus or compromise, and goes well beyond attempting to portray his idea of mainstream POV, he tries to bury articles in twisted versions of cherry picked sources with no respect to weight to make them look ridiculous. The fact that you think the subjects themselves are ridiculous is not justification for over-the-top tendentious editing. I truly am convinced by his editing habits that he and PPdd are one in the same person. An editor that active, with such an ownership complex might have multiple usernames. Those of you asking for diff's to justify the block, seriously just look at any talk page discussion he partakes in. Herbxue (talk) 16:13, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

• I've removed the troll magnet section and semiprotected this page. Bishonen | talk 22:05, 31 May 2014 (UTC).

Comment: Of those who express support for QG, I wonder how many have been on the other end of a content dispute with him? Some skeptics perceive QG as an anti-woo warrior, but why then does QG piss off skeptics who have actually tried to resolve disagreements with him? See Brangifer above, and Guy (JzG), who has criticized QG's conduct at chiropractic and replying to me on a talk page said:

• " has a tendency towards owning articles, he really doesn't collaborate well at all. I am a skeptic... I still have a big problem with what QG writes and he appears to think that any edit not skeptical in exactly the terms he would like, is supportive of quackery."

FWIW, other critics of QG's behavior who are not generally perceived as alt-med proponents, some of whom may self-identify as skeptics:

• Endorsers of a lifetime topic ban on science and medicine: Jojalozzo, LT910001, GregJackP, Davey2010.
• Endorsers of a lengthy topic ban from pseudoscience and alt-med topics: Guy Macon, Liz, Jytdog, Collect. Additionally, Mallexikon, who has been wrongly tarred with a pro-alt-med stance due to his disputes with QG (cf. Guy's comment above).
• As well as Brangifer above, other (non-alt-med) editors have been discouraged from editing by QG: Jytdog , LT910001 here (diff oversighted)

Many of QG's critics are not alt-med-ers, and many of the alt-med-ers editors who criticize QG do not have the same issues with other skeptics. These are facts, facts that I hope cause some of QG's supporters to reconsider. All editors with strong views about QG should be watching talk pages and gathering diffs. --Middle 8 (leave me alone • talk to me • COI?) 09:11, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

• My personal view is that most or all of alternative medicine is pseudoscience mixed with the occasional fraud, but on Misplaced Pages I follow the sources whether I agree with them or not. On the QG RFCU I expressed the following opinion, which was endorsed by 12 experienced users.

"QuackGuru is an interesting case. If you look at the battles he keeps getting into, much of the time he has a legitimate point. Areas such as Chiropractic and Acupuncture do attract a fair number of editors who would very much like to make the articles on those topics overwhelmingly positive, and there is an ongoing struggle to achieve a neutral point of view in the areas of alternative medicine and pseudoscience.

That being said, QuackGuru comes close to being the worst possible choice to fight these battles. The proponents of alternative medicine and/or pseudoscience are, for the most part, well-meaning and willing, after some gentle persuasion, to work with us to create balanced articles. This takes a calm, friendly, evidence-based approach with lots of polite explanations about the reasoning behind our policies. QuackGuru interferes with this by turning the article talk pages into a battleground and causing the proponents to dig in their heels. In many cases, QuackGuru is right but he isn't persuasive, and he gets in the way of those who prefer a more calm, measured approach to dealing with these sort of issues.

Because of this, I must reluctantly recommend that QuackGuru be given a lengthy topic ban on all articles relating to pseudoscience and/or alternative medicine, broadly construed. There are plenty of other editors keeping an eye on these articles, and QuackGuru's efforts are hurting more than they are helping."

Everything I have seen since has only convinced me that I was right. I do not believe that a one week block will be effective. Right now we are moving towards either ignoring the disruption (bad) or a lengthy block (worse). I think my proposal for a a lengthy topic ban is the best solution here. --Guy Macon (talk) 09:55, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

QG is better than many working in this topic area. Yes he should not delete stuff from his talk page but doing so is hardly a reason for this ban. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 12:06, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

My outside view was support by 19 others

This RfC User starts of badly. It begins with "QG is a notoriously difficult editor who now seems to be on an anti-acupuncture crusade, to the point that he is willing to skew the facts." One would expect difs to follow but they don't. The first difs given are words of support by other editors. Good to hear that QC has others support. The first dif of QC himself is this one where he changes a list into prose (good job, this is what we should do per WP:MEDMOS, he removed the number of patients randomized in the LBP trial, excellent idea, was overly detailed for a general encyclopedia and if I saw this would likely do the same, we do not do this elsewere, looks like a positive edit unclear what the issue was and why this dif was brought up so prominently?) Then there are 4 difs highlight controversy over an article which is sort of a WP:COATHOOK and of questionable notability. Obviously no admin really want to get involved.

Next comes evidence from 2007 and 2009. Than some from 2008 and 2010. Any evidence from the last year or do I need to click through all the difs one by one?

Okay here is a recent edit under the title "Skewing the facts because of anti-acupuncture bias

" . QG adds this 2013 review article The impact factor is low but it is sort of a fringe area of study. So most importantly was the content added supported by the ref in question? (I have pulled up the complete text and read the intro) Added "In 2006, German researchers published the results of one of the first, largest controlled randomized clinical trials" ref says "In 2006, German researchers reported a conrtolled RCT of sham acupuncture" Next added "As a result of the trial's conclusions, some insurance corporations in Germany no longer reimbursed acupuncture" ref says "some insurance companies in Germany stopped reimbursement for acupuncture treatment". Okay what is wrong with this edit? How are the facts skewed? QG has closely paraphrased the source in question which is a recent review article?

Anyway I am going to trout the users who have put together this RfC User as sorry it sucks. Both User:Mallexikon and User:Middle 8 should be topic banned for six month for this. Additionally will give GC a barnstar. While I have not reviewed the issue in full the bit I have shows not concerns to warrant the above and it has been put for so poorly even if there was evidence it is nearly impossible to find.

This is simply wrong "There are plenty of other editors keeping an eye on these articles". There are not a lot of editors, in fact there are exceedingly few in the able to count on one hand range. I come across article promoting fringe positions based on a bunch of primary sources all the time. Additionally nominated the two who created this RfC for a topic ban at AN here. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) 12:07, 1 June 2014 (UTC)