If you have a twitter account, you've probably seen the occasional tweet flow past mentioning the
Shorty Awards in the last few days. The Shorties are an independent award for the best short-form content in a number of categories, awarded annually in March.
As you might expect from our friend the internet, alt-med woo-woo, anti-vaccination nutbaggery and pseudoscience are rife, and alt-med quacks are polling high in the
#health category. This is not a good thing
Luckily, skeptics to the rescue.
Doctor Rachael Dunlop, heart disease researcher,
blogger,
podcaster and science-based medicine campaigner, is now the subject of a campaign to take back the
#health category for science-based medicine.
So. Here's what you do.
- Hit this link.
- Enter your vote in the box as per the instructions, for @DrRachie in #health.
- Remember to place your own reason after the "because" - votes without a reason are discounted later
- Hit "Tweet your vote"
- You'll be asked for your twitter credentials. Fill them in and you'll be redirected back to the shorty site
- Make sure your vote was accepted
- Get your followers to do the same
This last one is important. The current leading quack has nearly three times as many followers as Dr Rachie does at the moment, and is actively campaigning.
It's a small thing, but an important thing.
And don't forget, you can also nominate your own favourite skeptic or health campaigner - more than one nomination in a category seems to be OK,
check the rules if in doubt.
Finally, If you have a blog, please blog this and get the word out even further. We're on the way to #1 but we need a margin.
Help us take back the #health category for rational medicine.
[Update 23 Jan 2010: HealthRanger has been disqualified from the awards for vote fraud - a huge number of freshly-minted accounts began voting for Mike Adams soon after Dr Rachie took the lead. Shorty administrators canned his nominations in all categories not that long after. Health Ranger was, however, solidly in the lead in the #sockpuppetry category before his demise. Lulz.
Mike's Butthurt reaction and sidewiki commentary can be found here]