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Ofquack
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Alan C. Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm Posts: 7592 Location: Shetland	Re: Ofquack Some of the readers comments are good for a laugh. Quote: I had a severe knee problem and was told "without an operation you will always be in pain and have a permanent limp. I was put in touch with a super reflexologist who within six months had me walking perfectly again without any medication whatsoever. That was in 1984 - I have had no trouble since!! She was so good, I eventually married her! No bias there then? _________________ Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.
February 24th, 2009, 6:14 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Alan H wrote: OfQuack have been working hard again: Disciplines Number Nutritional therapy 38 Massage therapy 68 Alexander technique 0 Aromatherapy 0 Bowen technique 0 Cranial therapy 0 Homeopathy 0 Naturopathy 0 Reflexology 0 Reiki 0 Shiatsu 0 Yoga therapy 0 Total 106 I have to admit it. I was wrong. OfQuack don't have 106 registrations. They only have 99. They were applying the same rigour and integrity to entering quacks into their database as they use when checking that the quacks have studied an appropriate amount of human anatomy, etc or that their customers are receiving proper medical care for their conditions or that the therapies actually work. None. They had one person in EIGHT times with exactly the same data, making it look like they had 7 more registered that they actually have. Of course, we can expect them to fix the problem immediately...give them time...they've only had 10 days so far (and they've been 'overwhelmed', remember) to spot and correct their counting error...what's it going to be like when they have hundreds or thousands? This works out as an error rate of 7.1%. If they get 10,000 in 2009 (their self-proclaimed objective), this would be 707 errors in their database. But why bother with accuracy when you're dealing with quackery, eh? _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
February 27th, 2009, 12:34 am

seantellis Joined: February 7th, 2009, 6:35 pm Posts: 33	Re: Ofquack Just a quick update on the petition (http://snipurl.com/ofquack) - we now have 300 signatories. Not bad, but I'd like to multiply that by 300 before the end of April. Also, believe it or not, the name "ofquack" was not registered on Twitter when I checked this morning. It is now, obviously... As for the duplicate entries, it's ironic and amusing to note that they are for a lady with the name Suzanne Harmer. Not a good name for a massage therapist. Mind you, our local osteopath is Dr. Pinches. _________________ Sean Follow OfQuack's antics at http://twitter.com/ofquack .
February 27th, 2009, 10:31 pm

Alan C. Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm Posts: 7592 Location: Shetland	Re: Ofquack I used to deliver the mail to a doctor Death, although he pronounced it De-ath. _________________ Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.
February 27th, 2009, 11:46 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Sean How do I find OfQuack on Twitter? I'm on it, but hardly use it. (I've subscribed to their RSS feeds for news and events, so Twitter may not be any different.) Any thoughts on how to get more signatures? _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
February 27th, 2009, 11:55 pm

seantellis Joined: February 7th, 2009, 6:35 pm Posts: 33	Re: Ofquack Try http://twitter.com/ofquack and then you can click on "follow" to subscribe to the feed. I've posted a few updates so far, so you should get an idea what I'm doing with it. _________________ Sean Follow OfQuack's antics at http://twitter.com/ofquack .
February 28th, 2009, 1:22 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Got it now, Sean — no idea why I wasn't able to find it yesterday. _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
February 28th, 2009, 3:11 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack I wonder how OfQuack would deal with someone like this? Quote: ******************************************************************************** Therapist Derek Gale said ‘call me daddy’ - Times Online http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... 848037.ece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Therapist Derek Gale said ‘call me daddy’ David Brown A therapist groped and bullied his clients and even treated them like children, a misconduct hearing was told yesterday. Derek Gale, 59, read bedtime stories to the middle-aged professionals who sought help for problems with their relationships and told them to refer to him as “daddy”. He also allegedly told a vulnerable woman to have unlimited sex, groped other clients and encouraged them to smoke cannabis. The Health Professions Council, which regulates arts therapists, was told that his exploitation of clients dated back 20 years. Michael Caplan, QC, said: “Mr Gale systematically took advantage of his clients’ vulnerable state and exerted undue influence on them to behave in a way to serve his own ends.” Related Links * Couples therapist uses loophole to cheat ban Mr Gale is accused of exploiting clients at the Gale Centre, in Loughton, Essex. He denies any wrongdoing and told the tribunal that there was “nothing sinister or strange about the way I operate”. The Times revealed in 2007 that Mr Gale had been suspended from working as an arts therapist because of “significant potential risk of harm to clients” but was able to continue working because of a legal loophole.The Health Professions Council can only regulate therapists who offer music, art or drama therapy. Mr Gale now refers to himself as a psychotherapist and a couples therapist. [Retrieved: Thu Mar 05 2009 11:49:46 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time)] ################### _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 5th, 2009, 12:53 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack OfQuack were busy last week! They now have 139 quacks registered (excluding the seven duplicates that haven't bothered to fix yet). Still not overwhelmed. That's a rate of less than 20 a week. Their target is 10,000 by the end of the year, but at this rate, they will have only 850 registered! (They've made it more difficult for me to gather the data, but they haven't beaten me yet!) _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 9th, 2009, 12:12 am

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Well, they tried to stop me gathering the data on registrations automatically, but they have failed! I now have to go through a three-stage process, but it's easy and fairly automatic. It's been interesting finding out how to do it! There are now 141 quacks registered, excluding the seven duplicates, which they still haven't removed. _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 10th, 2009, 5:19 pm

Alan C. Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm Posts: 7592 Location: Shetland	Re: Ofquack You've got too much spare time big man Is there anywhere we can access a list of the quacks they've registered? I'd like to see if any of the many quacks up here are on the list. _________________ Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.
March 10th, 2009, 6:43 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Easy. All my method does is extract the data from the search facility they provide. Go to www.ofquack.org.uk (I can't use the real URL!). In the search box on the right, enter ZE for your postcode in the 'Search on' box and select 'postcode' in the 'Search type' box. For some reason, they actually use a different site for their register (www.cnhcregister.org.uk), so you can use either website. Currently, there are the following in the Scottish postcode areas: AB 0 DD 0 DG 0 EH 3 FK 1 G 0 HS 0 IV 0 KA 1 KW 0 KY 0 ML 0 PA 0 PH 0 TD 0 ZE 0 giving a total of 5 in Scotland, none in Shetland. You can also search by name if you are checking someone or by registration number, but I don't know what the format is yet and they don't give the numbers when you find someone by name or postcode. You'd have thought it'd be necessary to verify the quack you're looking up. _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 10th, 2009, 7:14 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Current registrations (this includes the seven duplicate entries, so it comes to 148): Attachments: OfQuack.jpg [ 24.12 KiB \| Viewed 7431 times ] _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 10th, 2009, 7:30 pm

Alan C. Joined: July 4th, 2007, 3:35 pm Posts: 7592 Location: Shetland	Re: Ofquack Thanks Alan, but you've buggered up the screen with that huge graph, I can't fit it all on Can you reduce it, as it's making all the earlier posts difficult to read, ta _________________ Abstinence Makes the Church Grow Fondlers.
March 10th, 2009, 8:20 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Sorry about that, Alan. I've made it smaller and hope you can still read it! _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 10th, 2009, 10:30 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack Definitely too much time on my hands. A typical entry in their register of quacks is (I've used the one that's duplicated seven times as an example): Quote: Suzanne Harmer 44 Moneybrannon Road, Aghadowey, County Londonderry BT51 4AA Northern Ireland, United Kingdom Telephone: 07799 471235 Telephone: 07799 471235 Disciplines Massage Therapy Massage Therapy Status Registered until 17/02/2010 So, it has the name, home address (some are obviously business addresses, but most appear to be home addresses — probably the same thing for many), land line and mobile phone numbers, what 'discipline' they are registered with and when their registration expires. Every entry is the same. All well and good. I assume they thought long and hard about providing people's home addresses and phone numbers, and decided that the address was essential to allow a potential patient customer to verify their chosen practitioner quack can cure their ills has good insurance. Not so sure why they're making their phone numbers public, though... Let's look at what OfQuack say about privacy of registrants' details just to check things are OK: Quote: The Published Register CNHC will make part of your register entry available to any enquirer as part of the published register. The public can inspect the following information on the online register: * Your full name * Your profession or practice discipline * Your approximate work location * Your registration number * Any restrictions imposed on your registration Your home address, contact details, date of birth and other data are not available to the public. (Source: http://www.cnhcregister.org.uk/apply/privacy.cfm) Oops! _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 10th, 2009, 10:56 pm

seantellis Joined: February 7th, 2009, 6:35 pm Posts: 33	Re: Ofquack Edit: Ooops, posted this to the wrong thread. That'll teach me to have more than one tab open... Still, it's vaguely related and relevant so here's the original link: http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/03 ... -pies.html Oh dear, oh dear: "all you have to do to seek official approval to sell a herbal remedy is to show that it has been used 'traditionally' within the EU. Traditional, in this case, could be as little as fifteen years use" What the... That's great. I've been used (as a software developer), within the EU, for more than 15 years, so maybe I can register myself as a traditional herbal remedy. But it's great the the BBC is running this as a "quack" story, rather than a credulous puff piece. _________________ Sean Follow OfQuack's antics at http://twitter.com/ofquack .
March 11th, 2009, 10:59 pm

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack seantellis wrote: Oh dear, oh dear: "all you have to do to seek official approval to sell a herbal remedy is to show that it has been used 'traditionally' within the EU. Traditional, in this case, could be as little as fifteen years use" I thought it was 30 years and you don't have to provide any evidence whatsoever? But you may be right, Sean. Quote: What the... That's great. I've been used (as a software developer), within the EU, for more than 15 years, so maybe I can register myself as a traditional herbal remedy. Let me think...it wouldn't be Objective-C, very BASIC, python may be in there somewhere. (Poor attempt at geek joke!) Quote: But it's great the the BBC is running this as a "quack" story, rather than a credulous puff piece. Do you mean about HRH and his Dodgy Originals? _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 11th, 2009, 11:13 pm

seantellis Joined: February 7th, 2009, 6:35 pm Posts: 33	Re: Ofquack I do indeed. Never post to forums when you're tired and have 15 tabs open. _________________ Sean Follow OfQuack's antics at http://twitter.com/ofquack .
March 12th, 2009, 9:03 am

Alan H Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm Posts: 8301	Re: Ofquack seantellis wrote: I do indeed. Never post to forums when you're tired and have 15 tabs open. _________________ Alan Henness "Le doute n'est pas une condition agréable, mais la certitude est absurde." —Voltaire
March 12th, 2009, 10:09 am

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