Talk:Julian Whitaker

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This article was nominated for deletion on 25 September 2007. The result of the discussion was Nomination withdrawn.

[edit] Should replace ACSH supported information

This page needs some additional work, as it still comes off too supportive. Some of Whitaker's work is far from mainstream (having just read his most recent newsletter and coming to Wiki to learn more about him). ACSH may be an industry front group (according to [1]), so the information they provide should be taken with a grain of salt. I left the information in to assist later editors in tracking down more information regarding his residency, but otherwise I think it should be excised ASAP. Cartwarmark 21:37, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

What do you believe should be exised? Why not just do some digging and write a WP article about the American College for Advancement in Medicine, and be done with it. If he's a member, it should be listed whether it's a "front," or whether he helped found it or not. What do you mean about his residency? You mean the orthopedic surgery residency in San Francisco that he didn't finish? I can't quite follow you. Badagnani 21:56, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

First off, I like the changes you made. Nicely done! The first and second external links (re: certification and residency) are to an ACSH page on their site. ACSH is not an especially trustworthy organization (they have been criticized as being biased and overly conservative, and of being a mouthpiece for Big pharma and the chemical industry), so I would like to see those links replaced ASAP; unfortunately I wasn't able to find anything further in the short search I performed. However, until they can be replaced by a more reliable source, I feel they should remain because ACSH isn't necessarily inaccurate, simply biased (eg: find another, more reliable source that says he didn't finish his residency). ACAM doesn't have anything to do with this AFAIK. I hope that's clear :) Cartwarmark 01:13, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

That's clear now. That bit of information might be hard to find, but the authors of that ACSH article seem to have done their homework. Apparently Whitaker has talked about not finishing before, because it's part of his history--how he got into using vitamins instead of surgery to cure things. It would just be a question of finding where he talked about that. Badagnani 04:06, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AMA doesn't certify, does it?

In the intro, we say " He is a member of the American Medical Association (although he has never been certified in any specialty by this body)". To my understanding, the AMA is a policatl lobby group and doesn't "do" board certification. Would it be more apt to say "he has not certified in any specialty recognized by the AMA" (and the ABMS for that matter)? -- Levine2112 ^discuss 02:43, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't matter what the AMA does, as long as he's verifiably a member. The passage seems factual as written. Badagnani 18:04, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

But the passage seems to say that he has never been certified in any specialty by the AMA. Sure that's true, but in fact nobody has been certified in any specialty by the AMA. The AMA doesn't certify; ABMS, for instance, is a body that handles board certification. I believe, judging by the citation, what this is meant to say is that Whitaker isn't board certified in a specialty recognized by the AMA. Right? -- Levine2112 ^discuss 18:57, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Fyslee. That at least makes sense now and accurately depicts what the reference says. -- Levine2112 ^discuss 17:40, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV tag

I added a NPOV tag to the article. Yes, Whitaker appears to be a quack, but the article still needs to written with great attention to WP:BLP and WP:NPOV. --Ronz 17:15, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

That's strange, because the article is cut and dried, just the facts of his bio, no praise, etc. Please be specific. Badagnani 18:03, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

More specifically, I'm concerned about WP:BLP#Remove_unsourced_or_poorly_sourced_contentious_material, WP:BLP#Criticism, and WP:WEIGHT. --Ronz 19:12, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

We need to remind ourselves that Wikipedia deals with verifiable information, not facts that have been stripped from their sources and their context of use. We must be careful in the choice of information to present and how we present it. --Ronz 19:31, 24 May 2007 (UTC)