Temporarily Closing Comments on Kendrick Post

After a fair amount of deliberation, I have decided to temporarily close comments on the Malcolm Kendrick post.  

This past Spring marked 5 years of blogging here at The Asylum, a milestone I had intended to acknowledge and perhaps even celebrate.  In that time I've published over 1100 posts, and of the 600 in my draft bin, at least 200 of them are blog-worthy, complete or near complete, posts.  Of those, perhaps a third are "vents" I thought the better of publishing up, another third I just felt had passed their "blog on by" date, and the remaining third are "deep science" I never got to spend the time on to articulate fully.  I have a fascinating -- to me anyway -- series in mind discussing intracellular lipid trafficking and lipid droplet organelles that just never gets the attention it deserves.  

WALL OF TEXT

I don't generally publish up half-arsed posts, though readers should be aware that I blog "train of thought".  I just write.  I do my best to check for typos and tense mismatches (probably most guilty there) and making sure of the there-their-they're and your-you'res and such as well.  Of late you may have noticed a different formatting with some "section" headings and such, and sometimes even a gratuitous image just to break up the wall of text.   In an ideal world I'd have more time to edit my writing.  I am well aware that it gets wordy at times, and it is gratifying that even one person would take the time to read all those words!   I start series and drop them.  I shift gears all the time.  This is the nature of this beast which is a true blog, not a money generating device.  There's nothing wrong with generating revenue, I'd love to do more of that.  But it is not the purpose of this blog.  

You may have noticed a far more irritated side of me coming out of late.  Some of this is borne of deep frustration with the whole nutritional science field and the continued rank dishonesty of those proposing low carb diets as some solution to it all.     Part of it is frustration with myself and just life, because 2014 put me behind the ball and here we are half-way plus a month into 2015 and I don't think I can even say I'm caught up.    It is very important to me because of promises made and interest expressed that I finish and re-publish up Restriction Addiction.   It is proving to be more difficult and stressful because of the subject matter, and I wasn't expecting to see dishonesty permeate this scientific branch as it has.   Do I tackle that?  Dunno.  

And then there's the frustrations of expectations.  This blog really is therapeutic for me and I enjoy most of all interacting in comments.  This is something I've been doing less of.  I read each and every comment that comes through.  If I do that on my phone, I probably don't get to respond, and if I don't remind myself later when I'm on my computer, the opportunity passes.  You'll know when I'm on my phone a lot because the post snagger moderation is slow to non-existent and I've had as many as 25 pending posts!  Considering how few go to moderation, that is a LOT.   

I love off topic comments when they are somewhere remotely tied to the subject matter.  I know that sounds contradictory, but not really.  True discussions often stray and that's where we learn the most.  I cannot even begin to thank everyone for all of the links, ideas, debate practice, etc. from the engaging comment section here.   I truly adore Disqus.  While not perfect it does allow loose moderation with only one Razwellian emesis since I implemented it.   I think I'm still under a dozen deleted comments all time if you don't count his garbage.  Pretty pleased with that, especially considering this blog.  

Anecdotes are always welcome, except when you repeat over and over and over again how you "prove" something by your special snowflake existence.   

I value your opinions but don't state them as fact.    Even opinions should be based on some evidence, and if all you have is anecdotal evidence, feel free to state your opinion once and then see if anyone's listening.  Otherwise, at some point "I think this" and "I think that" -- I'm talking to you AlexS! -- is just annoying.  Especially when you keep moving goal posts.  

There is no need to avow or disavow any particular diet.  My goal here is not to "exonerate carbohydrates" nor is it to "indict fat".    I am neither a vegan nor am I a vegan opponent.  I'm not really against LC diets but MY opinion based on 5 years of research for my own benefit, is that they are not generally healthy diets overall when in weight maintenance.  That doesn't mean I'm passing judgment on anyone or saying they should change their diets.  This is your business.  You know how you feel.  You know your bloodwork.  Etc.   But I will speak out loudly against the fraudulent diet gurus especially overweight weight loss bloggers, overweight diet book authors, unhealthy health book authors, and unhealthy health bloggers   And I will speak out loudly against misinterpreted and misrepresented science.    Dishonesty should not be tolerated.  The Big Fat Surprise is that there's a NYT best seller that contains more innacuracies than facts.  It does NOT help people to lie to them.  Period.   

With all that said ...

To Ban or Not To Ban, That is the Question:

I have banned very few people from this blog.  Razwell, of course, and any of his various and sundry aliases.  I banned Eat Less Move Moore because this person is an instigator and after using various other aliases (here and elsewhere) and then threatening me with harassment, I decided it best to leave trash outside.  I banned Fat Sane who may or may not be associated with ELMM, it's not worth my time to bother.  If you create an identity specifically to come on this blog and harass me, you'll be kept outside.  Pretty simple.  That is not an honest motive.

The ban hammer will also come down relatively quickly if someone's sole purpose here it to ask why there are no pictures of me, updates on my personal weight, health, whatever.  THIS IS NOT A PERSONAL BLOG.  THIS IS NOT A WEIGHT LOSS BLOG.  THIS IS NOT AN ADVOCACY BLOG FOR ANY DIET, INDUSTRY, PHILOSOPHY, WHATSOEVER.    

For around a year and a half, beginning with Jack John Jude Kruse's TEDx talk (imagine how odd it is that even the "x" folks took the video down) where he claimed to have had elective surgery without a local while endangering himself, his family and everyone in that medical facility by smearing and injecting himself with MRSA, and then immersed himself in ice water for hours afterwards, I was stalked, harassed and targeted PERSONALLY by various people in the LC and Paleo communities.    When Richard Nikoley declared internet war on me, I obtained some legal counsel.   A separation strategy was put into place.  Pictures removed.  Personal stuff had been shut down after Kruse-gate.  It is as simple as that.  

I didn't attend AHS12 because my husband switched jobs mid summer and that added financial strain as I don't work most summers.  We had plans to stay off campus and for him to chauffeur me around, but he was not going to be able to take the time off of a new job.  Simple as that and I sold my ticket at cost and refunded upon request any donations that had been made, which was between me and those donors anyway. Shortly thereafter Richard Nikoley declared internet war on me which I'm pretty sure was sparked by the fact that I had the temerity to write the AHS organizers regarding his speaking at their event given his behavior.   The dude has a serious issue with the concept of free speech and the meaning of words.

Accordingly, and as it is a "war," I go "nuclear and chemical-biological" early. I will make zero pretense at "objectivity." This is for the purpose of smear and annihilation in words and images, with no mercy. I have no intention of fact checking, caring a lick about context, posting a scintilla of extenuating or exculpatory evidence. I will be seeking as much dirt, as much that is unflattering, as much inside information that's likely to be taken in the wrong way as possible. And I won't let up until I'm satisfied, and I don't even have a standard for that. I'll know it when I see it.

If you have a stomach for it, Google moron c**t (you know the word )  site:freetheanimal.com.  One paticularly lovely hit will be his response to this post on Robert Lustig:  Review & Critique: The Skinny on Obesity ~ Part III Hormones.  Apparently I wasn't polite enough in my blogging for Richard's tastes, thus I am an em cee.  You see, Nikoley's words don't matter, it's only those who disagree with him that deserve to endure his vulgarity and harassment.  He wouldn't stand for anybody saying something even one tenth as mild about his wife and he knows it.  Only he's a pacifist and doesn't engage in physical violence .... /whatever.  What he did with me was violence, make no mistake about it.  But Mark Sisson had a sauce cookbook to sell and the follow-on to Primal Blueprint coming out, Paul Jaminet had the new PHD releasing in December and Robb just ... well, he's just who he is.

The madness seemed to die down later that year, but then Jimmy Moore appeared on the internet radio show of notorious white-supremecist and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.  Shortly thereafter he linked to Duke's website as a Paleo/LC blog of interest while he was away.  KNOWINGLY.  And he lied about it.  It boggles the mind to this day how this was met with no rebuke by any notables in the community.  They circled the wagons and moved on.  I made a great fall guy for them.  Sickening individuals on a personal level one and all.  Paul Jaminet, Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf.  It's here on the blog if you care to look. 

I didn't speak at AHS13 because a blog was established to stalk and harass me for the express purpose of my not presenting.  Better to destroy me than allow Jimmy's stream of revenue and email list to falter.  When the organizers of the event sent me a preliminary Code of Conduct (that should have been in place long before) for my input, this was published on the stalker blog in advance of it being made public.  The implication was that this was some sort of rebuke of me.  Sorry, that's not how it happened, but it also meant someone within AHS was feeding or directly behind that blog.  The decision not to speak was made in early May after a roughly one hour long conversation with Brent Pottenger.  Brent was more concerned for my personal safety than I even was.  "You are being stalked".  His words.  I don't see any reason to go into any greater detail except to say that I wasn't disinvited, nor was I afraid to appear in public due to my appearance.  I took further measures to protect my safety.  

Throughout all of this there have been multiple impostors posting under "carbsanity" and other monikers using language to sound like me.  Webpire, schtick, etc.  Even when informed it wasn't me, folks like Karen Phelps still held the troll's words against me.  I mean how does one even combat that?  I'm either pre-emptively blocked from or would never post at most of the blogs where these trolls post anyway.  I post as carbsane or Evelyn aka Carbsane and make it a habit only to comment only with accounts associated with my carbsane at gmail dot com email address.   I very much appreciate everyone who has alerted me to suspected imposters ... still I can't waste time telling the various hosts that it isn't me because others insist otherwise.   The times I tried in the early years, or even to comment on other blogs when someone else raised my name or something I wrote, I was often met with hostile: you have your own blog you stalker.   I can't think of any blogger -- and there are many way more controvesial than I could ever be -- who has had to endure any imposters let alone the amount I've had.   I mention this to give some of the newer readers a small idea of life behind the scenes, and yes, aside from that I do have a life as well!

Which brings me to my next point regarding comments and banning, and that is that I would be a hypocrit if I were to moderate out all dissenting opinion here.  For starters, if anything is ever said about JohnJaneQPublic here -- either by me or a commenter -- I would NEVER block comments from JohnJaneQPublic him/herself so long as they abide by the rules.   I will invite people over here from Twitter because anyone trying to have a meaningful discussion there knows it is darned near impossible.  I understand that means some comments can get cumbersome to navigate -- I might suggest the Disqus dashboard instead of reading/responding inline on the blog.  So long as someone is not being abusive of me or other commenters here, I'm going to let them have their say and I'll ignore.   I think in addition my grasp on the ban hammer I have an equally light touch with the delete button.  I don't use it often.  

I think this place and everyone who contributes to it, are pretty special.  I am both amazed and befuddled sometimes how we seem to largely avoid nasty exchanges for nastiness' sake in this polarized nutrition world.  Every now and then I see a contentious exchange or some over the top wording and I usually let it go.  It dies down and folks move on.  As it really should be on the internet, because nobody *really* knows anyone else, and for the most part if we can extend the benefit of the doubt about something it usually makes for smoother going.  I'm available by email if you feel something gets out of hand.

It happens from time to time that an OT comment takes a life of its own.  This is what happened on the Kendrick post.  When it comes to "manifestos" and such, my time is best spent putting my thoughts into a blog post, not scattered throughout various comments.   This creates a predicament because if I don't respond I'm "ignoring" and people will spin that as that I can't refute something or whatever.  If I do, then I'm devoting time to a lesser means of communication and being somewhat forced to deal with something I may or may not have the time or interest in dealing with.

So let me say this.  In retrospect, I should not have answered Gearoidmuar's question.  I did flippantly with "adiposOPATHY" not to be confused with adiposity.  Perhaps some newer readers are not familiar with what has ended up being a focus of my research, but adiposopathy is "sick fat".  I have blogged at length about adipocyte dysfunction and how this seems to be the root of all of this.  I realize some are excited by the idea of finding some heretofore under-recognized metabolic issue, but don't go dumping that in my comments and expect me to drop everything to take a look and debunk it.  That's not how science works either, despite what journalists and diet doctors -- who've never done actual primary research in their lives -- think or say.  

Here are my thoughts on fortification and the obesity epidemic.  Not even remotely enticed to look further.  Evidence is not there either observational or experimental.  Indeed the mountain stands against it.  If I'm wrong, so be it.  

Second, unless you ARE Richard Nikoley, if you are dissatisfied with the response to your grand mal hypothesis on his blog, don't go thinking you can migrate meaningful discussion over here.   Why not start your own blog?  It's free.  It's easy.  It's under your control.    If you think my little summary above even scratches the surface of what has transpired with that guy, you would be wrong.  Get a grip on reality here and do not expect me to be at all welcoming of anything that comes from that blog.  Punkt.  If you are him, he commented here recently, and was rightly ignored.  If you want to work with him, do so at your own risk. Beware, his Scotch bus has more corpses under it than the Kerrygold express.

I don't "own" any commenters here, and indeed many valued contributors post at some rather unseemly (to me) places.  That's fine by me!  (Just if you trash me elsewhere don't expect the welcome mat here)    My readers can read your stuff there.  My readers can comment there.  My readers have their own minds ... indeed they are not "mine".  I would even allow a link in comments with an invitation to join in THERE, something I am under NO obligation to be that magnanimous about.   My readers are here to read MY stuff, and the ensuing conversations.    

I'm flattered you want my opinion.  Now TAKE A HINT. (yes I'm shouting)   Realize that in about 15 min to a half hour of Google Scholar + EBSCO (infinitely preferable to PubMed but not everyone has the latter) this notion that fortification is in any way related to causing obesity is demonstrated to be a non-starter.   If you didn't do the due diligence of reference (and context!) checking your editorials and matching them up with observations from myriad clinical trials and animal experiments, let alone everyday life, I'm sorry for your disappointment.  Don't expect me to do your research for you.  Don't waste my precious time.  I'm not here to vet random ideas.

So.  I am going to do something pretty much unprecedented here.  Sometime after 11:59 am EST on July 30th -- roughly 23 hours from now --  I will delete every comment about iron overload as I see fit.  Probably all of them.  Copy, save links etc. as you wish.  There is some value there, even if not related to obesity.  After this, I will re-open comments.  The post was about the relationship between carbohydrate and LDL, and the contribution of de novo lipogenesis.  I'm even going to leave Gearoidmuar's query and direct responses.  This is because since Kendrik is a rather notorious cholesterol denier,  it was at least reasonable to inquire as to my views. 

All in all, it's the folks who apologize for posting off topic that had nothing to worry about.    I also don't want anyone who has asked me if/when I plan to address XYZ to think this is directed at you.  It is NOT.  So sorry for being more irritable than usual.  Just tired ...