From: ben@badscience***
To: ***
Subject: Re: Your mail to ben@badscience**
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 13:53:40 -0500

Hi,
 
thanks for your email. I used to be able to reply to everything, but since the book took off I've been a bit deluged. Writing's just a hobby and I have a dayjob! I do still read everything, but here are some brief things that might be useful:
 
- If you're inviting me to speak at an event, please email **** and
  Zoe will help you out.
 
- If you're a journalist, I'll get back to you, but contacting ****
  (or **** for telly) as well reduces the chances of me missing it.
 
- If you've sent me a story, or a heads up on something, thanks! These
  are the best emails I get, especially if it's a link to an
  interesting analysis in an academic paper, or a newspaper story
  that's not just wrong, but interestingly wrong. Your kind assistance
  will be noted in nerd heaven.
 
- If your email is about my real dayjob stuff (not my hobby, which is
  writing about stuff), then this is the wrong email address, but I'll
  definitely get back to you.
 
- If you're worried/annoyed about something in your local area or
  field, maybe you should also consider writing it up, posting it on a
  blog, writing for your local paper, contacting your MP, or
  communicating with the relevant regulator or professional body (and
  maybe writing that up!). These are all fun and valuable things to
  do.
 
- If you want to get into writing, the only advice I can offer is
  "write!", on a blog, in a local mag, a student paper, anywhere and
  everywhere that will have you, practice, feedback, and repeat. I got
  a column by ringing the switchboard number on the letters page. All
  newspapers print this. That is honestly all I know about getting
  commissioned. Usually people say no. Be prepared to sell your idea
  in one sentence and sound plausible.
 
- If you think there's a medical conspiracy to poison us with
  vaccines, or maybe you have a new theory about how the universe
  works which you invented in your garage, that's awesome, thanks for
  thinking of me.

- If you're asking for personal medical advice, I don't do that on the
  internet, and I don't see private patients, but I wish you the best.

- If you're a press officer and you're sending me a circular press
  release, I've never, ever, ever written an article based on a press
  release, and I obviously never will. If you send me unsolicited
  circular emails more than once, I'm afraid your email address will
  go on a blacklist, all emails from you and your organisation from
  then on will be deleted automatically, but you will get an
  auto-responder informing you of your deletion. This is to make my
  inbox manageable.

- If you're a mole from the pharmaceutical industry with a frightening
  story of hidden harm, then this is very exciting, I hope you haven't
  used your work email address.

- If you're writing about an evidence based policy issue, then I think
  this paper which I helped to write sets out the issues pretty well,
  if you're interested in running trials in your field then let me
  know and I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

- If you're asking whether one specific thing that's obviously
  quackery is actually quackery, and you're asking because you
  couldn't find anything about that one specific type of quackery on
  badscience.net, then be honest with yourself, it's almost certainly
  quackery.
 
- If you've sent me a "keep it up" email, then really, genuinely:
  thanks. I send lots of these to total strangers myself, writing is
  solitary, it's nice to hear that people care about the same nerdy
  stuff you care about. You are not alone!
 
- If you've re-used parts of the book or columns in a school or
  university lesson then that's particularly awesome, thank you, and
  please share any resources you've made! If it's a very commercial
  context you can check with ****, but if it's just in your class then
  I'm delighted.





dr ben goldacre
ben@badscience****
http://www.badscience.net/