Psiram
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Psiram is a mainly German Internet project founded in 2007 under the name EsoWatch with a purpose similar to that of RationalWiki. The platform has wikis for various European languages, a blog, and a discussion forum. The German wiki holds the largest compilation in that language of cranks and bullshitters with over 3,700 articles dedicated to quackery, esotericism, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, fake news, and lots of other crap. The second largest language on Psiram is French (over 600 articles), followed by English (over 100 articles). Wikis for some other European languages also exist, but with few articles and little activity. In general, the German articles are the most current and best maintained.
Anonymity[edit]
All authors use anonymous nicknames; the operator is unknown. This is due to the fact that several stalker pages have appeared in the Internet, throwing all kinds of accusations and mud against assumed authors and members of Psiram in mostly very familiar and unoriginal ways.
A common claim by the anonymous(!) stalker pages is that Psiram is operated anonymously and thus not trustworthy. The operators were accused of being right wing, left wing, Nazis, Jews, child pornographers, convicted of various crimes, and more.[1] Just like people at RationalWiki, they've also been accused of shilling for the military-industrial complex, government agencies,[2] Big Pharma,[3] and the other usual suspects.
New authors (in various languages) are always welcome and can edit the English wiki as usual, but all edits have to be reviewed by staff members of Psiram before they become visible.
Public reception[edit]
Psiram received some favorable media coverage for its work exposing fraudsters and cranks. Several German newspapers wrote about it or referenced it in articles. The article on Prahlad Jani,
[4] an Indian guru who claims to have lived without food and water since 1940 was even referenced by PZ Myers[5] and their article on night milk crystals[6] was referenced by The Guardian.[7]
A German court based a decision (in part) on arguments collected by Psiram/Esowatch[8] and an inquiry in the Austrian parliament was based on the information collected in the wiki.[9]
See also[edit]
- HoaxWiki – a Dutch wiki devoted to describing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, quackery, and other false information.
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Psiram disclaimer
- ↑ Internationales Wahrheits-Abwehrzentrum „esowatch” (Archived)
- ↑ Esowatch und die Pharmalobby (Archived)
- ↑ Prahlad Jani at psiram.com
- ↑ Physiology explains it all, Pharyngula, May 2010
- ↑ Night Milk Crystals, at psiram.com
- ↑ German night milk may aid insomniacs, The Guardian
- ↑ VG Saarlouis verdict on 9/9/2010, 3 K 573/09
- ↑ 6639/J XXIV. GP, Inquiry to the Austrian parliament