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Follow the Money
Know your sources! Don’t automatically trust some random website. Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t necessarily make it true! Whoever is paying for you to know about all the stuff you read on any given website may skew what is there in favor of those doling out the cash.
In keeping with HON Principle 7 - Transparency of Sponsorship & HON Principle 8 - Transparency of Advertising & Editorial Policy this is how it works:
In short - I’m paying for everything out of my own pockets. I keep all of the advertising income generated by the pages I’ve written with information about medications, conditions, etc. I split the ad revenue with anyone who writes an article I publish. On the Crazy Meds Talk forum I split the advertising revenue with the moderators. I also give the moderators all of the money donated on the forum pages. Crazy Meds just supplements my SSDI by disseminating helpful information I find interesting. It’s not all that different from everyone else who has a blog about one thing or another.
As for the ads that appear, I don’t have much control over what shows up on Google’s AdSense ads. That is mostly based upon the content of the pages and magical stuff that happens on Google’s end. The ads within articles are outlined and identified by an “Ads by Google” logo. For example…
Additionally the ads on the sidebar to the left have a darker background color, as do the really thin strip of ads up above, between article titles and the search bar. On the Crazy Meds Talk forum the ads are also identified by the “Ads by Google” logo. While they are not outlined, they have a white background, while the backgrounds of everything else on the forum are shaded to varying degrees.
Also on the forum, per the forum user agreement
3) You agree that you will not engage in any of the activities that are usually prohibited on the vast majority of fora / bulletin boards / online communities.
a. You will not spam (i.e. repetitive posts or personal messages advertising something or otherwise annoying us) or write posts that are essentially ads. You may have discrete ads for non-pharmacy-related goods or services in your signature. Such ads, promotions, etc. may still be removed at the discretion of the moderators.
The revenue from Google AdSense comprises well over 90% of this site’s income. Most months it’s 100% of its income. I do get a small amount of money from selling books via Amazon, shirts via Cafe Press, and mugs, bumper stickers, and anything else I might design via Zazzle. There are links to all three on the left sidebar, below the Tower of Google, and on the right sidebar of the forum, below the donation button and block of ads. The merchandise page has links to all three, along with news concerning new designs or anything else of note. There is also a links to the Amazon store for any book I list as a source in an article’s bibliography section, as well as on the site-wide bibliography page, but that is mostly for copyright, ISBN, and generally more than the usual bibliographic citing information than to actually sell any books. The overwhelming majority of people who read this site have no need to purchase any of the books I use as my primary sources.
Once upon a time there used to be a lot of ads from dodgy pharmacies, you won’t see too many of those any more, as that has landed Google in a bit of trouble. Constantly checking such ads has meant you get to see the back-up ads I have, which take you to Straitjacket T-shirts, our Cafe Press store where you can buy shirts emblazoned with witty messages in our singular pill font, and Burning Mind Books, our Amazon store with the books used as reference material for this site. Those ads are kind of hard to miss:
On the subject of the books that show up for Amazon, there are a few residual pages you can still reach that have ads for books I didn’t select. I put in keywords that I think are appropriate for the page in question, and Amazon returns selections based on those keywords. Those will disappear eventually. While I selected the books for Burning Mind Books, a few books Amazon recommends will show up in the sidebar based upon my selection. Sometimes they’re books I think are good, sometimes they’re books I think might be a load of crap. It’s up to you what you want to read.
In any event it’s like the separation of editorial and advertising departments of your local weekly freebie - you’ll often see articles in the paper that are critical of the services or even companies being advertised. At least in the good ones that happens. There’s a real wall there. So it is here. Hell, ads for the $cientologists have shown up here, and anyone who knows me well knows how I feel about those scum-sucking bottom feeders.
As for ads that aren’t from Google and aren’t for Crazy Meds-related merchandise, i.e. if you want to buy an ad, good luck catching me when I’m functional enough to deal with that sort of thing. It’s possible, but if you want to buy an ad on this site your timing has to be really good. At this time it’s unlikely I’ll be selling any display ads.
Page created by: Jerod Poore. Date created: 24 May 2011 Last edited by:
Page design and explanatory material copyright © 2004 - 2011 Jerod Poore. All rights reserved.
Almost all of the material on this site is copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Jerod Poore. Except, of course, the PI sheets - those are the property of the drug companies who developed the drugs the sheets are about - and any documents that are written by other people which may be posted to this site will remain the property of the original authors. You cannot reproduce this page or any other material on this site outside of the boundaries of fair use copying without the express permission of the copyright holder. That’s usually me, so just ask first. That means if want to print out a few pages to take to your doctor, therapist, counselor, support group, non-understanding family members or something like that - then that’s OK to just do. Go for it! Please. As long as you include this copyright notice and the following disclaimer, I’m usually cool with it.
All rights reserved. No warranty is expressed or implied in this information. Consult one or more doctors and/or pharmacists before taking, or changing how you take any neurological and/or psychiatric medication. Your mileage may vary. What happened to us won’t necessarily happen to you.
The information on Crazy Meds pertains to and is intended for adults. While some information about children and adolescents is occasionally presented (e.g. US FDA approvals), pediatric-specific data such as dosages, side effects, off-label applications, etc. are rarely included in the articles on drugs or discussed on the forum. If you are looking for information regarding meds for children you’ll have to go somewhere else.
Know your sources!
Nobody on this site is a doctor, therapist, or a pharmacist. We don’t portray them either here or on TV. Only doctors can diagnose and treat an illness. Some doctors tend to get pissed off by patients who know too much about medications, so tread lightly when and where appropriate. Diagnosing yourself from a website is like defending yourself in court, you suddenly have a fool for a doctor. Don’t be a cyberchondriac, thinking you have every disease you see a website about, or that you’ll get every side effect from every medication*. Self-prescribing is as dangerous as buying meds from fraudulent online pharmacies that promise you medications without prescriptions.
All information on this site has been obtained through our personal experience and the experiences family, friends, what people have reported on various reputable sites all over teh intergoogles, the medications’ product information / summary of product characteristic (PI/SPC) sheets, and from sources that are referenced throughout the site. As such the information presented here is not intended as a substitute for real medical advice from your real doctor, just a compliment to it. You should never, ever, replace what a real doctor tells you with something from a website on the Internet. The farthest you should ever take it is getting a second opinion from another real doctor. Educate yourself - always read the PI/SPC sheet or patient information leaflet (PIL) that comes with your medications and never ever throw them away.
Crazy Meds is not responsible for the content of sites we provide links to. We like them, or they’re paid advertisements, or they’re something else we think you should read to help you make an informed decision about a particular med. Sometimes they’re more than one of those things. But what’s on those sites is their business, not ours.
Very little information about visitors to this site is collected or saved. From time to time I look at search terms used and which pages they bring up in an effort to make the information I present more relevant. And the country of origin, just because I’m geeky like that. That’s about it. Depending on how you feel about Schrodinger, our privacy policy should either assuage or exacerbate your paranoia.
All brand names of the drugs listed in this site are the trademarks of the companies named on the PI/SPC sheet associated with the medication, sometimes on the pages about the drugs, even though those companies may have been acquired by other companies who may or may not be listed in this site by the time you read this. Or the rights to the drug were sold to another company. And any or all of the companies involved may have changed their names.
Crazy Meds is optimized for the browser you’re not using on the platform you wish you had. Between you and me, it all looks a lot cleaner using Firefox.
No neurologists, psychiatrists, therapists or pharmacists were harmed in the production of this website. Use only as directed. Void where prohibited. Contains nuts. Certain restrictions may apply. All data are subject to availability. Not available on all mobile devices or in all dimensions of reality.
*While there are plenty of books to help you with hypochondria, for some reason there’s not much in the way of websites. Then again, staying off of the Internet is a large part of curing/managing the disorder.
‘Everything is true, nothing is permitted.’ - Jerod Poore
