In having a blog, I occasionally receive information from other bloggers, web sites, and organizations who offer information for my site. Some of them are legitimate, and others are questionable who I am sure find me through bots (software robots), automated searches and perhaps spyware. Generally, when I get unsolicited email from other sites or organizations, the caution flag goes up; some of these sites end up in my Recommended Resources page and others are filtered out.
I recently received information from an organization that released a study on chemical levels in pets. Their web site contained some rather alarming information yet I could not ignore the red flags that popped up in the back of my mind. After thoroughly reading many of the web site’s articles and related blogs, I realized what these “red flags” were:
1- Specific facts were not referenced; the only references that were given, were for general statements that could have applied to many things;
2- Nearly all of the organization’s endorsements came from what are recognized as the most liberal media outlets in the country;
3- In my opinion (and we all know what people say about opinions) many of the organization’s recommendations for protecting pets from toxins, were overstated or extreme;
4- The general tone of the site’s articles and related blogs were alarmist, due to the use of colorful adjectives intended to invoke emotion and not objectivity.
So I checked out the organization’s Board of Directors. Their resumes revealed that for the most part, they were environmental and ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) activists, regardless of their accolades and social status.
So at my discretion, I rejected the organization’s request to post its information on my site, although it’s research and claims may be valid. I will generally publish information that can either be: 1- independently and objectively corroborated, or 2- stated as an opinion, exempting itself from objectivity.
As for comments, I have only discarded those received as spam, and published everything else.
Tags: dog toxins, environmentalist, pet toxins
