UC Berkeley Crowdfunding

I'm sure everyone is tired of these messages by now. Only two more days left! For any last donations, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

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Please don't click on the "READ UPDATE" button below--that takes you back to a previous campaign.

Dear Trial By Error Supporter--

This is the final stretch of what I expect to be the last of these Berkeley crowdfunders. With a mini-surge in the last couple of days, the campaign has reached 81% of the goal, so the end is in sight. The crowdfunding has been the least favorite part of this project, but the support I have always received has been amazing. 

If you'd like to donate this time around, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

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Please don't click the "READ UPDATE" button below--that takes you back to a previous campaign.

... the satisfaction of helping the cause of Science--plus a personal message of thanks from me! If that seems like a good deal, or even if it doesn't sound like a good deal but you'd still like to donate, here's the link:

I try to find something interesting and/or entertaining to say in these messages, but sometimes I can't come up with anything particularly compelling. (It's getting to that time in the campaign.) 

The campaign is closing in on 400 donations, which is pretty good, and has reached 58% of the goal, which isn't quite as good. If you're in the mood to celebrate Donation Friday with a gift, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

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Please don't click on the "READ UPDATE" button below--that takes you back to a past campaign.

Dear Trial By Error Supporter--

With a week left, the crowdfunder has reached 57% of the goal. This process has always been my least favorite part of this project, but it has been the only way to keep on with this work. This campaign will support my position through December of this year. If you haven't yet donated this time around, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Thanks!--David

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As I have mentioned, I'm planning to retire from Berkeley at the end of this year. Unless something changes, that means this crowdfunding campaign, which provides support for my academic position from July through December, will be the last one. 

I have done my best to provide a good return on investment since I began crowdfunding on Berkeley's platform in 2018, and I plan to keep doing that through December. I am amazed at the support I've received over the years. If you'd like to help keep me going for this final round, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

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Please don't click on the UPDATE button below--that takes you back to the previous campaign.

I began this project with a 15,000-word investigation of the fraudulent PACE trial. In my signature act of academic performance art, I ripped up a print-out of the trial to pieces at the Invest in ME conference in 2017. I've been ripping up these bullshit trials every since. And now I'm crowdfunding for what I expect to be the last time.

If you'd like to support my work through December of this year, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Thanks for all the donations to date!!--David

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Please don't click on the UPDATE button below--that takes you back to a previous campaign.

This campaign is two-thirds done and has just about reached 50% of the goal. There's still time to donate to support my work through December, 2026. Here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Last week, eClinicalMedicine, a Lancet journal, published a letter I wrote challenging the claims of a study promoting exercise for Long COVID. You can read my letter here, and my blog posts about it here and here.

Thanks!!!--David

If you want to take advantage of this special opportunity today, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

With 11 days left, the crowdfunder has reached 46% of the goal, so there is a ways to go! Thanks--David

Dear Trial By Error Supporter--

The magazine New Scientist has just published an article questioning the quality of trials promoting exercise for Long COVID--and quotes me in the process. My post about it is here. 

If you'd like to support my work this time around, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Thanks!!!--David

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As usual, U.K. tops the list, with 83 donations, followed by the U.S. with 58, Australia and Norway with 18 each, and Ireland and Norway, with several others in the single digits--and one from Lithuania. 

If you want to add to your country's total, here's the link to donate: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Thanks!--David

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Please do not click on the UPDATE button below. That takes you to a past campaign 

So far, the campaign has received 179 donations. Usually, there are 500+, so seems there some room to grow! If you're interested in supporting my work again this time, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Thanks!!--David

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So far, the campaign has received 171 donations and reached 26% of the goal, with 17 days to go. If you're in the mood to donate today, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/49720

Thanks!--David

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The Trial By Error crowdfunder will end on Monday night at 11:59 PM Pacific Coast Time--that's Tuesday morning across the UK and. Europe. The pace of donations seems to have picked up in the last couple of days, so maybe the goal will be reached after all. If you'd still like to donate, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120

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PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE "READ UPDATE" BUTTON BELOW--THAT TAKES YOU BACK TO A PAST CAMPAIGN.

Wow, things have heated up a bit! It's going to come down to the wire!

If you'd like to support my work this time around, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120

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Last year, I conducted two interviews with well-known Guardian columnist George Monbiot, scourge of politicians and GET/CBT ideologues everywhere! George came out swinging in two columns--one on the failed "biopsychosocial" treatmen paradigm for ME and ME/CFS, and another on the egregious failings and bizarre politics of London's so-called Science Media Centre. (I offered some pointers and suggestions in advance of each column's publication.) 

You can listen to my interviews here and here.

The crowdfunding for Trial By Error has one week to go. If you'd like to support my work this time around, here's the link: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120

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PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THE "READ UPDATE" BUTTON BELOW--THAT GOES BACK TO A PAST CAMPAIGN.

During my trip last month to Australia, I spent time in Perth with Alem Matthees, who has severe ME, and his mum, Helen, which I wrote about here. .Alem is the patient who pursued a successful freedom of information request for the raw PACE trial data. After his legal victory, it was possible to document just how poor the PACE trial results actually were. 

Alem's health declined dramatically after his strenuous efforts. I was so glad I had a chance to visit him and his family again. (I fund my own overseas travel.)

If you'd like to help with the current crowdfunding campaign, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120

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PLEASE DON'T CLICK ON THE "READ UPDATE" BUTTON BELOW. THAT GOES BACK TO A PAST CAMPAIGN.

It's tough running a crowdfunding campaign during a just-launched trade war, with markets plunging! So reaching 30% at this stage, with 19 days left to go, seems pretty good.

If you'd like to support Trial By Error this time around, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120

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PLEASE DO NOT CLICK THE 'READ UPDATE' BUTTON BELOW. That takes you back to a past campaign.

Last week, The Lancet published a letter I co-wrote with my friend and colleague, counselling psychologist Joan Crawford, about a problematic study of "persistent physical symptoms." That study claimed success based on results that were not clinically significant. I consider it part of my work to try to ensure, when possible, that bogus claims in the medical literature are publicly rebutted.

To support Trial By Error this time around, here's the link: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/46120

Do NOT click on the "READ UPDATE" button below. That goes back to an earlier campaign.

I am delighted that this month's effort has outpaced the most recent one in numbers of donors, having passed 500 yesterday. It ends Thursday at midnight Pacific Coast time--which is 8 am London time. So still time to contribute! Here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Reminder: Please DO NOT click on the "Read Update" button below--that brings you back to a past campaign. 

Thanks to everyone who supports my work! It has been an amazing honor to have been able to pursue this project for lo these many years. I hope to continue for one more year after this one...

That occurred after I sent out a message urging any Trump fanatics among my donors--of whom I hope there are none--to immediately identify themselves so I could return the funds to them as soon as possible. I don't want fascist money! While no one came forward to identify themselves--a good sign!--the message seemed to have inspired others to make donations! Or maybe it's just that the campaign is nearing it's end...

In any event, the surge put the campaign on the path toward 500 donations--a good benchmark!

If you'd still like to donate this time around, here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Reminder: DO NOT click on the "Read Update" button below--that takes you back to a past campaign.

Thanks to all!--David

This week, the PACE authors criticize George Monbiot's latest column--another scathing take-down of their work--with a pathetic defense of their discredited research. I posted my response to them here.

Meanwhile, October's crowdfunder enters its final stretch at 62% of the goal, with just over 300 donations. Last time there were around 500 donations, so there's still a way to go...Thanks to all past, current and future donors! If you'd like to support my work again this time around, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Please do NOT click on the "Read Update" button below. That takes you back to a past campaign.

A few days ago, actress Jennie Jacques ("The Vikings"), who has had ME for five years, interviewed Guardian columnist George Monbiot and me for a robust conversation about the decades-long gaslighting perpetrated by the "biopsychosocial" investigators. And yes, I did mention that the entire thing is one big "circle jerk."

The October crowdfunding campaign has reached 54% of the goal with almost 250 donations, with 10 days left. That's about on track, given the usual rush the last week or so. If you'd like to continue to support my work, here's the link: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Please do NOT click on the "Read Update" button below. That takes you back to a past campaign.

George Monbiot and I spoke last spring after his scathing critique of the decades of bad science perpetrated by the "biopsychosocial" cabal of investigators. Today he published another zinger, focusing on the recent inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O'Neill in Exeter, England, and the egregious role the seriously misnamed Science Media Centre has played in this entire debacle. The column highlighted the Reuters hit piece portraying me as an unethical rabble-rouser leading patients astray. Thanks for the shout-out, George!!!

Meanwhile, this month's crowdfunder has reached 46% of the goal, with more than 200 donations. If you'd like to continue to support my work, here's the link:

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Please DO NOT click on the "READ UPDATE" button below--that takes you back to a past campaign.

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John Bolecek, a former transportation planner from Virginia currently disabled with Long Covid, recently wrote a piece for The Sick Times about why the NIH should retract the absurd "effort preference" claim from the "deep-phenotyping" ME/CFS study published earlier this year. I have posted this interview with Bolecek about the piece.

Meanwhile, this month's crowdfunder has reached 35% of the goal, with 175 donors. If you'd like to continue to support my work, here's the link: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Please DO NOT click on the "READ UPDATE" button below--that takes you back to a past campaign.

So far, there are 133 donations--50 from the UK, 35 from the US, 9 each from Norway and Australia, and a few others here and there. 

Meanwhile, today's my 68th birthday!!!

If you'd like to support my work this time around, here's the link

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Please DO NOT click on the READ UPDATE button below--that takes you back to a previous campaign.

This is the first of quite a few messages this month. Here's the link: 

https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/43450

Do not click on the READ UPDATE button below--that just brings you back to last spring's crowdfunder. 

Thanks!--David

Last year, the fall crowdfunding campaign got bumped from October to November for a few logistical reasons. This year, it is again in October. The link will go live right after midnight (Berkeley time) on October 1st. 

I had previously indicated that I was considering ending the project in June, 2025, after the current academic year. That would have made this campaign the last one. But having received so many heartfelt responses to the messages I sent out after the spring campaign, and recognizing that there's still plenty to do, and assuming that next month's crowdfunding goes ok, I have decided to extend that deadline by another year. 

Thanks again for the support! Some of you donated last spring for the first time. Many of you have been donating for years. It is hard to express how much I have appreciated the opportunity to keep doing this work--David

Dear Trial By Error Supporter--

For the first time, I've written a thank you note to every single donor. In the past, I have vowed to do that and have given up after a few dozen. This time I persevered--and I'm glad I did. I was so touched by the enormous number of responses I received. Some were brief but many included heartbreaking accounts of years or decades of debilitating illness. Hearing stories like these is among the factors that have induced me to keep going with this project for so long. 

Since the crowdfunder ended in May, I've been pretty busy. I've posted 17 blogs on Virology Blog, covering a range of issues. Among the best news has been that Professor Esther Crawley, Bristol University's methodologically and ethically challenged pediatrician and grant magnet, has apparently retired from medicine, as I reported on June 12th. Among many other items, I posted an interview with Betsy Ladyzhets, co-founder and co-editor of The Sick Times, about the NIH's RECOVER initiatve, and also wrote about the agency's problematic "effort preference" metric in its "deep phenotyping" study of ME/CFS. 

Along with two co-authors--Mady Hornig, a psychiatrist and researcher, and David Putrino, a neuroscientist and rehabilitation expert--I recently published an opinion piece in STAT expressing concern about people with Long Covid who are receiving questionable diagnoses of "functional neurological disorder," or FND. As we explain in our piece, the category of FND is in expansion mode, exhibiting the phenomenon known as "diagnostic creep." I've heard from quite a lot of Long Covid patients given FND diagnoses after cursory exams, so this seems to be a major ongoing issue.

Most recently, I attended the two-week inquest into the case of Maeve Boothby O'Neill, the 27-year-old woman who died in Exeter, UK, in October, 2021, after three hospitalizations in the preceding months. I had written a long piece about Maeve's life and death last year for Codastory.com, so I wanted to be there for the inquest itself. I've written about it several times, including here, here, here, here and here.

Thanks again for the support--whether you're a repeat or first-time donor. 

I am very aware that most of you are either patients or carers and family members of patients, and that the support for my project arises from deeply personal reasons. I try to keep that in mind as I figure out what to work on and which papers to criticize--to figure out how to have as much impact as possible. But I'm always open to suggestions.

Thanks again for the support. I very much appreciate it.--David