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Worst Snake Oil Bullshit You've Come Across?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 23850
  • Start date

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
8,689
As in, snake oil that is also relevant to you, I guess.

For me, anything related to ""alternative therapies" for conditions like Autism and ADHD absolutely enrage me to no end. In particular, the latter is subjected to a shit ton of shitty alternative therapies, "neurofeedback", or even green spaces. Ugh, fuck it all.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
8,689
Also, Fish Oil is fucking stupid.
 
echoshifting

echoshifting

very salt heavy
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,690
The Negative Zone
I once went to a homeopath, desperate for chronic pain treatment. Sat through a bizarre and invasive therapy session, was told at the end that the spirit of the tiger was screwing with me and if I got rid of it I would feel better. He gave me little white pills to take that he claimed were derived from actual tiger's blood

Tiger's blood tastes a lot like sugar
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
8,689
echoshifting said:
I once went to a homeopath, desperate for chronic pain treatment. Sat through a bizarre and invasive therapy session, was told at the end that the spirit of the tiger was screwing with me and if I got rid of it I would feel better. He gave me little white pills to take that he claimed were derived from actual tiger's blood

Tiger's blood tastes a lot like sugar
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L
O
L

W
T
F
?
 
30yearsofhurt

30yearsofhurt

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,246
echoshifting said:
I once went to a homeopath, desperate for chronic pain treatment. Sat through a bizarre and invasive therapy session, was told at the end that the spirit of the tiger was screwing with me and if I got rid of it I would feel better. He gave me little white pills to take that he claimed were derived from actual tiger's blood

Tiger's blood tastes a lot like sugar
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I'm amazed you were dumb enough to even taste them.
 
VCFL

VCFL

Member
Jan 24, 2018
2,944
echoshifting said:
I once went to a homeopath, desperate for chronic pain treatment. Sat through a bizarre and invasive therapy session, was told at the end that the spirit of the tiger was screwing with me and if I got rid of it I would feel better. He gave me little white pills to take that he claimed were derived from actual tiger's blood

Tiger's blood tastes a lot like sugar
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This can't fucking be real
 
javiBear

javiBear

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
886
My good friends' mom fell for that bullshit where they take the cancer out of you through your stomach ala Man on the Moon. :(
 

i like big butts

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,970
High end audio is the definition of a snake oil industry.

Blade Runner said:
Speaker cables
Scientology
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Speaking of speaker cables, you should actually be careful about the product you buy because the myth that it literally doesn't matter is actually false. A lot of speaker wire on the market seem to be aluminum cored which means they have oddly high resistance and oxidize easily.

Someone did a measurement of a whole bunch of speaker wire and found out that you should be fine if you buy your spools from pro-audio manufacturers like Canare and Mogami or dedicated DIY audio suppliers like Parts Express. You tend to find bad speaker wire from big box store branded stuff like you get from your Best Buys.
 
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Geirskogul

Geirskogul

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,022
Its 100% bullshit and very harmful but I hate myself enough that if I was even the least bit religious I would seriously consider trying conversion therapy.
 
joecanada

joecanada

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,651
Canada
Chiropractors apparently . I just listened to a documentary that was mind numbing . Dude was trying to cure deafness and they all ran with it.
 
Tezz

Tezz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,269
Prayer healing. A local pastor—who perhaps by coincidence is relatively wealthy—has held really sketchy prayer circles.
The placebo of helping someone with back pain is one thing, but this dude urged someone with a broken leg to try and walk on it.
 
V23

V23

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,948
images


Power Balance is a brand of hologram bracelets once claimed by its manufacturers and vendors to "use holographic technology" to "resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body", and increase sporting ability. Numerous independent studies of the device found it to be ineffective for enhancing athletic performance, and the manufacturer was forced to retract its claims in 2010.

The product was promoted through paid celebrity endorsements and became a fad among professional sportsmen in 2010.
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Trace

Trace

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,688
Canada
joecanada said:
Chiropractors apparently . I just listened to a documentary that was mind numbing . Dude was trying to cure deafness and they all ran with it.
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Chiropractic can definitely give some actual relief to a lot of people in regards to various types of pain. However anyone that says they can cure deafness/blindness/chronic illnesses/cancer is fucking with you and is probably a shit chiro too.
 
Calliope

Calliope

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,124
Detroit, MI
A cousin of mine just graduated as some kind of doctor of homeopathy. She wants to be addressed as doctor too (not by family, but her facebook etc all now say doctor). She gave my mom a vile of one of her potions to treat her arthritis. It smells disgusting.
 
LogicAirForce

LogicAirForce

Member
Oct 25, 2017
936
echoshifting said:
I once went to a homeopath, desperate for chronic pain treatment. Sat through a bizarre and invasive therapy session, was told at the end that the spirit of the tiger was screwing with me and if I got rid of it I would feel better. He gave me little white pills to take that he claimed were derived from actual tiger's blood

Tiger's blood tastes a lot like sugar
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did it work tho
 
RowdyReverb

RowdyReverb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,926
Austin, TX
People do some weird shit around obstetrics. Waterbirth, lotus birth, placentophagy. Natural birth or labor is one thing, but things can get strange when people invest a lot of spirituality into the process
 
TSM

TSM

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,821
Anything involving audiophiles. The industry is rife with bullshit. How about a CD Lathe?

AUDIODESK Systeme CD lathe is a very effective CD sound improver. It bevels and trues the edge of CD's to reduce laser reflection and vibration. This is the biggest upgrade I've heard for the CD format. It's so obviously better from the first few seconds in a transparent system, my uncut discs are immediately recognizable now and sound less listenable and two-dimensional in comparison. It gets CD closer to high-end vinyl reproduction. Improves bass resolution, detail and dynamics, and reduces etch or glare. Blackening the bevel adds weight and smoothness. Soundstage depth and width and space around performers opens out. Similar to the improvement of SACD over CD all without softening or compromising dynamics as some CD mats and other treatments tend to do. Direct copies to cheap cut and blackened-edge CDRs (without even cutting the original) can sound significantly better than the original
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Kernel

Kernel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,856
"Dr" Robert O Young

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O._Young


Robert Oldham Young (born March 6, 1952) is an American naturopath and author of alternative medicine books promoting an alkaline diet.[1] His most popular works are the "pH Miracle" series of books, which outline his beliefs about holistic healing and an "alkalarian" lifestyle.[2][3][4] Young came to prominence after appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Showfeatured his treatment of Kim Tinkham for breast cancer. Tinkham and Young both claimed that he had cured her, but she died of her disease shortly afterwards.[5] In general, Young's theories and treatments are considered quackery,[6][7] which has resulted in a history of legal issues for Young.[1] He was arrested in January 2014 and convicted in 2016 on two out of three charges of theft and practising medicine without a license.[8][9] As of January 2017 he was facing a three-year jail sentence. He was sentenced in June 2017.
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My mom was obsessed with this quack when I was a kid. He thought he could cure anything with an alkaline diet.

So naturally my mom bought his products which was a jar of what looked like mulch from a lawnmower and forced us to drink the shit for a while.

Turns out he got his degrees from diploma mills and I was glad to hear he was arrested.
 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,182
My fiance nearly got roped into a pyramid scheme a few years ago (two seperate ones actually if I remember right, lol). One was basically Amway but she thankfully bounced off that one pretty quickly, but the one that nearly got her was Advocare.

The products seemed fine (nutrition bars, supplements, that type of stuff), they pressure you to sell it and it's the usual BS you hear from other Pyramid schemes (you don't ewen money directly, but you get "points" that are redeemed for money later and you recruit people yourself, etc.

Scary how convincing they can be. She had me try one of their seminars (a "guys only" night) and it was the stupidest thing ever. People telling how they went from nothing to having hundreds of thousands of dollars, people sharing how the products changed their life, giving away free raffle prizes, etc.
I left as soon as I could sneak away and the main guy still noticed and followed up later.

That's the really creepy part, is how exploitative they are with making friends with you, having you over to their house (huge gorgeous house), see how well off they are and how they got that way SOOOO quickly all by selling Advocare.

Thankfully she kinda had a falling out with a friend of hers that was getting into it at the same time so she didn't want to keep meeting with the people if she was going to be there so she managed to escape before getting dragged too deep
 
Hours Left

Hours Left

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,391
Those televangelist infomercials. So insanely evil.

I know someone who fell trap to one and it took months to get them to stop pestering him.
 
Zoc

Zoc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,017
Geirskogul said:
Its 100% bullshit and very harmful but I hate myself enough that if I was even the least bit religious I would seriously consider trying conversion therapy.
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Wait, do you mean you're gay and want to "convert" because you hate yourself? Why? Can't you talk to someone front Pride month or something?
 
Geirskogul

Geirskogul

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,022
Zoc said:
Wait, do you mean you're gay and want to "convert" because you hate yourself? Why? Can't you talk to someone front Pride month or something?
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Oh I wish I was just gay. I mean, I would still be kinda bummed that I would never be able to have biological kids with my partner, but that's something I could still deal with and live a happy and functioning life otherwise.

But I absolutely cannot handle and reconcile being transgender. It has completely crippled my life and if there was a pill that would alter my brain structure/chemistry to make me cis I would take it in a heartbeat.
 
99Luffy

99Luffy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,344
Essential oils. I think everyones seen those diffusers they sell, probably have one too. I thought it was just for ambience.
..I didnt know there was this huge market and 'science' behind different oils affecting your mood and healing your headaches and what not.. And the tiny bottles of oil are like $40. I had this one lady explaining it to me like she was prescribing medicine.
 

1000 Needles

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,138
Canada
A friend tried to sell me on a "medication that the government won't legalize because Big Pharma wouldn't profit" shortly before I started chemo
 
Cheesecakebobby

Cheesecakebobby

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,854
Working as an English teacher in Asia, my previous boss was pretty crazy. One of her students was a 'quantum therapist', who crazy boss later hired or subcontracted to perform her magic on other students. The therapy involves lying down while the practicioner does some healing hands nonsense, which may involve stroking of the ears or no physical contact whatsoever. Somehow this was meant to make you feel more relaxed, or improve your English speaking, or whatever you wanted it to do. Hilariously, crazy boss believed this worked remotely, so sometimes she would lie down in bed while the quantum therapist performed OVER SKYPE. What wasn't so funny was that she believed one of the English teachers didn't have a 'big enough voice' and forced him to undergo the therapy if he still wanted to get lessons. He only had to pay half price though, what a bargain!
 
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