Talk:Snake oil/Archives/2019

This article in dire need of cleanup

Yikes, it seems as though Clark Stanley himself has edited this article in order to sell snake oil! Much of the article was written by a single individual with an agenda of advancing unsubstantiated historical and health claims regarding snake oil (just ponder for a second that this needs to be said in the 21st century). The lead is bad enough (the first sentence makes a claim about the origin of snake oil that is not in the cited reference, and no other citations are given for the various other dubious claims), but the article as a whole is laden with weasel words and obviously doesn't conform to NPOV. This is especially serious when it comes to the health claims made by this editor, e.g. "Chinese water-snake oil contains 20 percent eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which has strong anti-inflammatory properties, and thus relieves pain caused by inflamation." Not only is not in the two citations given, such statements are absolutely unacceptable; first, WP:NOMEDICAL and second, editors may not give medical advice. This article is need of serious editing. Global Cerebral Ischemia (talk) 05:15, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

I've removed one of the more egregious examples of editor-derived medical advice. (sigh) This article will need extensive editing. As good an example of WP:OR and WP:WEASEL as I've seen in my 10+ years here is this laughable sentence, "The marketing concept for snake oil was likely transferred to the US from trade, immigration, and exposure to 18th-century British culture. However, the actual source of its use as a folk remedy was likely introduced, similarly to its introduction in the UK, by Chinese laborers involved in building the First Transcontinental Railroad in the US, and were undoubtedly familiar with Traditional Chinese Medicine, using snake oil to treat joint pain such as arthritis and bursitis, while introducing it to fellow American workers." Note the words "likely" and "undoubtedly"...these weasel words are used in the article over and over... Global Cerebral Ischemia (talk) 05:28, 1 April 2019 (UTC)