I started a blog and will be dealing with specific type of genetic tests and genetic conditions. The focus of my blog will not be the same as other blogs.

I also started to write articles for pay. These articles are being published for the company I now write for (as a freelance writer….not an employee). The articles are the first to appear in a Google search when I sit certain keyword searches when I submit the articles for publication.

In any case, I don’t know why you have such high expectations of me. Blogging is not my career. It’s something I do for fun and I write on things that I feel passionate about, want to learn more about, or simply find amusing. I have no obligation to anything for anyone. I doubt my readers expect me to be the only go-to source on all things genetic testing. That’s why I co-founded The DNA Network.

As Bertrand Russell said,

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.

Touché. That was really stupid of me. You are, in fact, even more of an expert on these thing than I implied.

Oh, and if you want to “accuse” me of promoting these tests here, you can do the same for all media outlets and journalists that are reporting on personal genomics and mentioning company names.

No problem. They are all promoting personal genomics and helping the companies make tons of money.

I don’t see too many postings on Eye on DNA that point to problems with the tests and the hype surrounding them. Have I missed them? Did you do a posting on the silly genealogy tests that are being sold to the naive public? You know, the ones where they discover they are related to Marie Antoinette?

Have you helped your readers understand the differences between the various tests and which ones are likely to be informative? Have you cautioned them that they may discover things they don’t want to know?

#2 I am providing information here to the best of my ability but it’s not my full time job. I cannot hope to cover everything in a post a day. There is more than one resource on the Web and elsewhere. I am asking people to put their thinking caps on and go dig around just as I do when I want to learn something. My friends and I do it every day when we want to buy something–make-up, toys, clothes, gadgets–is it so different here?

Oh, and if you want to “accuse” me of promoting these tests here, you can do the same for all media outlets and journalists that are reporting on personal genomics and mentioning company names. Oops, I suppose that could mean you! Negative publicity is still publicity and all that jazz.

You are a physician. You are heavily promoting these testing services on your blog. What if they are scams?

Do you need to take any responsibility? How is the average person supposed to find the truth and figure out what’s right for them? Don’t you think they might turn to your blog thinking that it’s authoritative?

You have a responsibility to find out who’s scamming and who’s not and report it on your blog. You have voluntarily assumed that role and you can’t shirk it just because the going might get a bit rough.