We convered Alcohol research fraudster Michael W. Miller in a prior post. This was following a finding of the ORI of the NIH and a note on retractionwatch. My post focused on the fact that when cheaters like Michael W. Miller are finally caught, there is no way to recover for their sins. No way to reclaim that money. No way for the person who really deserved the job or the award to be compensated.
That pisses me off.
It also pisses me off when people who do dodgy things in science, like Charles Nemeroff, get to keep on keeping on as if nothing happened. Some patsy University will happen along to hire the dude if they think it is in their interest to do so.
Well, I see from a comment at retraction watch that Michael W. Miller plans a full court press to rehabilitate his image. Online anyway.
Welcome to michaelwmiller.net. According to Network Solutions, it was registered by Reputation Changer on Mar 15, 2012.
Registrant:
Reputation Changer LLC
39 West Gay Street
West Chester, Pennsylvania 31410
United StatesRegistered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MICHAELWMILLER.NET
Created on: 15-Mar-12
Expires on: 15-Mar-13
Last Updated on: 20-Mar-12
The ORI finding of misconduct was published in the Federal Register on Feb 27, 2012. So this fraudster immediately used Reputation Changer to do what they do :
ReputationChanger.com specializes in helping people make their mistakes vanish from the eyes of potential clients and employers. Embarrassing arrests and unseemly articles can be pushed off of the front page of Google searches, where they are unlikely to be viewed by the majority of Google users. Because people tend to only look at the first page of results, Google searches can once again reveal the great things you or your company achieved, rather than the negative reviews overzealous and under impressed individuals have posted. People have an array of motivations for posting negative press, but the important question is not why do they post it– you should be asking yourself how to get rid of it.
How do they do it? By building a fawning self-web-presence that says crapola like:
Michael W. Miller Presents Astounding Findings or perhaps Michael W. Miller Publishes Scientific Gold. This latter conveniently omits to mention the two retracted papers that were, of course, not “Gold” but more like “made up crap”.
As far as I can tell, every link in the site points to somewhere else on the site. I’m sure this is hot stuff in repairing your Google ranks.
Wait, wait…what’s this? I tried to see if his Google presence had been improved and I found another site. michaelwmillerupstate.com was registered….by Reputation Changer …. on Mar 15, 2012. Here’s what I learned about the good Professor Miller’s attitude toward’s research:
But research is not the only component in a successful endeavor. Michael W. Miller understands that documentation—accurate documentation—is pivotal. Without this documentation, research findings could not undergo duplication. All the work that went into a study would prove wasted. This is why Michael W. Miller publishes so many different writings.
It overlooks all the “work” that other people put into trying to replicate Michael W. Miller’s faked (and now retracted) research papers. It seems that “accurate” documentation perhaps is in the eye of the beholder? or just a flagrant lie on the part of the Reputation Changer system for rehabilitating the web image?
As his career moves forward, researcher Michael W. Miller will continue to conduct research. Through his writing, Professor Michael W. Miller will share this research with the world. The result, Michael W. Miller hopes, will manifest as improved medical knowledge and techniques.
Really? He’s going to continue is he? Can’t wait to see what University is willing to hire him.
Okay, what else do you have to offer, Google? OMMFG, ANOTHER ONE!!!! michaelwmillerblog.com was registered….shall we just guess? Yep, by Reputation Changer on Mar 15, 2012.
Wonder how many more of these frigging things are out there?
Ahh, well. Just remember to keep linking to the ORI finding showing that Michael W. Miller faked data. And maybe to the retraction watch blog entry on Michael W. Miller.
__
Added: I’m particularly intrigued by the michaelwmillerupstate one. His place of employment when the fraudulent papers were detected was the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. I wonder how they feel about this use of “upstate”?
Do you collect your papers in any particular manner?
April 16, 2012
Thinking of “a lasting record” of your achievement and, more specifically Elsevier’s offer to sell you a bound volume of your papers, I was wondering:
Do you collect all of your papers together in hardcopy in some manner? Do your have a way to quickly grab all your papers and thumb through them?
I have the three-ring-binder system. I can just pull the binder off my shelf and rapidly access my papers (and only my papers).
I use this system with regularity.
I am still not entirely sure they are not kidding with this. Apparently for a mere $39.95 (plus tax and shipment) you can get a framed certificate which marks the publication of your article in one of the academic journals published by Elsevier.
Certificate of publication
A lasting record of scientific achievement, this Certificate of Publication is delivered ready to display in a high-quality frame, dark brown wood with gold trim.
You may also want to purchase a poster [$28.95, plus tax and shipment] or make a book of all your favorite articles [prices start at $50…plus tax and shipment].
[h/t: @FakeElsevier]
Parent-scientist
April 16, 2012
One of the things about being a parent is, IME, that it dissolves any lingering conceit that you are actually good at everything you choose to do or must do.
I think this helps you to run a research lab of any appreciable size.
DrugMonkey 