After the Boston Marathon bombing, Reddit users scoured images available on the internet looking for clues. They were absolutely convinced that they had found t

After the Boston Marathon bombing, Reddit users scoured images available on the internet looking for clues. They were absolutely convinced that they had found the perpetrator. In a self-congratulatory frenzy, people began looking for more and more photos to support their theory. Everyone was energized by this apparent wisdom of the crowds, a miraculous use of technology to convert readily available information into a conclusion that (they thought) traditional law enforcement couldn't figure out. Later, it turned out they were all completely wrong and the whole thing was a disaster. Police had been operating the entire time on data that wasn't available to the public, allowing them to come to the correct conclusion. This is how many of those online health communities operate. They collect anecdotes and combine them with morsels of information from publicly available papers to give themselves a false impression that they're on the cutting edge of research. If you search their history, they've usually been doing it for years or even decades. Their past is littered with dead ends that everyone thought was the next big thing. Meanwhile, they're all convinced that the latest pet theories or the latest supplement hold the key to unlocking the secrets to their illness. There's a minimum amount of online reading that can help direct your own treatment, but getting caught up in the endless posting, negativity, and dead-end theories becomes counterproductive very quickly. Unfortunately, the loudest voices and most frequent posters tend to be the least qualified to be dispensing information. There's an added complication where these people start building their online identities around their illness, which can result in weird turf wars intertwining of egos with discussions.