Crowdfunding for David Tuller during October 2025

Dolphin

Dolphin

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
crowdfund.berkeley.edu

David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025

Help UC Berkeley raise $68,000 for the project: David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025. Your gift will make a difference!
crowdfund.berkeley.edu crowdfund.berkeley.edu

Trial By Error: Reporting on ME, ME/CFS, Long COVID, & so on...​



Ten years ago this month, I launched Trial By Error with a 15,000-word investigation of the fraudulent PACE trial, which tested cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercise therapy as curative treatments for what was then being chronic fatigue syndrome. What I thought was a one-off somehow morphed into an extended academic project on psycho-behavioral research across a broad range of conditions, including what is known as Long COVID.

Amazingly, the pandemic and its consequences have rendered much of my earlier work relevant in a way I could never have anticipated. I had planned to end the project a couple of years ago, but decided to continue as I saw the same investigators I'd already criticized for their flawed research pursuing the exact same strategies in taking on Long COVID.

This current crowdfunding will cover my work on Trial By Error and my position at Berkeley from January-June, 2026. Assuming it goes well, there will be one more crowdfunding campaign next spring to cover July-December, 2026. I plan to retire from Berkeley at the end of 2026. (I will be 70 on October 10, 2026.)

I have been busy since last spring’s crowdfunding!!!

*I’ve written dozens of posts on Virology Blog, many explaining why awful papers about psycho-behavioral interventions for ME/CFS and Long Covid are, in fact, awful.

*I've covered news events and developments not only in the UK and US but also in multiple European countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

*I've posted video interviews with Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki about the latest in Long COVID research, University of Edinburgh geneticist Chris Ponting about the DecodeME findings; Columbia University's Ian Lipkin about immune-related abnormalities in ME/CFS; the UK ME Association's Charles Shepherd about the UK government's pathetic plan for ME/CFS; and others.

*I recently wrote about people with Long COVID receiving inappropriate diagnoses of functional neurological disorder for The Sick Times, a terrific publication covering Long Covid with which I hope to stay engaged.

*I wrote formal letters of concern to journals seeking corrections for self-evident flaws and errors in published research

As I have always made clear, crowdfunding is the least favorite part of what I do. It goes without saying that I am also extremely grateful to everyone whose generosity over the years has helped me continue with this project.

One Final Note

Berkeley takes a 7.5% share as the university's standard fee for gifts, plus 2.5% as a credit card fee. Therefore, adding 10% to your donation will ensure that the full amount you intend is going toward the project itself. The donation is tax-deductible (for US taxpayers).

Thanks so much for your support. I really, really appreciate it, especially at this time of global trauma.

**********

A link to all of my posts on Virology Blog: https://trialbyerror.org/archives/

Click to expand...
 
$34,835 Raised toward our $68,000 Goal (
51%)
284 Donors
15 DAYS LEFT

crowdfund.berkeley.edu

David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025

Help UC Berkeley raise $68,000 for the project: David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025. Your gift will make a difference!
crowdfund.berkeley.edu crowdfund.berkeley.edu

Where are good places to spread the word about this fundraiser? I guess end of month is the most efficient time to ask for funding.
 
Chandelier said:
$34,835 Raised toward our $68,000 Goal (
51%)
284 Donors
15 DAYS LEFT

crowdfund.berkeley.edu

David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025

Help UC Berkeley raise $68,000 for the project: David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025. Your gift will make a difference!
crowdfund.berkeley.edu crowdfund.berkeley.edu

Where are good places to spread the word about this fundraiser? I guess end of month is the most efficient time to ask for funding.
Click to expand...
One thing I think can be useful is to put the link into a social media app and then see other posts people have said to encourage people to donate and if you like their wording, repost. Also check for quote reposts of these posts or one will miss some of the posts. One's followers mightn't like someone plugging something like this a number of times in their own wording but you may get away with reposting other people's comments. At least that's how I approach it. Even likes of such posts can help increase visibility of such posts.
 
Last edited:
I hope this is a suitable thread as Tuller himself shared a link to his new blog post on 10 years of Trial By Error in a fundraising email.

Some Thoughts on Ten Years of Trial By Error
Ten years ago this month, I launched Trial By Error with a 15,000-word investigation of the misbegotten and fraudulent PACE trial, which purported to prove that graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) could cure what they then called chronic fatigue syndrome. And what an amazing ride it’s been for me—difficult and challenging at times, but always fascinating, rewarding and engaging, both intellectually and personally.

I have learned so much, have heard so many heartbreaking stories, and have met–whether in person or online—so many smart, funny, passionate and courageous people. I have also been deeply disturbed by the rampant and flagrant corruption in the editorial and peer-review practices of major medical journals, including those in the Lancet and BMJ stables. Not only have these august publications routinely failed to catch egregious methodological missteps, they have also routinely failed to take appropriate steps to fix problems once they’ve been pointed out. In many instances, their response to legitimate criticism can only be described as a blatant “fuck you.”

Trial By Error: Some Thoughts on Ten Years of Trial By Error | Virology Blog

By David Tuller, DrPH Ten years ago this month, I launched Trial By Error with a 15,000-word investigation of the misbegotten and fraudulent PACE trial, whi ...
virology.ws virology.ws
 
I hadn't read the Science article that David linked in the above blog post.

This comment in the final paragraph raised an eyebrow —

At the press conference, Sharpe said he doesn't think there's "a growing army of people upset about this," and he stressed that their findings are not suggesting that CFS/ME is a mental illness.
Click to expand...

This was in reference to their follow-up paper, published in <checks notes> The Lancet Psychiatry.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom