Who are the doctor bloggers and what do they want?

Rebecca Coombes, journalist, London

Medical blogs are sometimes seen as just rants about the state of health care, but they have also been credited with spreading public understanding of science and rooting out modern day quacks. Rebecca Coombes checks out the medical blogosphere
In "internet time" blogging has been around for almost an eternity. Now, with the possible exception of the odd intransigent high court judge, blogging has achieved household name status since catching the public's imagination nearly a decade ago.
The medical "blogosphere" is an especially crowded firmament. The opportunity to access raw, unfiltered material, to post instant comments, and to share information with a (often niche) community has become an addictive pastime for many doctors. The field has developed to the extent that devotees rely on their favourite blogs as their first port of call for topical opinion and debate. Taken as a group, the medical bloggers—the popular ones, at least—are overwhelmingly younger men, and many have a typically masculine geeky humour.
But the field is far from just a playground for the young. For example, David Colquhoun, professor of pharmacology at University College London, is 71 and now a celebrated . . . [Full text of this article]