Open any search result about e-cigarettes and you are faced with a veritable barrage of negativity. Loud headlines about how harmful they are, a new scientific lab study every other week talking about this side-effect or that carcinogenic property.

Rather alarming at first glance. But then you scroll down to the comment sections to get a read on the general internet’s reactions to these test studies and the tone takes a complete one hundred and eighty degree shift. The commentators sound sarcastic, annoyed. Scoffing, at reports that suggest their friendly neighborhood e-liquid can actually kill them. And that is just bizarre.

Controversy is the internet’s best friend

One woman in the comments section says with casual sarcasm that she’s been vaping (the term for puffing on e-cigs) for years now and hasn’t died yet, so it can’t be all that bad. Another woman is touting a fabricated (or maybe it’s true) story about how her lung health has actually increased since she took up a vaping habit instead of smoking, and how she now has the lung capacity of a non-smoker.

There are a few commenters who admit upfront that regardless of the benefits or harm, they’ll continue with e-cigarettes, because they need a nicotine fix and e-cigs are easier and cheaper to maintain than a normal cigarette habit.

Conspiracy? This ain’t a World War

And then there are the hilarious conspiracy theorists, who give the whole issue a sinister and frankly melodramatic air, and claim that the negative reports published by the media are some underhanded, subliminal methods cooked up by cigarette manufacturers and tax boards.

According to these people, since e-cigarettes are cheaper and cannot be taxed as they are still classified recreational and don’t have FDA guidelines, they are ruining the sales revenue of the taxable cigarette sales market. And this inability to bring in tax revenue, according to them, is the reason there is an overwhelming abundance of negativity surrounding the e-cigaratte.

Not because e-cigarettes are actually harmful, but because they don’t bring in as much sales money and so the media is trying to subliminally root them out to make sales of conventional cigarettes go up again. Right.

The e-cigarette blogs

Strange as this level of passion displayed by random commenters over an electronic nicotine delivery vaporizer is, it still doesn’t prepare you for the pro-ecig blogs. These blogs have the sole purpose of promoting the e-cigarette and spreading the ‘vaper’ (term the e-cigarette users call themselves) culture and increasing the vaping community.

These blogs are often inaccurate and aim to brain-wash the reader. They encourage readers to spread the vaping habit, and promote nicotine addiction. They proclaim that e-cigarettes are smoking-abstinence aids. That e-cigarettes are much healthier than the conventional paper-and-tobacco cigarette roll. They even go so far as to say it is actively promoting better health, pointing at the propylene glycol base used in the e-cig, which has been seen to reduce possibility of infection with influenza strains in mice in lab studies. All of which is twisting the facts to ridiculous levels.

And at the end of the day, the internet will be the internet. It’s up to each individual to discern the truth from the widely spread and loud contradictory data and make up their own minds. But one thing is sure – the controversy surrounding the e-cigarette is made for the internet.