My experience with doctors in a patient setting is that they have generally been far less empathetic than the doctors in /r/AskDocs. Those doctors seem to be motivated to help and actually show some empathy. While Reddit on the whole is snarky, many subreddits (especially heavily moderated ones like AskDocs and AskHistorians) have a completely different tone.

My experience with most doctors is that they are among the least empathic people I have ever dealt with. I think that using AskDocs actually gives doctors an unrealistic _advantage_ in the study.