Open Rules Discussion - Praises? Gripes? This is the place

[croneeSic]

Hey guys.. a few words about myself,.. I'm usually one of those ignorant folks that would browse through the forums, seek out
Necessary information and leave Due to some recent events in my life I came to a conclusion and had decided to change
this ugly aspect about myself and begin contributing as well, or may be at least saying thank you once in a while to those that continually contribute here.

Regards,
Oscar

[astromark]

Interesting to me is that when I once did use that 'ignore' on a fellow contributor at BAUT.. the next time I visited they had banned him..

So I find no need for it.. As you know 'SOME' of us enjoy a good debate. and if you tyre of it.. just do not respond.

If a contributor becomes venomous or personal.. report him to the mods and let that be a end.. expectable.

People that behave threatening and bully like.. are themselves lacking the skill to discuss.. and thats sad.

Because in the discussion does come understanding of your fellow contributors.

Tolerance for a different view is always enlightening... Educational and entertaining... 'Bring it on...'

[mugaliens]

How about a "Frontiers of science" forum instead of ATM?

I like this idea! Perhaps it should be in addition to ATM. The latter exists for theories which run counter to accepted science. A "Frontiers of Science wouldn't run counter to modern science. They would simply be on the cutting edge of such science.

I have a question about appeals of moderation. At BAUT...

Thank God we're not BAUT!

...the rule says if you disagree with a mod you should PM the mod or another mod. This rule is interpreted there as not allowing discussion of the mod action in the thread or any discussion of specific mod actions in public at all. Discussions have to be general. This allows the mod puppets to wade in and demand specifics and if answered by anyone including the mod puppets gives the mods an excuse to infract a member or lock the thread. This is a common tactic by mods and their puppets at BAUT to evade criticism. This is one of the pillars of the dishonesty and treachery at BAUT.

I agree that locking a thread should be used as a tool of last resort. I've rarely witnessed a thread locking on BAUT that was consistent with BAUT's rules, and I know the rules, as I wrote most of them, first back it was just Bad Astronomy, and I rewrote many of them after it became BAUT. I saw much the same behavior on Physics Forums. Sometimes it's for good reason, as when a person keeps spouting blatantly unscientific junk. On both sites, however, thread locking was usually done when the course of the discussion was turning against whichever mod winds up locking the thread. Often it was for threads involving certain theories (Global Warming comes to mind) which are not well established. Has atmospheric CO2 risen sharply? Yes. Has our planet's mean temp increased over the last 50 years? Yes. While we're pretty sure the CO2 rise is mostly anthropogenic in nature, claiming that the planet's increase in mean temp is either partly or entirely the result of the increase in CO2 requires a leap of faith. Not only is the conclusion unscientific, but there's considerable evidence anthropogenic global warming was pushed as an idea to obtain some serious amounts of cash via government funding. After all the scientific research over the last thirty years, are we any closer to actually doing anything about it? Nope: http://news.yahoo.com/un-concentrati...100402390.html

Your tax dollars hard(ly) at work...

Is this how it works here?

Thank God we're not BAUT.

It was my criticism at BAUT that got me banned there. I ratted out mod pzkpfw for using a sock puppet named 1100101 or whatever. I posted to toseek that I had analyzed their posting pattern and word use habits and that he could confirm it by checking their ip address. I was banned within the week. Moderator pzkpfw and his sock puppet 100110 (or whatever the hell) stopped posting that week for a month. pzkpfw came back after a month still as a mod but 100110 hasn't been back. I guess I got the right guy.

But pxkpfw is still there, he is and has always been the most agressive, dishonest, detestable mod there. Responsable for most bannings.

He was responsible for a few of my suspensions. He was also responsible for locking every thread whose course of action trended towards undermining the idea of anthropogenic global warming. He's also not only one of it's most staunch supporters, from what I gather, he's an AGW research scientist in receipt of some of those massive AGW government dollars.

The mod system there is used to win flame wars not to improve discussion, educate or advance science. BAUT in my opinion now gives the most unappealing and dishonest impression of science.

I couldn't agree with you more. Back when Phil was running it as Bad Astronomy, Phil and the mods stuck close to science. I would hardly label the group of mods that took over around 2007 "scientists."

There is no reason for me to contribute here is this is how it works here. The rules are not clear on this.

Looking forward to joining a science forum again but not if...

You're welcome here.