The Skeptiko post-trauma thread

Evening, doctor.

Take your blouse off, nurse.

Take your blouse off, nurse.

LOL. Just trying to do the right thing by everyone.

Oi !!!

Sci prefers Adam Sandler movies

The problem is... That it's not over yet. We are still receiving people that we knew at Skeptiko and who are being banned. The attitude adopted by David here doesn't help either.

Hey - lets get this straight. I have banned one or two newcomers who seemed to have joined SKEPTIKO to play about. If they were SKEPTIKO regulars, then they had used a different pseudonym to cause trouble.

There is no sense in whipping up antipathy between this forum and SKEPTIKO.

One of the main points at issue, was that Alex felt that various conspiracy theories were worthy of exploration, and some of the people here did not. However, bizarrely enough, this forum is running a pole to decide if conspiracy theories should be discussed here too - last time I looked, 'yes' was ahead! Actually I'd probably vote 'No' if I could be bothered, because I think they cause a lot of trouble.

We don't need to behave like politicians - we can realise how much we really have in common!

David

I'm determined to keep things positive, so I will wait for someone else to chime in.

I'd say Alex figuratively hooked himself up to an IV of Kool Aid, not just that he took an interest in CTs. He supported, at least tacitly, outright dismissal of criticism and supported poor evidence - what else do you call claims of proof derived from Google Image Search? - to the point of swallowing a story where someone claimed to have witnessed the crimes via an OBE.

The disagreement was not simply along the lines of PK lab research or Philosophy of Consciousness, but his inability to take criticism that was incredibly mild compared to the accusations he was making sans evidence against others. And at least from me that criticism came after repeatedly mentioning the moral failure of accusing Lt. Aquino and others of crimes without evidence and not bothering with - AFAIK - the request to have Lt. Aquino on the show to defend himself.

I'd say Alex figuratively hooked himself up to an IV of Kool Aid, not just that he took an interest in CTs. He supported, at least tacitly, outright dismissal of criticism and supported poor evidence - what else do you call claims of proof derived from Google Image Search? - to the point of swallowing a story where someone claimed to have witnessed the crimes via an OBE.

The disagreement was not simply along the lines of PK lab research or Philosophy of Consciousness, but his inability to take criticism that was incredibly mild compared to the accusations he was making sans evidence against others. And at least from me that criticism came after repeatedly mentioning the moral failure of accusing Lt. Aquino and others of crimes without evidence and not bothering with - AFAIK - the request to have Lt. Aquino on the show to defend himself.

I think I felt disappointment that after enjoying Alex's forum for so long, so many people here felt so ready to abandon him after a few mistakes. I mean none of us know what may have been going on in his life - people sometimes become upset and make mistakes.

A lot of things have become hugely exaggerated in all this, for example, anyone would think I had been banning people right left and centre. I banned two people in the run up to the trouble, and I notice this forum has already banned two members - presumably because they were trolling the forum in one way or another!

If either of those individuals I banned decide to come here, I'll bet they end up being banned here too!

Don't forget that the dividing line between CT's and ψ is always blurred. For example to believe in ψ is to believe that there is a scientific conspiracy to dismiss the evidence for ψ - we probably all believe that is the case.

David

For example to believe in ψ is to believe that there is a scientific conspiracy to dismiss the evidence for ψ - we probably all believe that is the case.

What - do you mean something like a group of influential scientists, secretly believing psi exists, but conspiring to convince the world at large that it doesn't? I very much doubt that many people here believe that!

[Ninshub]

I notice this forum has already banned two members

No, there's been only one. An impersonating account set up to troll only.

If either of those individuals I banned decide to come here, I'll bet they end up being banned here too!

That's unlikely, I'd say.

I think I felt disappointment that after enjoying Alex's forum for so long, so many people here felt so ready to abandon him after a few mistakes. I mean none of us know what may have been going on in his life - people sometimes become upset and make mistakes.

Hm. I'm not sure 'a few mistakes' covers it. It looked more like swathes of posts being removed, followed by a rather confusing (to me) batch of messages, then threads disappearing and moving, some reappearing with a time limit - manoeuvres that wouldn't have looked out of place in Harry Potter.  Add to that disparaging remarks about the 'stuff' Alex wasn't involved in and I have to say I decided not to waste much more effort participating in threads with little confidence they would remain for very long. It has rather put me off Skeptico. 

I can't comment on the moderating decisions because I don't have any insight into the rationale behind most of them (or interest) but I would say that I haven't missed quite a few that got booted. I'd say the moderation overall on Skeptico is definitely less tolerant than many sites I visit but I wouldn't say it had been draconian.

Anyway thats my two pen'orth.