On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:20:59 -0700, Fred Bauder
<fredbaud(a)waterwiki.info> wrote:
The problem is that many of the users pushing this
stuff believe it.
The discussion needs to address sources, not simply dismiss it outright.
Why? Dismissing it outright is what any rational human being does.
Seriously. The 9/11 truthers are right up there on the grassy knoll
with the "Elvis was abducted by aliens" crowd. Like all classic
conspiracy theories it demands that we believe several implausible
hypotheses while simultaneously dismissing the perfectly rational but
prosaic alternatives.
This is not in any way inconsistent with assuming that their delusions
are held in good faith; a person who tells us in all seriousness that
Elvis was abducted by aliens should be told *really nicely* that we're
not having any of it.
Nor does it mean we can't document it. There is no shortage of
sources.
But it does mean that we should not devote megabytes of server space
to detailing all the ludicrous details of their ludicrous delusions,
and we should not allow the aggressively deluded to impact on the calm
functioning of the project. But that's precisely what happened here,
and keeps happening.
I am in debate with Ian Tresman on the Talk page of Wolf effect. He
is a rational person with a minority view, that we can handle. We do
not seem to be able to handle orchestrated campaigns in support of
lunatic fringe views without it being incredibly destructive to the
community. Or maybe we are really good at this, so we only notice the
failures, but I don't see that.
Guy (JzG)
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG