Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Reddit Science Forum Bans Climate Change 'Deniers'

The social news site Reddit is banning climate change deniers from its science forum, a moderator for the site said., reports The Hill.

Nathan Allen, the moderator for the forum /r/science — which provides a digital space for people to discuss recent, peer-reviewed science publications — wrote about the move to ban skeptics of climate science on Grist. A representative for Reddit confirmed the decision with The Hill.

While the science forum is a small section of Reddit, it has 4 million subscribers, Allen noted, which is nearly twice the circulation of The New York Times.

"After some time interacting with the regular denier posters, it became clear that they could not or would not improve their demeanor," Allen said in his post for Grist.

Duh, so shouldn't inappropriate posts be blocked rather than all those who hold a view opposite to current mainstream thinking--especially on a forum? What are they going to do now have a one sided "forum"?

I can imagine the interaction:

Poster 1: Geez, it's cold outside and so much snow so early, must be climate change.

Poster 2: And November was the warmest November on record, must be climate change.

Poster 3: I guess that solves it, climate change is coming at us from both directions, that's why we may see some months that look average.

5 comments:

  1. Karl Popper claimed that for propositions to qualify as scientific, they must be falsifiable. Apparently Reddit Science Forum is not enamored of attempts to falsify their beloved theories, (and who would be?)

    Here, in Reddit’s defense does Popper spring:


    “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. – In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.”

    Science. No refutations allowed. Right. LOL.

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  2. Something tells me this is crony code-speak for:they're not going to let anyone use the word geo-engineering. Or any other variation of that word to describe it.

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  3. More evidence that most of the greens are actually reds.

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  4. Reddit purges dissenters. Long live the religion of "climate science".

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