Metalogic42 wrote:Louis wrote:Metalogic42: Hi! Cheers for the welcome. No punching bag? But how will I get my Victim Points? {Sigh} I guess I'll have to settle for conversation. I'll refrain from calling you any kind of annoyed anal ape until so proven to my satisfaction. Fair? ;-)
As for the other FTB posters coming here, why would they? What they, we, see isn't massively inspiring. I'm not trolling you guys, hell, why would I bother? I think I would be out-trolled in a second anyway. That's actually a compliment btw! I just like to test out my own preconceptions. Maybe I'm feeling silly this evening. No idea. Let's see how it turns out.
What many FTB commentors see is often completely made up. Case in point, the recent acid-throwing brouhaha. You can't believe anything PZ or OB say about us, because they hate us
collectively. For them, it's not about what each individual person here is saying, it's what the slymepit as a concept is saying. Except, the slymepit doesn't say anything. Only its members do.
If FTB commentors would actually come here more often, and be uninspired by what each individual (as opposed to the nonexistent collective) is saying, that's fine. For a good example of what I mean, check one of my posts from earlier today, where I quoted several FTB comments individually, and responded to each. Does PZ ever quote slymepit comments like this? No, he just vaguely alludes to something the ephemeral slymepit collective said.
Again, I'm not responsible for PZ, FTB commenters, or for you. It might shock you that I don't base any of my opinion of slymepitters on what PZ or anyone allied says, I base it on what I see of the few slympitters that have come to Pharyngula. In other words, my opinion of them, thus far, has been low, this is a place that houses them. That's all I know. Does that mean ZOMG ALL SLYMEPITTERS ARE DAMNED BY ASSOCIATION? Nope, well not to me. As I said, PZ and others are free to set their own limits.
But this is again drifting rapidly into "PZ has done X. You must condemn X or defend PZ" territory. Doesn't seem very...what's the word...nuanced to me. PZ's a human being, I'd put money on him doing a huge number of fucking dumb things in his life. Haven't you? So? The quality of the arguments he makes about certain subjects, and how well they mesh with the data I have been exposed to, are why I agree with him about those subjects. Period. You can claim it's anything else all you want. Won't make it true. If I had to worship everyone I agreed with about some topic I'd either have to agree with no one or spend my entire life propitiating a plethora of demiurges.
Metalogic42 wrote:The PZ deleting tactics, not sure what you're referring to, so whether it's okay or not I can't say, but it strikes me that this is one of those free speech areas that might be worth chatting about. It's probably the least likely to inflame the passions! I hope! ;-)
Well, it's not even about the deleting per se. Rather, it's that he never engages with criticism, anywhere. If he was prone to come here and address criticisms, then his strict moderation on his own blog would be fine. That's not how one does proper skepticism.
Really? So you are the arbiter of what is proper scepticism? Crikey! Pleased to meet you! PZ can argue with who he wants, how he wants, it just doesn't bother me. There are finite hours in the day, why he chooses to respond to this critic rather than that critic (and he does, just go and look at the posts about any number of religious fruitcakes he makes to take one example) is his business. Your complaint is "Waaaaah he won't address me, I'm important too". Great. So what? He's free to run his blog his way, it doesn't impinge on your ability to rebut his arguments. Nothing he does is stopping you arguing with him. He might not reply, he might not want you to do it on his blog if you've been a pain in the arse (his definition not anyone else's), but really, are you truly complaining that someone cannot decide how they are going to spend their own time? Have you any idea of the number of people that must berate that poor sod on a daily basis? Comment moderation? Fuck if it was my blog and I had to manage it, you'd see worse! Hell, the man has a public email address, write a decent rebuttal of what he has said that you disagree with, mention that you'll publish it and any response, and then publish it on your own website. If you make a quality argument and he doesn't reply, well there you go, either he can't because you've outfoxed him, or he can't because he hasn't the time, or he can't because he didn't see it or something. Why get so bent out of shape over one guy? Seriously, when I first "met" him we were just two people battering creationists for fun and profit on Talk Origins. His blogging efforts and notoriety are due to his efforts. Want to present a dissenting voice? Who's stopping you? Not me. Not PZ. Get out there. Speak freely and loudly. More power to you!