People send me stuff.
Yesterday Skeptical Science owner John Cook announced to the world that he thought Willis’s open letter to the new editor of Science was “creepy” and “sexist”.
As is typical with the Skeptical Science kidz, it’s just projection. How much? You have no idea. But it turns out that when you scratch the surface of the SkS Forum, where the principals and moderators talk amongst themselves (seemingly unaware of others watching) you discover what creepy really is. For a supposed site about “climate science” it sure does look a lot like “high school climate science”.
Get a load of the pictures from the SkS forum website sent to me today. A friend of WUWT writes:
(Note: I’m leaving the author of this email private, lest he become another Photoshop victim. Note that all the links are in the open, there’s no hack or mole action going on here. BTW, each word highlighted below is a separate link to an image. – Anthony)
I found something I thought you might be interested in while looking to see what is publicly viewable on the new SkS forum’s website (www.sksforum.org). Little is, but there happens to be a viewable images directory that has a subdirectory, [http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded]. This directory has some… interesting images.
One [http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded/WeAreSkeptics.jpg] has several the heads of several skeptics photoshopped onto people from a movie about the 300 Spartans (300, perhaps?). I assume it was an attempt at humorously painting skeptics as few in number and dogmatic.
But the most interesting ones defy explanation at the moment. There are a number of images where the head of Dana Nuccitelli or John Cook appear to have been photoshopped onto images of [http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded/herrscooterboy.jpg]
[http://www.sksforum.org/images/user_uploaded/herrtankboy2.jpg]
It’s possible these images were taken from somewhere else and uploaded, but that seems unlikely as a couple of them show signs of further photoshopping done to improve them. To see what I mean, compare this image to this one.
Combined with the fact there are a number of similarly photoshopped images done to flatter Nuccitelli, it seems almost certain SkS members have photoshopped images of SkS members as Nazi soldiers. I can’t think of a single sensible reason they would do that.
I don’t think they dream of being Nazis, and I can’t imagine it was particularly fun to make those images. It’s possible they made these with the idea of a false flag operation in mind, but that seems ridiculous. It’s not more absurd than Peter Gleick’s behavior was, but it’s hard to believe anyone would consider doing that (especially on a forum which has been exposed once before).
[NOTE: Brandon Shollenberger decided that he didn’t care that his name was attached to the above, hence this update. – Anthony]
You have to wonder what motivates them to take the time do things like this, especially when they claim that global warming is accelerating, and there is precious little time left before we all roast.
SkS Kidz will be kids I suppose.
I haven’t looked this good since high school:
L-R: Watts, Monckton, Delingpole.
=================================================================
UPDATE: 10:35 PDT About three hours later It seems that somebody at SkS has been embarrassed that they’ve been caught out, and they have comically simply moved the “user_uploaded” folder to one with a seemingly random (Ric Werme says: “Hey, a11g0n3 is leet-speak for allgone. Oh Lord, there be idiots over there.”) name: [http://www.sksforum.org//images/a11g0n3/]
Of course that breaks all the links in the story above.
Only problem is, it’s still open to the public there. All images are still visible: [http://www.sksforum.org//images/a11g0n3/]
Surely they know that the Internet has a permanent memory and all these images still exist elsewhere in folders that people have scraped from the original by now?
Amateur hour cover up tactics. – Anthony
UPDATE2: 11:07AM PDT It seems that they’ve taken down the “leet speak” folder as well, no matter, they still all exist in many places, and I’ll add a gallery shortly. -Anthony
UPDATE3: 11:19AM PDT here is a few of the images referenced above in the story and in comments. I also have a screen cap of the original folder listing at SkS which I’ll upload tonight when I get home.
UPDATE4: 5:31PM PDT, As promised earlier in UPDATE3 here is a PDF capture of the file listing from the original SkS forum snapped at 829AM PDT today.
Index of _images_user_uploaded (PDF)
=============================================================
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I think that all of this is just intended to pump up their #s over at Sks. They would love to get in a pissing match with us. I honestly believe that is why so many “alarmist” bloggers post here with their names as a link to their blogs. I don’t ever click the link to their sites.
Tom
Clara looks well tho’. [The impossible girl to Dr. Who fans.]
Step aside Billy Blanks, Beach Body and Bob Greene. There’s a new program in town: The Warrior Body.
I’m thinking that since these are “user_uploaded” files that one or more skeptics have loaded what appear to be “politically incorrect” (relative to the SKS site) pics there for a little fun. If this is the case, then Cook & Co. probably should review these files more often for content.
REPLY: No Skeptic I know of would make these. I sure wouldn’t. besides, you have to be a member of the SkS club to be able to participate in that closed forum, and they don’t allow skeptics there. This is why it was theorized to be the beginning of a “false flag” operation. – Anthony
Since the 300 are credited with saving western civilization I would suppose being photoshopped into that group would in fact be a high honor. I bet they are more like the guy King Leonidas told go guard the goat passage. Come back carrying your shield or on it.
RoyFOMR says at August 6, 2013 at 10:55 am…
Dana’s viewpoint wasn’t as unjustified as usual. Perhaps that was Dessler’s influence. He was talking about politics and the influence of scientists on the debate. That isn’t factual (it is opinion) and I was happy to engage with him.
Go and look, unless I’ve been censored already.
Yet, the first reply to me was (I quote) “Shut up you. You don’t even know what climate change is.”
It was deleted after a while as too embarrassing. Most of my recommends probably came out of sympathy.
And the worse thing is he’s right.
Unlike him I don’t have absolute faith that I know what the next climate change will be.
Anthony, all, have a look. These do NOT support the notion of a 97% consensus in any way shape or form.
Ron Manley says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:11 pm
davidmhoffer
You can see the files at:
http://www.sliderules.info/temp/default.html
Jimbo says August 6, 2013 at 8:26 am
If they want to play that dirty political game let them.
Up the ante, nerd-style.
The last scene of Star Wars Episode IV (A New Hope) is a scene for scene remake of ‘Triumph of the Wlll’… with better music courtesy of John Williams.
Even the size of the squares that the crowds form, as the trio advance, is the same.
Let them claim that Watts and Monckton are Luke Skywalker and Han Solo… it will be too ludicrous for words; just laughter.
Mockery is the right approach to alarmists.
Putting the skeptics in the place of the Spartans as an effort to put down the skeptics is a nice demonstration of historical illiteracy [on] the part of the SkS goon squad.
As others here have pointed out, the battle depicted in “300”, Thermopylae, is generally recognized as one of the turning points in the emergence of the West as a positive force civilization.
More and more often the AGW promoters and true believers come across as ignorant boors.
As to the alleged sexism of Willis……pc whining is the main refuge of ‘progressive’ losers.
I get it.
The persians were pissed at the Greeks for warming the earth because it was over one degree warmer then today and the evidence is obvious in those pics you guys couldn’t put full suits of armor on you would burn up.
Pamela Gray says:
August 6, 2013 at 8:12 am
Photo shop me! Use the gal who starred in the 200 Zillion BC flick with the fur bikini….
Done! 😉
Mark Bofill says at August 6, 2013 at 11:17 am
Three reasons I respectfully disagree:
1) Most viewers of the page are lurkers who want to see the debate. If there is none then they will move on and their prejudices will be patted down. But any counter-argument will be novel to many viewers. And knowledge, innovative ideas, thinking even, is good.
2) The Guardian needs advertising revenue to continue, Echo chambers die. For the health of Western democracy a left-wing broadsheet is required. Playing on their turf (or our turf if you are a lefty like me) is of value to democracy.
3) Censorship of responses will be noted by the editors. The 97% blog has a different moderation policy to the rest of the Guardian website. If it seems to work then it will spread. And spread beyond the Guardian. There is a veru good reason to challenge the moderation policy by making it look unreasonable. And that reason is: It is unreasonable.
The Guardian Environment website is important enough to be worth fighting for.
Let us not be craven.
if i’m not mistaken Dana sees himself as The Doctor from the 1970’s (jon pertwee) – his sidekick in the photo is kay manning http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/timemachineboy4.jpg
maybe it’s because Dana isn’t a real PhD that he needs to pretend he’s an immortal time travelling savour of the human race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Pertwee
M Courtney says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:52 pm
————————
Re (1) : I agree, but:
Re (2) : I agree, and this is why I won’t engage with Nuticelli or Abrahams. If the editors have any brains, they’ll see that blog posters who invite discussion with skeptics are the ones who get the good discussions.
Re (3) : Reinforces my point Re (2), I will not help Nuticelli or Abrahams blog successfully by serving as the token opposition.
There’s fighting, and then there’s fighting. I try to choose terrain that favors me.
🙂
Best regards.
M Courtney says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:52 pm
I looked at, and enjoyed, your posts on the Dana thread (Yup, they’re still there for the present)
Your three reasons for persevering with the Guardian Blogs are very well put and make sense to me.
If you could only persuade Mark to join in (alongside TLITB and others) on Dana’s blog then that can only enrich the debate and may help open eyes.
Sadly, I find myself agreeing with John Cook. If there is any “projection” going on, it was from Eschenbach with his odd paragraph about McNutt’s attractiveness and his postulating that “particularly men” hadn’t rebutted McNutt and told her the “unvarnished truth” in years. Weird. Most of the rest of Eschenbach’s essay was filled with good information but he wandered at times into unseemly personal lecturing of McNutt that struck me as a reflection of his personal issues, perhaps. Unfortunate, coming from someone who has posted highly informative essays here. We’re all (hopefully) allowed the odd rant here and there. An apology to McNutt is in order, I think.
Brandon Shollenberger says:
August 6, 2013 at 11:16 am
“Herr Cook” as a Reichsfuehrer is beyond bizarre. What are these guys thinking?
Thanks to Anthony for preserving these disturbing, disturbed images for posterity before they were made to disappear.
The fact that a flattering image has been chosen for the Herr Cook pic, and all the uniform insignia have been lovingly replaced by the Skeptical Science blog logos – make me think this is neither a sceptic product nor a false-flag attempt.
Incredibly – I think this is how some of these guys see themselves or their leaders.
No doubt, if this is just my “recursive fury” kicking in – John or Dana will be along in a minute to explain what a fool I am.
If not, I think this is definitely a case for that pre-eminent paragon of climate psychology – Professor Lew!
M Courtney
Don’t get your three points. All those reasons are good reasons to keep all opinions open for discussion. The point was they do not. So, why do they ban alternate opinions that doesn’t fit the narrative?
“REPLY: No Skeptic I know of would make these. I sure wouldn’t. besides, you have to be a member of the SkS club to be able to participate in that closed forum, and they don’t allow skeptics there. This is why it was theorized to be the beginning of a “false flag” operation. – Anthony”
Ah! That makes sense! Material to be planted on skeptic blogs, hoping that we’ll hand them around or something; giggling at stupid Herr Cook.
I wonder whether we have destroyed their real invasion fleet or only a decoy. These are no military-grade photoshops; and the bumbling reaction of the webmaster was a bit too incompetent.
They must have a second server containing the real arsenal.
to get guardiam comments reinstated i wrote to the mods, tweeted the guardian, guardian science, guardian eco, dana and emailed just about everybody at the guardian
shouldn’t be that way, but they won’t stop me commenting
There’s an awful lot of girly-men here who don’t seem to understand what Willis actually said.
Men treat women differently than they do other men. It doesn’t always boil down to looks but often to “mother syndrome”.
We all know a fellow who is a “ladies man’. A man who always gravitates to the company of a woman. Does this comment make me look fat? Rachel wants to know.
{ KevinM says:
August 6, 2013 at 8:34 am
Sorry, I also found Willis’s article to be creepy and sexist.
I agreed with the content, but if you read the comments here on WUWT by supportive regulars, you will find references to the less appropriate bits. }
But he’s getting the wider publicity he prophesied. Cut the man a break.
Hmm…not one CAGW proponent troll who joined in to ridicule SkS. By golly you can do what ever craziness you want if you are on the CAGW supporters list. I’m waiting for Real Climate to photo shop themselves into Huns or Mongol warriors. This might be a new disease that wasn’t possible to get before the invention of the internet.
Riki says “Aw, c’mon Anthony, can’t we have some more interesting science articles. The fact that the SkS crowd are basically a bunch of pre-pubescent boys playing around with their computers is nothing new, and, frankly, it’s really boring.
Regarding Willis’ letter, it was a tad lengthy. Also, he probably should not have made any comments, including the flattering ones, about her gender. Unfortunately, we live in an era where gentility has been reframed into sexism by the PC masses. And there is no point in us getting into that argument, which only distracts from the one we really want to engage in.
BTW, I love you guys. I think you’re great.”
I agree. Even tongue-in-cheek diversions detract from the validity of this site and the dialogue it is attempting to elevate. Leave the humor to the comments or other blogs. This site is providing an enormous public service, and as such is an attractive target to those espousing policy over science. Don’t give them any ammunition. And, like Riki, I love this site. Thank you for it.