My inbox has been full of this issue this week, and I see it mostly as a tempest in a teapot. But since there is an interest, I’m putting this up for discussion. I can understand the situation, running the most viewed climate related blog, where I’ve noted that a small minority of people can cause a lot of trouble and waste a lot of time. Those people often go astray of the site policy for WUWT, and sometimes find themselves banned for repeated bad behavior. Those that might have contentious views but aren’t intractable zealots learn to work within policy and stick around, and contribute to debate here. That said, a “blanket ban” just wouldn’t work nor would it be sensible. Imagine if a single WUWT moderator decided to make a blanket policy change here. -Anthony
From Fox News:
Critics are slamming Reddit over a single moderator’s decision to ban climate-change skeptics from contributing to its science forum, attacking the move as “political censorship.”
In an op-ed titled “Reddit’s science forum banned climate deniers. Why don’t all newspapers do the same?” Nathan Allen — who described himself a Ph.D. chemist for a major chemical company and a moderator on Reddit’s “/r/science” forum — explained his decision to wipe comments from some users he dismissed as “problematic.”
“These people were true believers, blind to the fact that their arguments were hopelessly flawed, the result of cherry-picked data and conspiratorial thinking,” Allen said in his article, which is posted on Grist.org. “They had no idea that the smart-sounding talking points from their preferred climate blog were, even to a casual climate science observer, plainly wrong.”
Allen went on to attack climate-change skeptics further, saying that evidence to support their position “simply does not exist” and that such people are “enamored by the emotionally charged and rhetoric-based arguments of pundits on talk radio and Fox News.”
‘[Climate skeptics are] enamored by the emotionally charged … arguments of pundits on talk radio and Fox News.’
– Reddit moderator Nathan Allen
Finally, Allen called for other news outlets to follow his example, asking “if a half-dozen volunteers can keep a page with more than 4 million users from being a microphone for the antiscientific, is it too much to ask for newspapers to police their own editorial pages as proficiently?”
The move has drawn accusations of hypocrisy, as Reddit claims to be a haven for free speech and debate. The site describes itself as a place “friendly to thought, relationships, arguments, and to those that wish to challenge those genres.”
Brendan O’Neill, in a blog post for the UK Daily Telegraph, said Reddit has “ripped its own reputation to shreds,” and described the move as “political censorship, designed to silence the expression of dissent about climate-change alarmism on one of the Internet’s most popular user-generated forums.”
James Delingpole, columnist, climate skeptic and author of “The Little Green Book Of Eco Fascism,” was even louder in his criticism.
“The greenies — and their many useful idiots in the liberal media — are terrified of open debate on climate-change because the real world evidence long ago parted company with their scientifically threadbare theory,” Delingpole told FoxNews.com, arguing that Allen’s tactic is part of a “classic liberal defense mechanism: If the facts don’t support you, then close down the argument.”
Victoria Taylor, Reddit’s director of communications, told FoxNews.com that while it was Allen’s prerogative to ban climate-change skeptics from “/r/science,” his statements “do not reflect the views of Reddit as a whole, or other science or climate-oriented subreddits.”
More here:
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/12/19/critics-blast-reddit-over-climate-change-skeptic-ban/
h/t to WUWT reader “Pete”.
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You can run but you can’t hide.
(Unless your real name is “Missing Heat”.)
Ha, HA! (@ur momisugly Gunga Din) — Missing Heat cannot be found — ANYWHERE. Bwah, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaaaaaa!
Who has heard about Reddit? Certainly, nobody I know uses it. I understand it is somewhat like Slashdot, which is nothing more than others’ opinions. It is generally worthless.
Jeff is correct about their clients, and I think that is why Allen is doing that. He accepts his position as advocate for climate change indoctrination. If you perform a search for articles on “climate change deniers” you will find many hundred hits from just this past summer from left-wing blogs on how to shut down their opposition. It’s not about science, it’s about politics and they know they can control the future when they can move the young.
They should ban Twilight skeptics. Twilight exists, deal with it.
They should ban heterosexuality skeptics. Heterosexuality is a fact.
They should ban automobile skeptics. Most people support automobiles, so stop rocking the boat.
They should ban “Han shot first” skeptics. We have the screencap and we’re not afraid to use it.
I would like to put in a word for the commenters on WUWT who support the mainstream position in a sensible way. There aren’t many, and they often get given a tough time (which may be why there aren’t many), but they help to test the arguments put forward and to keep everyone else honest. I congratulate Anthony for determinedly keeping WUWT open to all views. It is very much the better for it.
I’m not as sanguine as others here. This is symptomatic of the rising hysteria on the part of mostly liberal warmists as the real world evidence continues to work against them. Didn’t the L.A. Times recently stop printing skeptical letters? Even if there’s nothing formal in place, the impulse to censor is in evidence. I can probably count on one hand the number of skeptical letters I’ve seen published in the NYT’s in the last few years. When Jeff Jacoby (I think it was) dared to write a skeptical column for the liberal Boston Globe, the outcry was deafening….
My sense is this will only get worse.
Jeff in Calgary says:
December 20, 2013 at 11:49 am
FYI, Reddit is very popular with 20-30 yearold crowd. It is ranked 80th most popular web site in the world by Alexa (vs. WUWT at about 25,000th). So while you may not have heard of it, it is in fact a big deal.
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Beat me to it! I predict this new policy won’t last long with Reddit. It does go against what they are all about. If it does stand it will not be good for Reddit. I don’t mean that in any deep way, just that how long can you sit around and talk with people who agree with you?
Never heard of it before, but I am going to have a go.
I don’t know what the problem is. Reddit is doing exactly what they say they sould. They are challenging the genre that Reddit is a place for friendly thought.
Janice Moore,
“Missing Heat cannot be found”
If it could be found, it wouldn’t be missing now would it?
pokerguy says:
December 20, 2013 at 12:12 pm
“Didn’t the L.A. Times recently stop printing skeptical letters? Even if there’s nothing formal in place, the impulse to censor is in evidence.”
HuffPo and The Guardian’s Komment Macht Frei have been censored for ages. Or Realclimate.
It’s SOP amongst them.
They’re self-selecting for gullibility, that’s all. Let’em.
As the evidence mounts against it, more and more leftist organizations will follow the lead. The LA Times did so first (as far as I know).
The internet makes book burning outmoded. So they will try to make sure no information is posted on the new medium.
folks need to get more creative.
thread bomb him with idiotic pro AGW comments.
post horrible lies about dellingpole. they wont delete those
mess with the upvoting and down voting.
since your readership dwarfs reddit, make them pay.
““These people were true believers, blind to the fact that their arguments were hopelessly flawed, the result of cherry-picked data and conspiratorial thinking,” Allen said in his article, which is posted on Grist.org. “They had no idea that the smart-sounding talking points from their preferred climate blog were, even to a casual climate science observer, plainly wrong.””
I would guess this statement is directed at this blog. Of course, I do not believe we have ever had the pleasure of Nathan Allen gracing us with his scientific expertise, unless of course he is hiding behind an alias.
“Jeff in Calgary says:
December 20, 2013 at 11:49 am
FYI, Reddit is very popular with 20-30 yearold crowd. It is ranked 80th most popular web site in the world by Alexa (vs. WUWT at about 25,000th). So while you may not have heard of it, it is in fact a big deal.”
…to the smallest, least-read demographic in history…
While quantity may sometimes have a quality all its own, I don’t think that’s the case here. Let’s face it, this is the same cohort that gets all its news from “The Daily Show”.
Do I understand that you folks are skeptical about climate change? You don’t think there is ample evidence that the climate has changed, is very likely changing and is very likely to change in the future? I’ll be darned.
I’m skeptical that the climate is or should be static and that anyone can control it.
Allen claims to be a Ph.D. chemist. I’ve long had a fondness for guys like that. I thought, in general, most Ph. D. chemists were too bright to believe they can control the climate or thought, but I suppose there are some below the average line.
It is useful to the cause of real scientific inquiry that an apparent rag web site like reddeit (I have never visited their site) would self filter itself to the fringes of credibility by inviting only contributors who agree with them. Self-filtering extremists like at reddit self-identify as incredible activists and thereby doom their small readership to bad science mutual masturbators. Yes they make each other feel good don’t they, but they are impotent and sterile.
As for WUWT, the most popular science blog, where dialogue is open and challenging, the cause for science will prosper in the fertile interactive debate.
Reddit is a shallow empty box where global warming activists can sneer aloud and hear their echos reflect back at them so they can feel validated.
Nathan Allen’s policy reminds me of the old ‘White Australia Policy’ of yesteryear; designed to create a place where only people like himself are permitted – by decree.
Just delete Reddit already (and 99% of all the “media” out there) – they are for losers. In fact, just get out the cybersphere for a while and do something! Ride a bike. Go for a run (my favorite). Ski. Snowshoe. Play board games. In other words, just disconnect…
Jeff, Alexa is a dated and effectively meaningless page rank metric. While Reddit is very popular with the 20-30 something crowd this has nothing to do with the Alexa ranking (which can be easy manipulated as Reddit is full of script kiddies). I would demonstrate with WUWT’s ranking but my comments are still being moderated so I see no reason to help out.
Nathan Allen is moving from stage 1. to stage 2. over the death of his beloved AGW.
I was banned from the Greenpeace forum some years back. I was very careful to avoid breaking any forum rules but of course the truth is disruptive.
Is Reddit where the though who can’t understand Twitter go?
It appears they are using the Scientology approach to critics: attack the critic, vilify and impune.