Guest essay by Ric Werme
As we close into the 250 millionth page view at WUWT (likely to happen in a few hours done), I’ve been thinking both back to the early days and and wondering what today would be like if WUWT never existed.
Before the impending catastrophe of global warming was introduced to the world, I recall two things that got my attention. The first was the initial release of the Keeling curve. That pretty much silenced the impending Ice Age crowd, which I had mostly given up on anyway. After Keeling, I started pointing out that nuclear power plants didn’t release CO2. A decade or two later, I heard what was probably a short news note on the Hockey Stick, and figured that CO2 must actually be doing us in. I started souring on that when I realized later it also got rid of the Little Ice Age. How could that be? I had heard too much about the LIA to think it could be wiped away with a wave of a hockey wand.
Various tidbits made me think solar activity was a significant driver, and when I learned about the PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and began to meet people like Joe D’Aleo I decided to bide my time for a bit longer and start getting active when the PDO next flipped negative and SC23 (Solar Cycle #23) reached its end. At another talk by Joe, he said both of those had essentially happened. That was February 2008. SC23 hung on for another year or two before it finally got an updated tombstone, but it was pretty much moribund during that period.
By then I had found Anthony Watt’s Surface Stations project and discovered that the surface record was worse than I could have ever imagined. I found RealClimate, but found WUWT made more sense. I found videos from Bob Carter about the scientific method, something I have deep respect for, and that led me to write my first real climate web page, http://wermenh.com/climate/science.html – Science, Method, Climatology, and Forgetting the Basics. It’s now somewhat dated, but not bad. I found that the science behind the Hockey Stick was worse than I could have imagined.
I settled in at WUWT becoming a daily reader. My main two regrets then were first, wishing I had started reading WUWT when it started late in 2006, and when I learned about John Daly, one of the first serious skeptics, I wished I had been able to see him in action before his death in 2004. The former seems a bit silly now, the latter I’m glad I’m helping preserve http://john-daly.com
The most momentous event in WUWT’s existence was the release of the Climategate Emails in 2009. Now we had proof that much of the manipulation we suspected was going on behind the scenes really was. I stayed up until 3 AM unable to pull myself away from the Harry README file. As a software engineer, I related very well to what that poor guy had to deal with. More science, worse than I could have imagined.
Climategate changed WUWT forever. Whereas before the posters generally had a lot of technical background, a flood of new readers came in (I expected for a short while), some with a technical background, but a lot more just plain folks goaded into looking into the global warming claims they now had reason to question. This new cohort is still here, having found that WUWT is the best source of information within the climate community. Very little escapes WUWT, in part because its reach encourages people to submit stories here than try to start their own blog. (A couple have been successful – especially https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/ and https://chiefio.wordpress.com/)
All in all, WUWT has “won” a battle for readers it never tried to win. Anthony has managed to find an almost perfect level of moderation where things are kept under control, but people given enough slack to prove their character warrants banishment. He and the moderation team do an incredibly good job of handling an impossible task. Anthony credits his years as a TV meteorologist in helping understand audiences, that makes a lot of sense to me.
Anthony could have thrown in the towel at many points along the way, and shutdown or radically changed the blog to give him more time for his professional and personal lives. I know the impact on me and my “obsession,” I can imagine WUWT feels like a heavy burden at times for Anthony. After all, he once said way back in 2007:
I don’t want fame, fame is painful. A complete and thorough accounting of the surface temperature record is all I want.
Forecasting the future is difficult….
I’ve also been wondering what would the climate scene be if WUWT had never been created? Some of the “specialty” blogs would certainly be around and thriving. Other “generalist” blogs likely would have appeared, but unless they were run by someone who understood his audience I doubt they’d be as successful as WUWT.
I’d bet there would be blogs as tightly controlled as RealClimate and Skeptical Science. They would fade from lack of reader support. There would be blogs that are a total free for all to “do things right,” but they would collapse under battles between competing trolls, forcing people with a genuine curiosity out to look for someplace else or just give up.
Ten or twenty years or so from now people will try to analyze the history of the climate debates, I think WUWT will come out both as important and influential. Maybe we can find Anthony some relatively painless fame then.
250,000,000 +1.
I ran WUWT page view numbers through one of the climate models and found that the true adjusted number is 307,000,000 and by 2047 will overwhelm the internet if nothing is done.
Just refreshed and bam, 250,000,866
By sheer coincidence, in 2047 I shall be x66 – so I just want to post-date a congratulation to WUWT for having reached 307M in that year – in case I’m not around to do so. Mind you, that’s a heck of an underestimation. Makes a change from some (all) other models. 🙂
So, it’s worse than we thought.
@ Bryan A…and not even 2 hours afterwards almost another 12,000.
Brilliant! Funny, pointed, well said.
Thanks expat.
Thanks to Anthony Watts. The Surface station project was also, like expat’s humor, exceptionally good. With the help and support of many knowledgeable people he has made an enormous contribution to humankind.
Anthony, be sure and thank your compatriots. You are the leader and organizer but they have done much of the good.
I get the same number as Bryan A – 250,000,866. Assume this isn’t a live counter, but a snapshot.
Thank you Anthony for this oasis of sanity in this modern climate that sorely lacks the same.
My thoughts exactly, there is a degree of sanity here that is sorely lacking in many other places
Rick’s thoughts on the reason for WUWT’s success are much appreciated, but there is another reason that I think cannot be over-estimated: lots of fresh content every day.
Most blogs, climate or otherwise, show primarily the thoughts of the author. Nothing wrong with that, but essentially no one has the time, or the breadth of perspective, to be worth tuning in to, every day. Anthony, as a broadcaster, seems to understand that.
In my opinion, much of the value of WUWT lies in the sheer volume of news worth reading.
Tom
Thanks – you distilled my thoughts.
Huge kudos to AW, his moderators and contributors.
Even a little ‘peep’ for the commenters – most more expert than I will ever be in weather, history, maths, demographics, statistics, climate, politics and more.
Being read by thousands – or more – each day can be empowering where the readers have such diverse backgrounds, specialities – and even simple home locations!
Auto – still a bum boatie with a keyboard
Heh, the url says 14 billion. Mebbe some day.
==============
Oh it took me a few minutes. Anthony posted this, I think the title started out as “.. 1/4 billion” but WordPress removes most of the punctuation from the title to make the URL. ‘/’ definitely had to go, so WP came up 14 billion instead. I hope we won’t need WUWT that long!
Ric Werme:
You say
Yes, very true and well said. Thankyou for writing it.
I copy it here in hope of drawing attention to it.
Richard
Ironically, richardscourtney is one of those who has been banned from this blog for a time.
🙂
[Reply: But only for a very short time, as others have been. Including this moderator.☺ ~mod.]
Really? Courtney and the mod was banned, lol, what did you guys do or say?
yes…and it was hysterical!
Where can we read all about it?
Inquiring minds want to know…out of curiosity but also to see how to avoid same.
If they told you, they’d have to ki…er…ban you…er…each other.
I don’t think the impact of WUWT can be overestimated. It has done more than any other site in my opinion to publicize the problems with the CAGW “science” than any other site due to its popularity and amazing number of page views and comments. There are many good climate sites, such as Climate Audit, but WUWT provides clear descriptions of the real science involved and the issues with the “consensus” position in a way most laymen can comprehend. And the results of the Surface Stations project have pulled the cover off the horrible quality of surface temperature measurements that never would have happened otherwise.
Both congratulations and kudos are due to our host Mr. Watts. May he long continue to be a thorn in the side of the people pushing false climate science.
Totally agree with your thought that the impact of WUWT cannot be overestimated.
I think Anthony’s biggest legacy will be that he has invented the concept of ‘Public Review’ which subjects climate science papers to rapid confirmation or rapid demolition by his thousands of expert readers. Far more reliable than the Peer/Pal review process.
Indeed
As a recent example re Antarctica ice gain article. I switch over to my mainstream reads and I read nuthin, nadda, crickets.
WUWT needs better distribution.
The article AND the essay AND the comments are perfect material for a 10 minute you tube.
Why does WUWT only have 15100 followers on twitter ?
https://mobile.twitter.com/wattsupwiththat
Am I looking at the right twitter account ?
I have to agree with you, especially your ‘Public Review’ comment.
I think that most readers, while they may not have the specific knowledge of some of the details noted on articles, do have sufficient knowledge and even experience. with parts of the concepts involved, be it statistics, thermodynamics, physics, chemistry, or even history!
This broad spectrum allows readers to evaluate the validity of certain so-called ‘experts’,and some of the ‘Public Reviewer’ may actually have more understanding of certain phenomena.
Anthony has managed (even if he never intended) to bring the sum of all knowledge about a situation to one place, each comment enlightening other commenters.
And the results of the Surface Stations project have pulled the cover off the horrible quality of surface temperature
It’s worse than we thought . . .
Good article. I think the world would be in a much more perilous state had Anthony not started WUWT. Like you I thought that AGW was a problem. I have a scientific background (A’ levels in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and a degree in Dentistry) At first the science seemed to be sound, until the first alarmist claim that defied common sense was made (Earth could turn into another Venus).
Anthony should be congratulated for founding this website and giving us facts that supported my instincts that catastrophic AGW was fiction and AGW was more fiction than fact. It is frightening to think what would happen or still may happen to humanity, if these alleged scientists had their way. I think that if no International agreement is forthcoming at Paris later this month, then this whole farce will die a justifiable and long overdue death!
Anthony deserves all the praise he gets here. However, IMO, equal praise should go to Steve McIntyre and his Climate Audit blog. OK, I will settle for two Nobels, one for worldwide science communications to Anthony, and another to Steve for the advancement of statistics and critical thinking in science.
And the truth shall set you free…250 million times over!
Congrats Anthony and all WUWT contributors for providing imformative and trusted content that never treats the reader with contempt.
249,975,244 views – not yet and not me.
But Congrats when it happens.
I first heard of WUWT when I saw some Greenie denouncing it on TV. Searched for “What’s up with that” but got here anyway. Have been a quiet reader for maybe 5 years now. Good stuff Mr Watts. Thanks.
Fame is pretty worthless. Influence is what you want. I’m glad this site is here, and I try to look at it daily. I appreciate what Anthony has done here. I’d really like it if people would post legitimate questions about climate on the other sites, so they can find out quickly what happens to people who do. Here, I see people able to ask questions, get a variety of viewpoints, and the community handles trolls pretty well.
Ours is not a homogeneous group either. There is disagreement and lots of back and forth on issues. I learn a lot from the comments and really appreciate those who have expertise that I lack. I would miss all this if this blog didn’t exist. I think of the movie “Its a Wonderful Life” showing George Bailey what his community would be like if he hadn’t been born. Thank you very much Anthony.
The strength of this blog is non-homogenty that you note. Some of us are knowledgeable in certain areas, but reading another persons comment comment can often have the result of checking our facts and sources.
Sorry, but it’s late and I have run out of coffee.
Nice analogy to “It’s a Wonderful Life” (my favorite movie!) … great minds (I think several of us have thought the same thing) 🙂
Reprise from Dec., 2013, thanks to Jeff Mitchell’s inspiration:
Whoa. So THAT is what happens when you post a video inside a blockquote. Sorry for the BIG SCREEN, there (*blush*).
Don’ forget the BOOKS – ‘Watermelon’; ‘The Hockey Stick Illusion’, ‘Climate Change – the Facts’, ‘The Real Climate Change Disaster’ and for a jolly good laugh ‘A Disgrace to the Profession’. Nearly all Amazon/Kindleable at mod prices. Enjoy!
Don’t forget “The D*niers” and “. . . Climatism” and “The Climate Caper”.
As I recall, I started in perhaps 1999 checking sites like JunkScience.com, the World Climate Report, EnviroSpin Watch, Climate Audit, the John Daly site and others. Somewhere in that mix I found the Surface Stations project, and then WUWT. I read just about every article that appears on WUWT. Many thanks for the terrific work!
I was a few years later, but that is exactly how I came upon WUWT. It was the surface stations project work that made me take notice.
Paul (and Paul),
That was my experience, too. Anthony’s Surface Stations project was a real eye-opener for me. I could not believe that most of the gov’t run surface temperature stations are 2ºC – 5+ºC out of tolerance! (Maybe not exactly ‘out of tolerance’; what are their error bars, anyway?)
http://www.surfacestations.org/Figure1_USHCN_Pie.jpg
That is the “data” used to supply government departments like NASA, NOAA, NSIDC, etc., with their temperature numbers. And those temperature numbers feed the ‘runaway global warming’, and ‘climate change’ scares. But >90% of the reported temperatures are wrong by 1º – 5+º! So in fact, it could be that the planet is actually cooling. From the ‘data’ provided, we just don’t know.
The climate alarmism narrative is about a 0.7ºC wiggle in global temperatures — over the past 150 years! But a big part of that number comes from government-run surface stations that have error bars of 1º – 5ºC. — far more than the 0.7ºC. of global warming that is claimed.
Conclusion: we can’t trust the government’s conclusions.
Paul, I also started on JunkScience and his reposting of WUWT links. Slowly switched over to daily checking of WUWT. Never was taken in by the CAGW story. Might have been Al Gore and the post 2000 poll where only 13% ‘Believed All or Most” of what he said.
Many thought provoking postings by people and recognizing so many names.
My thanks to moderators who have managed to run this impossible task apparently well.
Also special thanks to our regular contributors.
I heard of wuwt on Christopher Booker’s column in the Sunday Telegraph and have been a daily visitor ever since. I had the pleasure of meeting Anthony when he came to Bristol for a presentation by John Cook and hope he and all at wuwt continue the good work. Hopefully one day when cagw is dead and buried he will get the official recognition that he deserves.
Me too, I thought Booker and North had overstepped the mark, the hockey stick was just so convincing. Then I found the real data on WUWT, and few months I later discovered the PDO…buy then I had already worked out that I had been duped by what looks like very amateur science to me, a non scientist! Why are the scientific community putting up with this stuff on their doorstep? The tolerance of scientist for Mann and other AGW junkies makes me despair about humanity, but then Watts, Booker and North give me hope and resilience.
Me too. The mighty Booker’s Sunday column guided many of us to WUWT. Like most regulars, I also visit here every day – although tend to comment less now (just like Jimbo, Janice Moore, and a few others).
Hey! There’s my name (smile). Hi, GeeJam — hope all is well with you and your wife and that lovely Golden. So nice to be remembered 🙂
that I had to say so.
My first visit here was also prompted by Christopher Booker. I was trying to work out how the “official” story could be so far off what CB was telling his readers. I found out with the Surface Station Project and have been a daily visitor here ever since.
I have learned much the greatest is that there is still a lot to learn.
As my Mum is want to say when wishing you a long life “Lang may your lum reek”
James Bull
Another Booker fan who, through his remarkable Sunday Telegraph column, found WUWT And then stayed to be educated, entertained and enlightened. But also angered by the prostitution of science in the name of expediency.
Stocks of popcorn ready for the Paris shindig…
I had read of WUWT in Christopher Booker’s column and thought “I must go and have a look sometime” but didn’t get round to it until just before the Copenhagen conference. All the media was full of Copenhagen this and Copenhagen that so I decided I needed to have more information with which to form a slightly better opinion than my somewhat slightly skeptical natural leaning.
Well, what a start. The first morning I logged on to see what was what there was a tremendously exciting commotion about some (possibly) hacked emails and whether they were genuine and etc. etc. I was online reading for hours and also the following days as the Climategate saga unfolded.
I still read here most days because I learn so much and there is always an allowance to be skeptical about anything – so one gets to hear more sides of any particular position.
Well done Anthony, Mods and all the many contributors who make it so worthwhile.
Thanks
SteveT
Thank you for everything. It has been enlightening all along the way. Pointing out Al Gore faked video science with Bill Nye at the expense of school kids was also eye opening.
PS. Any school kid that faked science like that would get an F in the science class or the science fair part of the course and any respectable college that dealt with such video cheating would result in expulsion.
Yes, thank you Mr Werme for reminding us all what a truly wonderful resource we have here and most of all to Anthony and the moderators for their tireless work in bringing us a beacon of sanity in this somewhat narcissistic world we now inhabit. Another visit to the DONATE button is overdue.
Ric – a very cool article. I am sure many readers here at WUWT feel something similar. I was always convinced about natural variability (given theories like Croll / Milankovich cycles (geological background) Then about 2006 I remember being convinced concentrated solar was the way forward if there really was a problem, Thereafter via sites like WUWT it became apparent that many people populated both sides of the debate. Climategate was the point when WUWT became a daily visit for me.
Congratulations to Anthony, moderators, all the many regular and occcasional contributors and commenters. As you point out, the world would be a different place if we did not have WUWT. This is not to play down many other fantastic sites on the skeptical side.
Maybe one day there will be a Nobel for the skeptics who kept pointing out the flaws in the orthodox position.
Guest essayist by Ric Werme said,
I think Anthony’s strength is that he has intelligently avoided being a mere player in someone else’s play about climate science because he owned a wonderful stage where the climate science players presented. Anthony has managed the situation to mitigate against himself becoming what Macbeth morbidly described,
As Anthony’s venue approaches the 250,000,000th view I say that it has always been a great intellectual ride! Thanks.
John
It has truly been an intellectual ride. Absolute brain candy.
I have referred to it as WUWT University in past comments.
+ 10
eyesonu on November 2, 2015 at 3:57 pm
– – – – – –
eyesonu,
Indeed.
John
WUWT is a part of my daily routine. God Bless Anthony Watts!
Plus 1
Thank you for this article.
In the face of such ridiculous acrimony, Anthony’s work here has stood the test of time. Practically every day there is a new push toward some ill-defined absurdity. Today it was Bill Gates inserting his wisdom into the debate, which I wrote about. His view on capitalism and environment are incomprehensible and so similar to the inclinations of his predecessor industrial titans, who, after damaging the life around them, had a change of heart and stopped trusting themselves and demanded restraint. How interesting that Gates’ views magically align with President Obama and the Pope. Could not be more transparent that this is all about wealth transfer and austerity of some kind for everyone except his family.
Often, when my sanity felt at stake, I have sought refuge and found relief here. Learned so much. In my distant past, I worked with people with similar levels of expertise that appear on these pages. Back in a time when the general study of the environment was fresh and brand new. We paid attention to complex things like complex chemical substances and questioned their use and discharge. EISs were actually completed and actions taken. We studied problems and negotiated reasonable solutions. All replaced by dictates, with no real thought given to people.
For someone like me, who once worked with incredible people, scientists and engineers, on real problems that were actually addressed, I am glad to be out this world. The politics sicken me. Watching wonderful people beaten up by media or discharged for their views show little recognition for man’s history and all of those times when the so called consensus has been completely wrong. My respect for Anthony and many other who post here is immense. Surely, at some point, the ranks will grow further and one billion will be seen as a small number. Again, many thanks.
I read WUWT in the very beginning when it wasn’t entirely about climate but, in my mind, complemented Bill Whittle’s EjectEjectEject website. I was already a climate skeptic but WUWT became a fortifying resource.
Well said Ric. It has been a priviledge to be a tiny part of it.
Verity is one of the people who almost got named above for being active back in the pre-Climategate days. If you have a chance, check out her blog at http://diggingintheclay.wordpress.com/
Happy Birthday, Verity!
Thanks Ric!
Hey — that (Verity’s blog) is an eloquently written, high-quality content, well-informed, blog! Thanks for sending us there, Ric Werme.
And, thank you, dear Verity, along with all the other mods, for helping to make WUWT a more accurate, sane, and courteous place to be.
I was here in February 2008 also. Well done Anthony.
WUWT when it started late in 2006….
good grief…that made me have to stop and think
…where has this past decade gone?
WUWT has been here for three years before Climategate and six years since. No, that can’t be right. Wasn’t Climategate just a few years ago? 🙂
Ric we’re in trouble…..
One quibble and a suggestion for the correction.
“…Other “generalist” blogs likely would have appeared, but unless they were run by someone who understood his audience…”
should be
“…Other “generalist” blogs likely would have appeared, but unless they were run by someone with considerable weather and ‘explain to the people’ experience who understood his audience…”
“……but unless they were run by someone who understood his audience I doubt they’d be as successful as WUWT.” – I think this is true, Anthony has been the ideal host for the debate that otherwise would not be taking place at this level and pitch. His struggle to elucidate the truth has been inspirational and fruitful. I wonder how much longer we must wait for the tide to change, and how quickly it will go out after reaching its high water mark.
Exactly. The title has said it all along, the question mark of real science.
Just today I was telling someone that this is my “Oasis of Sanity” online that I flee to daily. All the right questions, civil participation and great minds among the commenters.
I first wandered in here from Solar Ham: SolarCycle23 a long time ago, during the Surface Station project.
Thank you so much Anthony!
As a rule I do not make recommendations for products, services, candidates or anything else. WUWT is one of the few exceptions to this rule. Congratulations on 1/4 Billion and all of the well earned blog awards over the years.
While I have been VERY busy the past few months I still try to make it a point to check in on WUWT at every opportunity. Been watching the views count and somehow I had ‘half a billion’ views crossed with ‘a quarter of a billion’. I feel like an idiot for that. A ‘quarter of a billion’ is a milestone and it’s growing at a rapid rate of increase. Anyway, the next ‘quarter of a billion’ views will come much quicker.
I would like to say the interest in WUWT would present a true hockey stick increase but that could be interpreted in a bad way. So let me say ‘by leaps and bounds’!
By the way, could we get a screen capture from viewer number 250,000,000 (that’s a quarter of a billion). Maybe even number 250,000,001.
Maybe I’ll have a crack at it as soon as I feed my dog!
Whoa … Nellie ….. this thing’s going at digital speed!
Congrats from Germany. Even for us WUWT is a daily must. And I as former Green (still a bit, but skeptic) have learned here so much.
About ten years ago I was having a pint with an old friend after eighteen holes and casualty said that it looks as though the earth is warming up and things might get serious. “No it’s not” he said, and then told me about WWWT. I have been a regular visitor and occasional contributor ever since. Thank you for providing such an informative and stimulating site Anthony,
A good measure of your success is the increasing level of bile that WWWT generates on the sites that blindly support the orthodoxy.
Sorry: WUWT!!!!!!!’
Just a drive-by thank you. I have been looking in occasionally since ’04 or ’05, when I asked a question of a really smart guy at MIT Lincoln Labs, and he blew my mind. Voraciously trying to inform myself ever since. Only ever commented I think this year, but now your site is a valued (and subscribed) part of my information stream . Love it and keep up the good work.
A few off the cuff thoughts
1. Thanks Mr Watt for the seed.
2. WUWT is no longer yours. You may decide what gets published or even moderate to your hearts desire but you created an idea that will flourish in WUWT’s babies.
3. I’ve been to the mountaintop and it wasn’t worth the effort. Fame is a joke played on the desires of the ego.
F_ck you money.
A roof over your head and 3 squares.
Finding humor with the person in the mirror.
Freedom to seek truth.
These are the things I wish for any man.
Amazing how far truth will go.
Congrats to Anthony and all who make this site possible.
An island of sanity in a delusional `world.
While Anthony is to be congratulated, it would be nice to see a mention of John Daly and Steve McIntyre in there. They were keeping the flame alive when it was very weak…
Um…. John Daly is mentioned…
Whoops, sorry. Missed it!
You’re forgiven, mostly. I didn’t want my post to become too much of a name dropping essay, so I deliberately left out a lot of people. I figure there will be plenty of space in the comments to acknowledge all the people I didn’t.
Steve McIntyre is mentioned, though not by name, as he’s the person most responsible for me (and many, many others) realizing how bad the the hockey stick science is. His account of his expedition to the Bristlecone pines and back is great. Perhaps I’ll hunt down the link after work.
Ric W. (@ 1:16)
Go to CA and search for ** Ohio State **
John, yeah, that works fine. From https://climateaudit.files.wordpress.com/2005/09/ohioshort.pdf from around page 15, Steve starts off with a quote from Mann:
Well, yeah, except that some of the Bristlecone data Mann used came from Colorado, and this led Steve to formulate his Starbuck’s Hypothesis:
Steve’s expedition was completely successful, from latte in the morning to finding the actual trees that had been previously sampled, and later discovering record keeping issues with several of the old core samples. Moral of the story? Do not try to snow Steve McIntyre.
I’ve always been fond of citizen science. Some fields work closely with the amateurs (ornithology and astronomy lead the way), but too many of today’s climate scientists wish we would just disappear. That’s something that we could change, though given the revelations from Climategate and Ricochet! (the Jagadish Shukla affair), more change will have to come from the professionals.
Thank you Anthony, Moderators and everyone else, I have learned a lot, I never knew about PDO or AMO or UHI just to name a few. I think I can say this; because of WUWT the education level of many people world wide has increased, in all areas of science and human endeavors.
michael
As a geophysicists crunching numbers for seismic data used for finding oil & gas there was never any room for defunct theories and when I started digging into the physics behind AGW sometime around the turn of the century and realized that it was wrong, it was a relief to find WUWT and the fair and balanced review of many topics in the field of science. I will always be a lifelong fan of this site, and visit it every morning with my first cup of coffee.
LT
I’ve been here since the beginning on a virtually daily basis, and contributing occasionally.
What I miss these days are the critiques of published papers. Perhaps there are fewer since the eagle eye and maths of Steve McIntyre is now sure to be trained on anything that professes to be “peer reviewed” and experience has demonstrated that Steve always wins!
If I knew how to submit graphics (GIFs?) I’d be submitting more often – I’ve plenty to tell. Who can help?
Look for Rik Werme’s Guide to WUWT on the right side bar.
On my display it’s just link to the Unreliable website Skeptical Science.
That’s how I learnt to post links.
Missing words in the above (boldfaced):
“On my display it’s just under the link to the Unreliable website Skeptical Science.”
Thanks rogerknights.
That was a bad faux pas.
Nothing helpful would have come from following my directions.
WUWT – always presents alternative science in a most entertaining way 🙂 A real gamechanger
Thank you. Yes, WUWT presents your kind of alternative ‘science’ because it does not censor comments with a different point of view.
We like to see your ‘alternative’ views because it keeps us on our toes. Of course, there hasn’t been an ‘alternative science’ comment that couldn’t be easily deconstructed by skeptics. But for a mental workout, it’s at least as challenging as tic-tac-toe. ☺
Ya gotta take compliments when given, even on the backhand 🙂
I think a h/t should go to the late Michael Crichton.
The warmist scare-mongers would be much diminished, not to mention Al Gore’s wealth, if Crichton were still alive writing novels about the Big Lie of climate alarmism.
joelobryan,
Yes, agree/100%. And I’d also add the late, great John Daly. If they were still with us, between Daly and Crichton the alarmist cult would be solidly on the ropes. To the extent that they already are, we can thank them — and Anthony Watts, who has taken up the standard and is providing the means to demolish the “dangerous AGW” hoax.
dbstealey:
I support your commendations of the good work done by the deceased Daly and Chrichton. However, I wish to add Helmut Metzner to the list of deceased heroic crusaders for science against the AGW-scare.
Helmut operated in the East and – arguably – had the greatest success because the Russian Academy of Sciences did not adopt the scare.
And if the living are to be counted then Fred Singer is the giant on whose shoulders all present-day climate realists stand whether or not they know it.
Richard
Richard Courtney,
I agree re: Singer. But I admit to knowing very little about Herr Metzner. I will do a search and try to get up to speed.
Well, after a few hours of searching it seems that Herr Metzner is an un-person, pretty much erased from the internet.
dbstealey:
You say
That is sad but understandable.
Herr Prof. Dr Helmut Metzner operated out of Leipzig University in East Germany.
He responded to the ‘acid rain’ scare raging in the West by founding the Europaische Akadamie fur Umweltfragen. His purpose in founding that organisation was to protect against a repeat of the disaster imposed on the Soviet Union by political adoption of the flawed science of Lysenko.
Metzner used his organisation to encourage Eastern scientific Institutions to assess criticisms of ‘popular’ so-called ‘scientific’ fads (environmental, food, etc.) and to inform politicians of evidence for the fads, risks of the fads, and any significant doubts concerning the evidence and the risks.
The Precautionary Principle (PP) was promoted by Western environmentalist organisations who obtained much success because they encountered no coherent opposition to adoption of the PP.
But in the East the PP was opposed by Metzner and his Akadamie who reminded of the disaster that had resulted from adoption of policies based on the inadequate scientific evidence provided by Lysenko. The result was that the Russian Academy of Sciences, the USSR – and subsequent to the USSR, Russia – did not adopt the environmentalist scares which in the West are distorting scientific funding and political policies on energy and economics.
Metzner began working with Fred Singer in the West with the onset of Glasnost then the fall of the USSR. The collaboration of the left-wing Metzner and the right-wing Singer continued until Metrzner died.
The life of Helmut Metzner, his activity and his success are all history that environmental activists would wish to be “erased from the internet” because those activists promote the PP and the falsehood that all scientific Institutions support the AGW-scare.
Richard
From his Wikipedia page (badly but quickly translated from the German by Google)
dbstealey:
This is an off-topic anecdote about Helmut Metzner.
In 1995 Metzner and Singer organised a conference about AGW in Bonn, Germany. Speakers were both pro and anti AGW and I was one of the anti-AGW speakers.
The Conference began on the Monday and the Conference Speakers were to have a meeting on the afternoon of the previous day. So, the Sunday morning was free and – it being sunny – Helmut and I went for a walk beside the river.
We came across a broken wall with a sign on it and I asked Helmut to translate the sign for me. He said the sign explained the sign said the wall was all that remained of the largest synagogue in Bonn on the morning after kristallnacht . He added that Jews have an annual Service there to remember that night.
I replied that I was thrilled at such serendipity. That day was Remembrance Sunday in my country (as next Sunday is). On Remembrance Sunday heroes of wars are honoured and all who have suffered from wars are remembered. It is a day of great importance to both true warriors and true pacifists such as myself (but not to the ‘Ban the Bomb’ nutters). I regretted that I was missing the Remembrance Sunday celebrations.
Helmut said such celebrations were forbidden in Germany because they could encourage ex-SS members to demonstrate. (Incidentally, one member of my congregation at Mabe – who died 3 years ago – had been a member of the Waffen SS and was completely included in our Remembrance Sunday Services.)
Helmut and I looked at the broken wall as we discussed WW2.
I said my family was blitzed by the Luftwaffe and thus lost everything in that war.
Helmut said he had hoped to study Art History at university but was enlisted into the German navy as a submariner. His submarine attacked ships on the Murmansk run but as the Russian army moved westward his submarine was forced to operate from further and further west. Eventually they ran out of fuel and then waited – in fear – for the Russian army to arrive. When the Russians did arrive they could not be bothered with the submariners who they told to go away. So, Helmut set off on foot across devastated Europe to seek a German university that would teach him Art History. But German universities had been destroyed and could only start his education by teaching him theoretical physics (knowledge, blackboard and chalk were all that were needed to teach that). He became a scientist and never did obtain a formal education in Art History.
For some minutes Helmut and I stood beside each other in silence as we looked at the broken wall and each remembered all the people, the things and the events it represented for us. Then we continued our walk alongside the river.
That was my best Remembrance Sunday ever, and I have often used Helmut’s walk across Europe as a sermon illustration.
This coming Sunday among my Remembrance I will honour my friend Helmut who was a true warrior, a great scientist, and a man of true integrity.
Richard
Thanks for that, Richard. A very moving story – and remembrance.
Mods:
I made a post that is an off-topic anecdote about Helmut Metzner that I intended for dbstealey. that post has vanished with no note about moderation.
Please be so kind as to see if it is in the ‘bin’. If it is then please post it or otherwise get it to dbstealey. If it is not then please let me know so I can post it again.
Thanking you in anticipation
Richard
. .Great job Anthony and company !!! Now, if you could only do something about the Toronto Maple Leafs I would be truly impressed !!! Actually , I’d be astounded !!!
That’s OK!
The Mets managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and blew the World Series.
More good news this week !!!
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/11/02/nuclear-fusion-just-got-boost-with-arrival-this-stellarator.html
It’s a shame that those first 1000 or 1500 threads aren’t indexed and can’t be found with the search box. Anthony ought to ask for volunteers to do the job.
I put “screeching mercury monkey” in the search box and it brought up a post from August 12, 2007, (which is about the time I started reading). I don’t know how many post were before then, but that’s the most unique string I could remember.
Congrats to Anthony and crew. Thanks for all the hard work.
No, those early threads are findable with the search box. For example, try searching for Zeptowatt.
However, I believe the comments added to any post are not searchable there (try Google et al instead). Also, I don’t believe those old posts have categories or tags. I’ve considered offering to add them, or at least the categories, as I maintain Tables of Contents for those at http://wermenh.com/wuwt/categories.html . However, I don’t have time for that now.
Well, I’m at work and don’t have a dumb jpg editor, but I captured
I also have 249,997,683.jpg, I’ll trim them tonight.
I would like to thank Ric Werme for his selfless volunteer efforts on behalf of this great site, and everyone who volunteers their time, articles, comments, and the many supporting links, which are very much appreciated by this reader. I have literally thousands of charts, references, peer reviewed papers, and .pdf articles saved in various folders.
And of course, thanks to Anthony Watts. Without his tireless efforts none of this would have happened. WUWT has made a huge difference, as we can see by the flack it generates.
Tada!
http://wermenh.com/images/249,997,683.jpg
and
http://wermenh.com/images/250,000,866.jpg
Woo Hoo! A quarter billion! Congrats!
I do hope that Christopher Booker of the (UK) Sunday Telegraph gets some ‘props’ for all the references to WUWT he has made over the last ten years.
It occurs to me that a quarter billion comments is minuscule when one thinks of the numbers of dollars that the likes of Gore, Mann, Hansen. Pachauri, Stern, et-al have spirited away from the poor over the years.
It was Booker and his associate Richard North who first got me hooked on the amazing story of the AGW climate scam. I’d followed him on various topics before that (esp the evils of the anti-democratic EU) so was disposed to enquire further into this one.
Since then I’ve followed WUWT for many a year – pretty well from the start I guess – and I re-post links esp on Facebook whenever they are generalist enough to be comprehensible to those who have not been following the debate as avidly as most of us here.
I have thanked Anthony, and mods, of course many times in the past. It is high time I thanked Ric Werme for all the contributions he makes towards WUWT? being a pleasure to read and a joy to be educated by.
I am indebted to all who provide their knowledge, experience and time to the world’s most viewed site on global warming and climate change.
Thank you Ric Werme, Anthony and the most excellent moderators.
It was Al Gore who brought me to WUWT. Honestly! I was staying with some friends in 2007 or 8 and they had just received videocassettes of An Inconvenient Truth and The Day After Tomorrow. I had heard of the Greenhouse Effect but it did not loom on my horizon back then. After suffering through those two films all afternoon, I was utterly disgusted. So much so that I went to my computer and googled the opposite of Global Warming–Global Cooling. That search led me straight to WUWT and iceagenow.info ,the two sites I read every morning and I am very grateful to Al for that. Incidentally, the politics of climate and Google have changed. That search no longer finds you, at least, up to page five, despite your quarter billion. I guess I’m not surprised.
I actually came across a report prepared in 1974 for the CIA regarding the effect of GLOBAL COOLING and the geopolitical effects.
Together with material that I had read on the Little Ice Age, I was already doubtful of the warming.
Exactly when I can’t recall, but I read a political article that mentioned WUWT, and decided to check it out.
At that time Anthony was concentrating on the surface stations project. and I was hooked.
Since then WUWT has been at the top of my climate bookmark list.
I started reading on the web in the fall of 2008 when DSL arrived out in our part of the rural county. Prior to that, with POTS, using the internet was painfully slow.
Thanks Ric for what you have done.
Thanks Anthony.
I think another point that should be added is that Anthony has a sense of humor and let’s humor add some “spice” to his site.
250,007,415 views
I go feed the dog and WUWT crosses a ‘quarter of a billion’ views! Onward Anthony and may you continue at full throttle.
Congratulations!
Impressive stick-to-it-ive-ness!
Heard you cheered when 1600 jobs were lost in Alberta’s oil sands. I think those families might have a couple words for you this Christmas, and me along with them.
How much did you earn last year, McKibben? Where did that money come from? Seems only fair that we ask that of you.
Antny, mods, delete this comment if you see fit.
Wow !! That was a truly scientific argument … NOT !!
So you are ok with policies based on bad science, Marcus?
And you are ok with skeptics being accused of being shills for “big oil”?
When it is alarmists who are making all the cake. RICO ringing in your ears?
True, but at least Marcus was not trying to hide the truth!
How many actual readers do these millions of views represent? And how many of them are in the elite hierarchies that are determinedly pushing the Global Warming/’Climate Change’ litany? Not to be a wet blanket, but looking at all the suits in the UN, the White House, the Universities, the official science associations, the foundations and ‘environmental’ NGOs, the mainstream media, et al., and looking at all of their smug and self-righteous pronouncements about the evils of the ‘d*nialism’ heresy and even speculations about how to ‘prosecute’ the heretics. . . Looking at all these, and looking at the grad students afraid to challenge their elders on ‘climate’, and looking at all the youngsters brainwashed into CAGW orthodoxy by the schools and textbooks. . .
Yes, WUWT is a wonderful bastion of sanity and reason in a world seemingly caught up in a gigantic web of deceit masquerading as Scientific Truth, and Anthony has performed a truly vital service in growing WUWT as a haven. But what’s next? Can WUWT awaken a multitude of kindred spirits who can begin to cut through the web and free people of influence and power from the sticky strands of ideology? How can this happen? My guess is that it’s going to take organization, and money. Whence will they come?
/Mr Lynn
L.E.
I see the point of celebration as I’m sure do you. As you point out, I see the great work of WUWT overwhelmed by the noise of the opposition. Here are some thoughts to ponder.
WUWT needs to have a baby(s).
As Hoffer point’s out, a mass movement fills the void of unhappiness for folks who think they should be happier.
Possible WUWT babies :
1. You tube channel.
2. Establish WUWT as a twitter regular on twitter compilers like Twitchy.
3. Cable show. They buy content all the time.
4. Make top ten lists.
5. Bombard (troll) other websites with WUWT content.
6. Consider localized WUWT babies. Eg. If the latest fad is Boston being hammered by CAGW, create a local WUWT Web that refutes rising seas, drama mama weather patterns, or actually tells people what their energy will cost.
Avoid categorizing people based on political affiliations. It chases curious minds away. WUWT has a rep for being GOP right wing. If it’s to reach the apex of its prime mission, it will have to shed that rep.
According to the polls (pew), the most likely true believers are young, minority, politically liberal, college science (bizarrely) grads. Convincing old retired white scientists and engineers is useful but not the best bang for the buck.
Or, you can keep doing the same successful path WUWT has been on w 250B views and wait for the climate to cool. Nothing I see in the political sphere offers a political solution so please avoid the trap of thinking some grand messiah will wave their powerful hand and make this all better. I take time to awaken from the haze.
“I” sb “It” … last line. Other typos present but it’s perhaps better that I sound like an 8th grader and I give up fighting to make it just right on WUWT. You folks get what I mean.
Knute: I like your idea of WUWT ‘babies’ a lot. Perhaps we could add to your list a suggestion I proposed a few days ago, which met with some favorable comments:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/10/26/climate-rationalization-beliefs-and-denialism/#comment-2056577
et seq.
Let’s call it no. 7:
7. “A Foundation that will help to fund the necessary revolution against the Eco-fascist establishment that is pushing climate alarmism at the highest levels. Funding people and projects like EM Smith’s [temperature data collection and analysis that would counter some of the chicanery that has occurred] would be an important part of the Foundation’s activities, as would creating a financial safety net for scientists and others who are subject to reprisals from the establishment if they speak out against the Alarmist Liturgy.” [emphasis added]
This Foundation could conceivably aggregate some or all of your ‘babies’ under its wing, given adequate funding and organization. Perhaps we might think of something similar to David Horowitz’s Freedom Center—no, I would not ask him, as he’s doubtless too swamped with anti-Semitism and foreign-policy issues to take on more, but Freedom Center’s ad campaigns and countervailing campus events could serve as a model for a Climate (or Environment) Center.
/Mr Lynn
Knute,
“WUWT needs to have a baby(s).”
… … So I’m thinkin’ (O provocateur ; ) and I think a “layman’s” version of this site, might be rather doable, and fairly quickly, I would think . . A parallel site essentially, that overlaps a great deal but is geared more toward folks who are not science.engineering wonks, but want to understand what’s going on . . and to ask simple questions, get explanations of various terms/relevant concepts, advice on what they ought to become more familiar with right away, etc . .
Watts light, if you will ; )
Just a thought ; )
Thank you Anthony for your hard work.
Congratulations Anthony and contributors. Keep up your eye-opening work.
Thank you Anthony.
I would also like to remember REP moderator extrordinair.
RIP REP
Indeed, thank you – both REP and Charles have been great moderators.
I’m not sure of the names of any others, but they all have a hard task handled with tact and grace
I had pretty much bought in to the AGW thing. I was too busy to really read widely on it. I figured it must be important if the Gov’t was spending so much on it.
Then, I heard these words: “The science is settled.”
As an amateur follower of science all my life, I recognized pure BS. No serious scientist would believe that about anything. Every discovery leads to many more questions. Some of those questions usually double back and compromise the discovery that spawned the questions.
It almost made me ill when I realized that this scandal is so widespread. I WANTED TO BELIEVE the people spreading the alarm, because I have always had faith in our science establishment. How naive I was.
My good friend says follow the money. WUWT (and several other blogs) has made a believer out of me.
“Then, I heard these words: “The science is settled.” ”
Same here, I was just barely even aware of AGW up till that moment, and when there was no sign of outrage over such a declaration (in the mass media), I immediately became a climate crisis skeptic. It’s absurd to me, and an indictment of every scientist who held their peace or concurred.
I used this site for years as a resource, fighting in the “civilian” trenches, so to speak, and I believe it’s impact has been far greater than even the impressive site view numbers suggest. The technical aspects are great, but the clear, logical/rational, and bigotry free presentations are the critical ingredient I believe, that make it a true heavyweight in the battle for hearts and minds.
I thank Mr. Watts, and the whole gang here, for their faith in the power of truth.
My thanks to Anthony and all his volunteers for providing and keeping this this site running over the years. I have had a lifetime interest in the unpredictable nature of weather, its beauty and destructive power, and how weather shaped the thinking and backbone of our pioneer folk in Australia. They lived according to the weather, planted crops, suffered disasters, overcame those disasters and became stronger and more resolute in dealing with the eternal cycles of drought, flood, and fire that are normal for this huge continent roughly similar in size to Continental America.
I felt I had a good understanding of the weather, and of the meteorological progress made by our pioneering Bureau of Meteorology. A Bureau that worked so hard to get some order and predictability needed by our farmers and our industry and the struggles and sacrifices, made by those that spent their lives setting up the temperature reporting network, the charting of the details and the invaluable reference in the historical records. Anyone reading the BOM 100 years celebratory book “The Weather Watchers” can sense this dedication and value of that pioneering work, they did the best they could to provide an enduring record of our past for the betterment of the future, more on that later!
So in our vernacular comments, I was a “happy little vegemite” (our national breakfast spread for many years, that sustained and nurtured our children) quite secure, in that, unlike many other places in the world we had clean air and water and thanks to our scientific community were keeping it that way with particulate filters on our smokestacks and stringent environmental legislation and our children raised to respect the environment. We worked with nature, adapted to it and had a strong connection with the earth that provided for us.
While idly spending time on the internet a good friend who had the fortunate educational background provided by his parents to be educated in science and obtain a degree. reported that he had just viewed Al Gores an Inconvenient truth, and that in his opinion Al Gore was God as he was saving the planet from the disaster of Global Warming ?.
I hadn’t really heard that term, but was familiar with past failed predictions that the earth was warming or cooling and other environmental concerns, and that sparked my interest to look firstly into our local weather records.
We had been through a severe drought, then had the almost obligatory opposite of flooding and even a mild “winter” in which trees had bloomed as if it was spring, and in the cities, cloud cover made frosts less severe, so I went searching for more on this Global Warming. I stumbled across WUWT and Real Climate and the difference of the approach to exchanging information and ideas as well as commenting on climate issues.
I found the arrogant nature of Real Climate and their censorship of alternative ideas or theories, in fact, anything that questioned their inner circle “scientific authority thinking” stifled curiosity and worst of all the vicious putdowns and vilification of well credentialed Climate Scientists who dared question their authority turned me away from that site.
In contrast found this site to be an excellent springboard via the links to other internet discussions on the various subjects and to Professor Judith Curry’s excellent climate site where I discovered the extreme effort of trolls diverting and disrupting the scientific discussions into almost trivia.
I tried to enlighten friends with some of the excellent articles and discussions I came across and that was when I discovered the almost religious indoctrination of belief structures, and the reliance on authority where science was lacking, even my scientific friend refused to look or discuss ! People were losing their jobs for questioning that authority, though I now suspect that he knows that his early perceptions were wrong but he can’t now take the long walk away from those entrenched beliefs, especially in his government employment where it pays to toe the line and not seek out alternative ideas.
Quite sad really, but so entrenched now in Education and science in this country that it was not surprising when Climategate revealed the closed shop of political science manipulation of grants and awards, and later we found that our BOM had “revised” the old hotter historical temperature records (down of course) to show modern warmer temperatures by means of algorithms to homogenize automatically and produce the highest temperature “evah” for media distribution. It got so bad that one mild summer that we all knew was very mild was mindlessly promoted as “unusually hot” in the media reports. Even the previously respected C.S.I.R.O. got on the warmest bandwagon predicting scary no rain periods that turned into wetter than average.
One wonders how Science and the scientific method could be so ruthlessly set aside to push a meme onto the public and how bad things have become in the polarisation of thought, including the reluctance of any official debate in government and science circles.
We need that public debate, we need science and education to stand up for the integrity of science and understand and condemn those who have tampered with the historical records. It is well past time for this to occur.
I thank you all and particularly the scientists who have politely contributed at this site for those who want to learn more “in a search for the truth in the interests of justice” for all our past scientists and researchers who respected and embraced the scientific method.
I am happy you are approaching the 250 million views, may this progress continue and deliver a billion views
As a fellow Aussie (Geologist by training with a long-held interest in this ‘global warming’ caper) I second your viewpoint almost exactly. I am amazed and very disappointed at the expressed views of several colleagues with a technical background for whom I used to have respect. In talking around other issues I have since found that they are died-in-the-wool socialists so the cowardly ‘ends justifies the means’ position simply fits their world view anyway. But how dare they try to justify it with what can’t even be called science!?
On the other hand I have great respect for the vast majority of other colleagues who (under their breath) say that they too, know it is a farce. I just wish they would speak more loudly to make it obvious to the minority of vociferous true believers that they are in fact, the minority.
“All it takes for evil to prosper….”
To end I must join with everyone else here in congratulating Anthony and the supporters for creating and maintaining such a website with so many discussions and links to relevant articles. I feel the voice in the wilderness is getting louder as the implications of unjustified actions grow more evident. Please keep it up!
Ask Galileo.
And yet if it weren’t for him (or someone like him), would we have the Hubble, and may things that preceded it?
Anthony, mode, contributors, commenters, lurkers…
Thank you all, for making this the best place on the internet for knowledge, information, insight and levity.
It’s perfect.
It’s a shame not all can see it for the jewel that it is.
It’s great to go to a wonderful place like WUWT and, just by doing so, helping make a difference in a world that sorely needs the right kind of “change.”
Thank you, Anthony!
This site taught me everything I know about “Climate Change” and provided a wealth of material for refuting the crazy arguments put up by their sometimes close to insane supporters. I love the slants on the subject provided by the numerous authors and commenters, especially those with a background in the climate area and that of science. Also especially like that similar and sometimes slightly off topic subjects are allowed which makes the site not only entertaining but very educational. Obviously my favorite everyday site.
I’ve been reading WUWT since 2007 although I’ve not commented much in latter years. Anthony has done a fantastic job here, keeping on subject, fending off the most vicious vitriol with good humour and a sense of fair play that makes a Brit like me feel at home. I was lucky enough to have my ‘Quote of the Day’ graphic chosen by WUWT in a little competition. It’s still in use today. Strange to think that although I’ve been working in broadcast tv and graphics design for over 30 years, more people have seen that one graphic than anything else I’ve worked on. That’s the power of the Internet and shows that Anthony totally understands the medium and has mastered its use.
Still no sign of Peak Watts!
I think I have spent more time here at Watts Up With That? than I have with my wife and kids the last few years.
Can’t thank you enough, Anthony. Congratulations on a job well done. Please keep doing it until it isn’t needed anymore.
Well said Sir. Anthony is a modern day hero. I’ll drop something appropriate into the tip jar later.
Fantastic- well done Anthony and the team. I’d like to congratulate the “saintly” Chris Booker for introducing me to WUWT via the Sunday Telegraph so many years ago.
I have learnt so much from the expert contributors and commentators plus all the related blog links.
One day, maybe, the politicians will catch up, but they never were the brightest!
Thanks, Gareth
Thanks, Ric Werme, for a good article. Thanks, Anthony Watts, for the most interesting science news blog in this pale blue dot.
Congratulations on WUWT’s readership!
maybe N.OT:
WHO is not so busy with the hunger in the world. The new sharia is jihad against pork. Against colon cancer in Patagonia.
Take it or leave it. Hans
I’ve had a link on my personal weather page to WUWT since about 2008 I think.
http://highcliffareaweather.com/
Go into the WUWT page several times a week.
Thanks to everyone here at WUWT. It really is a wonderful site where anyone can express an opinion, but be prepared to defend it. Over the years, I have seen some very honest open debate, not always one way traffic. Even when someone of a sceptical nature makes a claim that’s a bit dubious, they will be shot down or at least, shown the error of their ways, very quickly.
Once again, thanks to all who make this the most read and probably the most important site regarding Climate issues. I think we all learn a little something new from it every day.
Regards, Eamon.
Eamon says:
It really is a wonderful site where anyone can express an opinion, but be prepared to defend it.
That says it all. Thanks.
I think I may have to add an ” hear hear” to every comment…
WUWT is the enlightenment’s amplified echo.
John
Respect to Anthony.
As a layman have been visiting WUWT since the very early days and have always found those that support CAGW (or whatever its being called these days) unconvincing. Mostly because they tend to make definitive statements about science that was clearly not settled and oftentimes unknown. These people have become even more unconvincing as knowledge of climate science increases to the point they now sound quite ridiculous.
The cumulative (crowd sourced) knowledge that exists among the readers of WUWT also astounds me.
Whatever happened to Smokey? I remember him well for his knowledge and also the way he (eagerly) Smoked out the trolls and others who visited WUWT to be disruptive.
There are only two sites on CAGW that I read regularly. WUWT and JoNova. They both deserve the highest praise. Long may they continue.
Robdel,
For views from
England, try: notalotofpeopleknowthat
Germany, try: notrickszone
Agree with everything but “CAGW”.
It’s simply CLIMATE.
As an amateur, non-scientist I applaud Anthony, WUWT, and supporters. I have learnt much and had my questions answered. With Paris now a month away I intend running some ads showing why extreme claims of global warming are dangerous and untrue. I want to pressure my government into backing off any commitment. Is this blog an acceptable place to ask whether there is a single site where the latest graphic material and a layman’s explanations are available to copy? Is this something that could be put together here? A one-stop shop for basic material that counters the AGW nonsense?
I met with Anthony about 10 years ago for lunch in New York City. We had a great conversation about his website and the importance of the information he was trying to disseminate. I do recall him expressing a great deal of angst over the growing popularity of the site and the amount of work that was required to keep it going. Fortunately, he came up with the idea to use volunteer help, and I was happy to be some of the earlier help. Since then his help has grown in numbers and capabilities. I salute him and his current set of moderators and guest writers as being unafraid to engage in the debate and keep free thinking alive.
Well said too Sir.
And one moderator is known to me personally and I used to work with him in for the same bank in New Zealand.. Haven’t seen him around lately now thinking about it. Anyone seen “Andy”, the WUWT moderator/publisher?
Hummm….I am sure I posted similar just 10 minutes ago. I personally know and used to work with one WUWT moderators/publishers in New Zealand, “Andy”. And thinking of that and the valuable work these people do, has anyone seen of Andy recently?
A chap above mentioned the “screaming jumping monkeys” post – or something similar. That was around the time I found WUWT as well. I think that it was a post by the incomparable Willis Eschenbach I seem to recall that the number of views by then had not yet reached the million mark.
Okay, time to hunt that down. The best hit I can find is “screeching mercury monkeys,” a post that isn’t very significant, but apparently very memorable.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2007/08/12/hey-im-a-reverend/
A comment that may or may not shed light on the tenor of the post:
My sincere thanks to Anthony and his support crew for the absolute best blog of this type. A daily read for me… and twice on Sunday
🙂
Hi Ric,
First, congratulations on being part of a successful Blog. I was perusing your articles and really enjoyed hearing about snow in February. Living just north of the border, almost a straight shot up the latitude line, i can relate but then again, February is usually pretty chilly with a lot of snow.
I was just curious, how does the profession of software engineer qualify you to be a climate scientist?
Well, in a computer simulation class, I modeled a row of cars that were tailgating and tracked what happened when the first one slowed down. It was a virtual train wreck and CO2 went up 100 ppm.
matt:
You asked Ric Werme
It seems that Ric Werme is too modest to provide a direct answer to that, so I will enlighten you.
Knowledge and understanding of climate science provides competence as a climate scientist.
For example, it is very clear that the software engineer of the harry read me files is a much, much better climate scientist than those who claim to be the climate scientists at the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia.
Richard
It matters not. Was Darwin a “scientist”? What about Faraday? No “peers” in their time. Anyone and everyone can be a scientist. It’s real easy. One just needs to open ones eyes…
matt,
Science is applied reasoning.
Pretty universal potential in humans to use that capacity.
John
Software engineer (a good one) is just one of the qualifications of a “Climate Scientist”.
Think of all of the disciplines involved in climate: meteorology, physics, chemistry, fluid dynamics, geology, botany…even history.
As someone noted above: anyone can express an opinion, but be prepared to defend it.
Thank you one and all … to Anthony, contributors, moderators, volunteers, and commenters. But, especially to Anthony. I don’t think you realized how this website was going to take off, and become such a huge part of your life, when you first began this website. Thanks for your perseverance, honesty, civility, and your sense of humor.
Congratulations on another major milestone.
I don’t understand why it took me so long to become a regular reader of this site, maybe it’s because participating here made me feel a bit like I was preaching to the choir at first, then there was the fear of cocooning myself in an echo chamber. After spending some time here though, I realized this isn’t an echo chamber, there are lots of diverse views, not everyone agrees on the problems or the solutions, some folks have very different views from mine and present them convincingly. In the short time I’ve been reading the transactions here I’ve learned more about the subject than I had in the previous 20 years reading all the others.
I admit to being a little scarred by my experiences with other topical climate science blogs and mass media outlets and I’m certain it will take time for me to adapt to an environment open to real argument, investigation and dissent. After years of being called names and ridiculed for daring to even question the party line, banned from sites like Ars Technica for nothing more than accurately quoting the error bars in 14C dating, I’m a bit gun shy and more than a little defensive. I expect it may take a long time to get over, but I think WUWT is just the therapy I need. With any luck my pent up anger and frustration won’t cause me to alienate everyone here before my recovery is complete 🙂
I’m very concerned by the open hostility towards skeptics and “deniers” that’s developed over the past year, especially recent threats by political leaders and so called climate “scientists” to suppress debate with death or imprisonment. At first I thought it was just a few radical wingnuts, but when Joe Biden went public last month with his opinion that climate skeptics should be prosecuted for “crimes against humanity” I began to realize this might be a real problem. I feel like our society is slipping back into the dark ages while I watch. WUWT is a light in that dark so keep up the good work, thanks for being brave and above all thanks for providing this forum. Still, I don’t imagine I’ll be publishing my full name, social security number and a list of publications any time soon…
Understandable, if like so many your job would be on the line if you did. But sadly, that is a symptom of the problem. Nothing is going to change until skeptics stand up en masse and defy the priesthood that threatens to punish all dissenters and heretics.
/Mr Lynn
Joe Biden? That should definitely make you realize you’re on the right track!
Congratulations and well done Anthony and please keep the good work up
My posts seem to be going in to the bit bucket. I was asking about “Andy” the moderator/poster who is someone I knew and worked with. Not seen any posts from him lately (Busy with my own carp).
While WUWT has found the right level of openness, WordPress’s spam filter has not. When a comment seems to disappear into nothingness, give it an hour or to for a moderator to fish it out of the spam bin.
Thanks Ric, it certainly seems that way. Reminds me of MS Systems Management Server (SMS or “Slow Moving Software” now called SCCM).
Actually, his WUWT handle I think was “AndiC”?
Tip jar hit. Have a beer on me mate.
Thank you Anthony for your wonderful work, you have given me hope.
Best wishes from an Australian dailly reader.
Im not sure if I found Booker or WUWT first, but boy am I glad I did.;-)
and Kens kingdom from there and onwards to jo Nova
daily reader since early 09 at least later joiner.
blessings on Anthony and ALL contributors and the mods
not a day goes by I dont sharemail at least one subject:-)
Anthony: congratulations (to you and the mods) from a regular reader, like many others above.
You provide an essential resource here, when the “science” seems to have been corrupted by the consensus du jour – and the Telegraph today reports that Antarctica is now gaining more ice than it is losing …!
Small tip-jar contribution on the way (to Willard, I think)!
WUWT has given me a new perspective on Global Warming. It’s all politics and the Earth is fine.
The AGW cabal that has been exposed here is nothing short of scary.
WUWT shows me that there are many others like myself who, once enlightened, will push back against this cabal.
WUWT has given me hope. Thanks Mr. Watts and everyone else who posts or comments here.
+1
WUWT, you have certainly done justice to the subjects you so steadily report on.
I have directed many, many, laypeople to this site and will continue to do so.
Thank You !!!
The best thing readers here can do is to give some ‘push-back’ on general media sites, commenting under any “climate change” articles.
The public responds to peer pressure. People act in groups, and most of them don’t want to be different. So just a short comment like, “Global warming stopped many years ago,” or “CO2 is greening the planet” will go a long way in changing public perceptions.
It’s not to convince the climate alarmist crowd. That’s not possible in most cases. Rather, it is a battle for the hearts and minds of the undecided middle.
Skeptics of the ‘dangerous AGW’ scare are definitely making an impact, and WUWT readers are leading the way. A comment or two in the right places will help to crush the DAGW narrative.It’s already happening, we just need to give it a little help.
I read Yahoo News. They’re very inclined to toe the AGW line. I check the comments on the alarmist stories and I’m happy to see that most of the comments, by far, are written by well-versed skeptics. This is very encouraging.
Or just occasionally link to an article, don’t want to preach too hard to the ill-informed, it just turns them off.
Don’t it ?
Keep on keeping on…
Anthony has been heroic and saintly in his pursuit of good science and good public policy. He deserves at least a presidential medal of freedom.
The best of the blog was when Anthony was doing most of the posting and “directing the fight” in real time. Anthony’s personality is perfect for this kind of blog, which includes a good bit of natural history, along with the science.
My hat is off to you, Anthony.
Theo Goodwin
Theo, while I, and probably everyone else who reads this blog might agree on Anthony deserving a medal of freedom, as the saying goes “It ain’t gonna happen” with the people currently in office.
Can you recommend resources for year 8 science. 14 year olds.
300 million visits by November 15, 2016 (it was not even 14 months ago that the count was 200 million).
And, here’s post #201 on this thread:
HURRAH FOR WUWT!
Great work, Ric Werme, the well-informed, amateur**, climate scientist.
**amateur — refers only to whether one is paid, i.e., pro-fess{ional}, or “for money” or not. It says nothing about the actor’s abilities. MANY amateurs in every field of endeavor are FAR more knowledgeable or talented or skilled than those who do it for money.
Thank you, Mr. Werme, for your excellent support — how many blogs have a professional (and well-qualified) software engineer for the “IT person”!