Open Thread Saturday – "What Could We do Better"?

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse defends his attack on oil producers at http://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/20160423/sheldon-whitehouse-climate-change-is-like-tobacco-issue
Interestingly, the Providence Journal, a publication generally favorable to all sorts of Democrat shenanigans, defends the First Amendment right to speech uninhibited by government prosecution in a rebuttal at the end.
BTW, Tips & Notes is full and seems to have trouble updating with new comments.

Top Ten Anti-GW List Urgently Needed
I think one feature that is desperately required on WUWT is a prominently displayed button that leads directly to a top ten list of arguments against the Climate Change concept, designed to be easily employed by ordinary folks who wish to counter GW nonsense within their social circles and other opportunities. This also would have benefit to quickly orient WUWT newcomers who haven’t the time to search thousands of articles for core info.
Of course WUWT is an amazing treasure trove of good facts, figures and opinions but for everyday use it is actually quite overwhelming and impractical.
Even though I have followed WUWT for years, when faced with people parroting GW faith, my responses would be off the cuff, inefficient and certainly not prioritized or effective as they need to be.
Let me show you how my typical reply might go. Keep in mind, no one at a party or other social setting wants to hear a lecture. So one might have the opportunity to respond with maybe five arguments; ten if you are lucky and there is interest.
Right off the top of my head, I would begin with what I perceive to be the best and easiest anti-GW points to present and go from there. Clearly if we on the ground are to help as effective conduits of grassroots information, we need better concise information. Please help us out.
My suggestion is that a WUWT top ten list would be complete with a reference or two that could be later provided as certainly many a disbelieving Warmist may ask for sources. Also the list would be dynamic in the sense that it might change as new research and priorities come to light. But this doesn’t have to be a perfectly ranked list, just very useful.
My Inadequate Arguments:
1… Almost none of the fifty or so GW computer models agree or even reflect what is happening in the real world. They all wildly exaggerate the warming predictions yet this is what GW political policy has been based upon.
2… Two different satellite systems, calibrated with balloon readings all agree that there hasn’t been much warming over the past 18 years. Unlike ground temperature stations that are few and far between with limited coverage of the earth and susceptible to nearby heat sources , satellites cover most of the earth and take temperatures throughout the atmosphere multiple times per day.
3… GW theory is that CO2 traps in heat causing runaway heating of the Earth. Actual observations of CO2 and temperature supports no such thing.
4… The Antarctic ice cap is actually growing, not shrinking. Warmists would rather you didn’t know about that.
5… Hurricanes are at an all-time low. In fact there hasn’t been a hurricane making land on the USA since Obama became president. All against GW theory and prediction.
6… The Earth has always had long temperature fluctuations as comfortable Viking settlements in Greenland can attest.
7… Weather is not Global Warming nor Climate Change. For those who point to very mild winters in the North American North West, what do these same people have to say about the record low temps, snow, Great Lakes freeze-ups in the East?
At this point, I would expect that this is about all one could hope to say about Climate change in a social situation. But if the opportunity presented itself, I would continue:
8… The Climate Change science is certainly not settled, as new science including evidence for the existence of a temperature pause and many other climate phenomena, comes and goes.
9… That 97% of scientists believe in dangerous Global Warming is a proven fallacy. Even the man who first invented this concept agrees that these scientists cited never believed the observed warming is actually dangerous.
10… Almost every GW skeptic believes there has been global warming. Just not rampant and dangerous GW. No one argues that CO2 levels haven’t significantly increased and that this is not due to human influence.
11… The rise in CO2 has been responsible for spectacular increases in forests and plant life around the world that is having a beneficial effect on harvests and food production. For that same reason CO2 is routinely added to green houses and aquariums. So the CO2-curbing “Green” movement is actually and literally the opposite. CO2 is not a pollutant but a critical molecule of life.
12… Al Gore’s temperature “Hockey Stick,” that really started the GW movement, has been proven to the satisfaction of most analysts to be completely erroneous.
13… Global Warming is a trillion dollar industry with beholden countries – especially developing countries – and scientists and corporations all looking after their own self-interests.
Clumsy and inadequate. I say WUWT and its knowledgeable followers can provide people like myself with a much more effective set of arguments.

“Nothing succeeds like success”.

The comments section is the most important part of the website. We get to read a scientific study, and then the experts on this website digest and dissect it. Just what we want. We want to hear about every little nuance.
I kind of like the way the comments work. There is not much time to carry on a lengthy conversation before the Topics scroll off the front page, but that might be a good thing, in that it keeps things focused on the topic at hand, and then moves on.
Off-topic posts do not seem to be a big problem, which is VERY good, and should be kept that way by the posters.
Spelling mistakes should be overlooked. Everyone does it. It doesn’t mean they don’t know how to spell that particular word, it just means they were probably in a hurry and overlooked the spelling error. I have no doubt you can figure out what the poster means even with the misspelled word.
I don’t use a spell checker, I figure I have a pretty good one in my head, but I occasionally misspell a word. In my case, I almost always recall that I misspelled a word, but the recall takes place hours after I have made it. I guess the mistake just hangs in my subconscious for a while and then works its way to awareness.
And this comment below, I find interesting:
climatereason
April 23, 2016 at 2:16 pm wrote:
“Lee
That raises the interesting proposition that commenters could make predictions for a particular season but would have to give reasons for making that prediction and what area it covers.”
I would be very interested in a dedicated section that relates to current weather. This would seem to fit right in with WUWT. After all we are discussing weather, future weather, and I think we should have a place to discuss current weather.
Here’s my contribution to the current weather section: It looks like Oklahoma is in the bullseye for severe weather come about Tuesday. The jet stream is lining up to concentrate its energy right in my neighborhood. I may get nasty.
Weather forcasters should display the jet streams on their weathercasts (most don’t). Without knowledge of the jet streams, you cannot fully understand what is happening with the weather.
Commenting on posts does not work well here if you want to carry on long conversations about a particular subject. If you want something like that, there is dedicated website chat software that could be used, or WUWT could establish a moderated USENET newsgroup where these subjects could be discussed as much as desired.
I would hesitate to change the WUWT website with chat software, but USENET would work perfectly for that purpose, as long as every one knew where to go. And with moderated newsgroups, one can control who has access to post, so you can elimnate a lot of trolls. It does take time and effort though.
WUWT is a great website. Lots of intelligent conversation. No downside, unless you are an Alarmist. 🙂 You really don’t have to change a thing to keep me coming back.