Why does it seem like there is no moderation in Physics and Math?

Fine, I'll do it dammit...

I know about as much about P&M, as I do about giving birth ( I'm a dude ), but, what the hell...

ETA... We have emoticons?... See, you're the one for the job Bruce!!!

You can do it!!! May the Gods help you.

 

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I don't think any one could ever have enough knowledge for the job. Moderation is not about determining veracity of posts or determining intellectual standards etc. it is about moderating posting behavior. Civility, respect and tolerance... with a touch of forbearance and you don't need a lot of knowledge for that.
A moderators role is not about the individual but more about the collective well being of the entire board.

 

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A few of the folks posting in this forum DO have the knowledge and the intellect to put it to good use. For the collective well being we could link 'Natural Mystic' and fall under the spell of the great Bob Marley.

 

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Rpenner, brucep, cptBork, przyk and Russ_Watters to name a few would be fine additions to the moderator club for math and physics.

Right now Pysics and Math being a rudderless ship is not going well at all. Reminds me of the first Halloween movie (which I thought was very good, the rest are trash) when the doctor and the nurse get to the asylum and the loonies are wander around the grounds...

 

Please indicate what you believe the role of a moderator is?

 

Dude... I already said I'd do it. And then you throw this candidate list out there, and exclude me.

I feel slighted... So does the bunny. You hurt his feelings, dammit.

ETA... Now, not only does he hit his head, he's become a "cutter".

Years of therapy in his future... Thanks.

 

"......... the loonies are wander around the grounds..." I love it. For mathematical physics, I believe, it requires moderation that knows how it works coupled with excellent communication skills and is intellectually honest to a fault. LOL.

 

This from the Linguistics Moderator?

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Perhaps because the moderator is wiser than you all know .....get it ?

 

No.

 

Think upon , changes

 

OK, we have no moderation of the quite dreadful abuse, but somebody has moved my thread the screw nature of electromagnetism into alternative theories? When it's legitimate physics? And the best physics thread in the subforum to boot?

It gets worse. We have no moderation, but we do have a thought-police censorship that attempts to stifle physics discussions?

Let it be known that I've volunteered to be a moderator for physics and maths. I would love to have an opportunity to deal with the uncivility and nastiness that is dragging this forum into the mud.

 

The move has the earmarks of an in and out visit by a moderator with permissions to move threads, maybe one of the three designated moderators in P&M. Or maybe one of the current moderators/admin who has those permissions; we may not be able to find out unless someone tells us they did it.

 

You might be delusional that this is legitimate physics, but you know that your thread is really about your idea that an electron is really made up of photons. That is clearly not accepted physics and it is a lie to claim otherwise.

 

A possible clue is at the top of the ban list.

Would anybody care to comment?

Edit: well hello Trippy. Is that an admission? Are you actively censoring physics discussions here whilst simultaneously giving free rein to abusive posters?

 

First, few people on the internet are as abusive as Farsight.

Second, why do people continue to think that they are being censored when they are not give free reign at every venue and promotion by everyone with a venue? It is so stupid.

 

Thanks, but I'm an engineer and already a moderator somewhere else. And while as an engineer my level of knowledge of physics is certainly better than the crackpots who need wrangling in here, it isn't high enough to actually be a physics moderator.

I can perhaps offer a bit of advice:

The lack of keeping posts in their correct places is probably the biggest problem here. Having a physics forum, an alternative theories forum and a psudeoscience forum (not much difference between those last two, imo...), not to mention a philosophy forum means you have the appropriate places for all types of threads. But letting so many stay in the physics section drags down the level of discussion and makes it unlikely that quality members will stay and new members will join to learn/discuss physics. Because ultimately I think a forum should want to grow. And though they may be prolific, the crackpots aren't the largest segment of the population nor are they the members you want most.

Now:

That depends on the purpose of the forum. Typically, the moderators of the physics forum aren't there to adjudicate what new/alternative ideas are correct, but only to recognize which ideas they can find in a textbook and which ones they can't. If you can find an idea in a textbook, then it's [mainstream] physics. If you can't, it's alternative (at best).

 

Inflated opinion of yourself aside, you acknowledged that neither Minkowski nor any other professional physicist generated your picture: you did. That makes it alternative at best. Since you acknowledged you used no physics/math to generate it, I'd consider yourself lucky it didn't end up in pseudoscience, where it would be more appropriate.

Another experience I had in another forum is that philosophy can be a cesspool as well because people think any stoned musing they have is philosophy. A pseudophilosophy section might be a good idea for such posts. Your thread could go there as well, since the lack of math or physics content makes it more philosophical in nature.

 

Oh come on Farsight. There is no censorship other than to put alternative theories in the alternative theory section. You have been shown the problems with your idea so it is actually kind to put it in the alternative section and not in the pseudo-science or cesspool. You are a classic example of why the scientific process is necessary - you get an idea in your head and it is almost impossible to get you to change your mind regardless of the evidence.