Stoopid arguments that’ll get deleted, or get you deleted.
This website is moderated. That does not mean we don’t allow negative comments or nay-sayers, on the contrary. It doesn’t make for a very interesting show nor interesting reading here if everybody just agrees. But it seems a great many people do not understand arguing a point and stoopid comments. Stoopid arguments not only completely discredit you, your position and your argument, such arguments are just plain annoying. And because of the prolific number of trolls, you could very well be mistaken for a troll. So, for the protection of both yourself and the members of this website, we moderate. After all, we don’t want you to make yourself look stoopid publicly or anything.
Personal attacks, insults, and other behaviour that’s so stoopid it should be stoopidly obvious.
The moderators do not need to give an explanation for any comments they delete. Though out of courtesy, usually posters are given a warning as to what exactly it is they did wrong and why it’s a problem.
Ian’s degrees
While there is the occasional person who is genuinely asking about my credentials out of genuine interest, I’d venture to guess that 99% of the time someone asks about it, they are asking because they’re trying to discredit an argument I made. Pointing to my credentials or lack thereof is nothing more than an ad hominem attack (see “logical fallacies” below), and completely irrelevant to whether or not the argument I made is correct or not.
Ian’s a proven liar
While it’s the ultimate irony that someone falsely accusing me of lying is therefore a liar, even if their accusation was true, it would STILL be completely irrelevant, and is nothing more than an ad hominem logical fallacy (see “logical fallacies” below). Even a flagrant liar still occasionally tells the truth. Furthermore, the alleged “lies” I tell, when analysed, invariably break down into nothing more than a disagreement in interpretation. I disagree with the evolutionary interpretation, someone points out what the evolutionary interpretation is, I continue to disagree, therefore I am a accused of being a “liar.” This is a stoopid argument and completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. If I am wrong in something I said, I’ll gladly be corrected. Do not stoop to stoopid, very presumptuous claims of my being a liar. Such a comment will be deleted, promptly followed by you being deleted.
Spamming
Besides the obvious spam that will get your post deleted (and probably you), there’s a fine line between sharing a video you made which is in response, and spamming the website with frivolous videos that YOU think somehow apply. All too often, stoopid YouTube people make videos that people allegedly refute something I said, when in fact the video is nothing but a long string of disinformation, or (as is usually the rather bizarre case) the skeptic simply quoted me, said I was wrong, and then turns right around and says the exact same thing I did and says it proves me wrong! Bottom line: many posts which just link to videos will be deleted for the simple reason that we’re not interested in giving free publicity to stoopid people and/or stoopid arguments. If you post a video, or a link to talk.organs, make it relevant to the discussion please.
Scamming
Scams and scammers will be deleted, obviously. Think you got someone trying to scam you? Please email your complaint to the moderators so we can investigate.
Stoopid arguments
Stoopid comments like “Uhhh….huh huh huh…. uhh… so, u beleeve in a flatt erth…uhhh….. Im not surprised u don’t beleeve the fact of evolution. You probably question gravity to, huh? uhh hhhuh huh huh” are likely to get deleted because I’ve already responded to this flagrant lie. And if you’re too lazy and/or incompetent (WHY are stoopid arguments almost always rife with horrible spelling and grammar???) to even to use Google to find out what I’ve said and not said, then maybe – *maybe* we will give you the benefit of the doubt and respond by conveniently providing you a link to the truth. We’re all human, and occasionally we all say something stoopid. Maybe today was your day to have a bad day, and you posted a stoopid comment. Don’t be offended if we delete it. It’s for your own protection after all. Of course, don’t be offended if we leave it up either, so the whole world can see for themselves that you’re stoopid.
Logical Fallacies
A logical fallacy is an argument which is illogical. All logical fallacies are stoopid arguments, and thus subject to this policy. The moderators may, or may not, take the time to try to educate you on how your argument is a logical fallacy, or the moderators may, or may not allow discussion spawned by your logical fallacy, and thus your comment may, or may not, be deleted. That is the discretion of the moderators. Some examples of logical fallacies:
Ad hominem
Or “to the man,” is attacking the debater’s person. For example, questioning whether or not a person is qualified to make the comment they made is completely irrelevant to whether or not the comment they made is correct or not. Closely related to this is the
Genetic logical fallacy: the argument that a claim is valid or not based upon who the source of the argument was. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. An auto mechanic can give a correct medical diagnosis – who the person is has nothing to do with whether or not they are correct, and entire books could be written on how Creationists, bucking the system, have show that conventional interpretations or research by a multitude of evolutionary scientists were flat out wrong.
Ambiguity
Being ambiguous in your language or using double meaning in words. For example, one might say “Evolution is a fact.” When one makes this statement, they are thinking of things like dog breeds – which is a dog evolving into a dog. What is presented as evolution however, is macroevolution – a fish growing legs and walking onto land for example. This has absolutely nothing to do with dogs turning into dogs with variation, a fact that no creationist would deny. But that is not the bacteria-to-university professor evolution that is taught in our textbooks and schools. Pointing to microevolution as alleged proof of macroevolution is also a
False Cause logical fallacy. The assumption that one thing is the cause of another when either it is a non-sequitor (one does not lead to the other at all, they are not even related to each other), or that there are other causes which could explain the result.
Bandwagon
This is a huge one in the anti-creationary camp, citing the “consensus of opinion among scientists” as if that somehow proves evolution. The consensus of opinion changes regularly in both opinion and the numbers who actually believe the “consensus.” There are a great many scientists who do not believe in evolution, for example.
Special pleading
Making up exceptions even when your argument was shown to be false. For example, the law of biogenesis says life only comes from life. One might argue that that is true, but we don’t know what the conditions were in the early earth, and thus different conditions may permit the origin of life from non-life. This is a logical fallacy because the “condition” that needs to change is the physical law itself. While special pleading is a logical fallacy, chances are moderators would leave such a fallacious argument to stand, hoping to generate discussion.
These are just some examples of logical fallacies. There are many more and the purpose of this brief description was simply to educate on the basics of logical fallacies and what they were.
Persistent stoopid arguments
Sadly, we run into the occasional person who continues to make stoopid arguments, even after being corrected on the matter. Irrational trolling falls under this category. It’s only a matter of time before we come to the conclusion that, sadly, you must be a stoopid person. Probably as the Apostle Paul put it, “being willingly ignorant” (translation: being stoopid on purpose). Sadly, we will not only delete your comments, we will delete YOU. Once you are banned, you are permanently banned. If you do something worthy of getting yourself banned, then it’s for life. Previously banned members who make new accounts will subsequently have that account deleted.
