Banned members

[Zakalwe]

A quick Google search shows his posts on here to be typical of this troll. I see that he appears to post on a lot of body-building  YouTube videos....perhaps he suffers from 'roid-rage?

[Nowhere Man]

Edwardwb1001 has been banned for trolling (which he even admitted to) and for insulting the other members of the forum.

If he's banned, shouldn't his name be crossed off when it's displayed?

Edit to add:  Well I guess the board software doesn't do that.  But Edward's display still needs some kind of indicator that he's been bounced.

Fred

[LunarOrbit]

Edward's display still needs some kind of indicator that he's been bounced.

You're right. I usually add a "BANNED" title to someone's profile after I ban them but I forgot this time. I've corrected it.

[Glom]

It got out of hand when the streetlight experiment came into it.

The problem is that when it comes to his personal experience, he can say whatever he wants and we can't directly contradict that. We can say it doesn't make sense, but it will inevitably come off as incredulity.

He may be lying, maybe he's just misinterpreting, but we can't say positively that his experience is wrong, only that it doesn't make sense.

[gillianren]

Oh, I don't know.  I think there reaches a point where you can be pretty definitive that something didn't happen the way someone described it.

[Donnie B.]

"I dropped my book, and it flew up and slammed into the ceiling!"

And it wasn't even made of upsydaisium.

[Laurel]

"I dropped my book, and it flew up and slammed into the ceiling!"

You should have paid the gravity bill.
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2008/07/14

[ChrLz]

Oh, I don't know.  I think there reaches a point where you can be pretty definitive that something didn't happen the way someone described it.

Exactly.  And that one of Edward's shameful deceptions was a perfect example of that.

I suspect I may be one of (or 'the') 'particular member/s' who suggested he be given those marching orders, and I'm very pleased to see that LO took action - well played as usual, LO!  But allow me to explain a bit more..

I accept that this forum relies to some extent on people proclaiming wildly inaccurate stuff - and that some latitude (maybe quite a lot) must be applied.  I don't mind crazy ideas, as long as the holder of said ideas is prepared to discuss in good faith and does not *deliberately* lie or misinform.  I've had many quite pleasant debates with some pretty crazy folks here and elsewhere.

But of late, I've noticed that an increasing tactic with the last dwindling few who push Apollo denial, and also some UFO=alien and Nibiru/PlanetX/Mayan-calendar-extinction believers/trolls is to simply lie their ****s off, whether by completely misrepresenting authoritative references (a special hello to 'MacG' at Unexplained Mysteries.. ), or by giving very obviously false accounts of their personal experiences, eg Edward's absolutely ridiculous assertions about his streetlamp-(un)affected stellar viewing ability.

That was very obviously not debating in good faith, and makes it very clear that the person is trolling (or perhaps completely deluded), and in either case I don't think they should be allowed to continue getting their fifteen Kb of 'fame'..

It's been a pleasure to note that this website (and a couple of notable others) are taking action against such 'people'.

[Donnie B.]

There is, I suppose, one way he might have been telling the truth about the streetlamp experiment.  If he walked out of a brightly-lit room just before doing it, he may well have seen little difference in his view of the stars.

[Zakalwe]

There is, I suppose, one way he might have been telling the truth about the streetlamp experiment.  If he walked out of a brightly-lit room just before doing it, he may well have seen little difference in his view of the stars.

This is probably not the place for this discussion, to be fair.
If he had walked out of a bright room then he would not have been able to see "medium to faint magnitude" stars. The faintest magnitude reckoned visible by the naked eye is about mag 6. You would need a superb dark site, perfect seeing and extremely good eyesight to see a mag 6 object. Under urban skies you can probably see mag 3-4 with good dark adaption. There's about 500 objects in the celestial night sky in this magnitude range. How many are visible from his location?

Non dark adapted eyes? I reckon that you would only see the very brightest stars and the brightest of planets (Jupiter is normally visible under streetlights). As an example, when Mars, Jupiter and Venus were in apparent alignment earlier this year I could see them from a well-lit supermarket carpark. Virtually nothing else was visible in the sky. Which is why I called his claim that he could "easily make out a medium to faint magnitude star just outside the aforementioned halo" [of the streetlight] as B.S.

[LunarOrbit]

Heiwa has been banned for 7 days after trying to moderate the discussion after repeated warnings not to do so. I can only assume he is attempting to provoke me.

He also responded to other members in an insulting manner.

If upon his return he continues this behavior he will be permanently banned.

[Andromeda]

My sick curiosity wants to know what he said...

[Sus_pilot]

As I said in my last post, his intransigence is actually good in that it brings out the best here. Although he should not be insulting, I'd recommend that all possible effort be made to keep him around (within reason, of course).

[LunarOrbit]

My main concern is that people are going to become frustrated and angry if he continues to ignore the explanations they give him. They are putting a lot of time and effort into those explanations and he responds as if he isn't even reading them. I don't want the discussion to go in circles endlessly.

But if other people are benefiting from the explanations then the time is not wasted.

I'm going to maintain the 7 day ban for now, but I'll take the threat of a permanent ban off the table unless his behaviour worsens upon his return.

[sts60]

As usual, I am learning things from the thread.  Guys like ka9q, Bob, and Jay flat-out know more about rocket propulsion than I do, so I'm happy to absorb some of it.