Global Warming: Exploring Possible Solutions

[SixNein]

*Closed due to the inability to manage the topic at this time:*

Why not just create a forum for the topic and enforce citations? The topic of global warming is vast enough to cover many areas, and almost all of your current moderators could contribute.

 

[Borg]

Why not just create a forum for the topic and enforce citations? The topic of global warming is vast enough to cover many areas, and almost all of your current moderators could contribute.

I think that the answer that you're going to get is that previous discussions have gotten very heated and that PF has no one who actually works on global warming issues that could act as a moderator / referee.

 

[ZapperZ]

Why not just create a forum for the topic and enforce citations? The topic of global warming is vast enough to cover many areas, and almost all of your current moderators could contribute.

Just because someone has the ability to cite papers does not mean that that person have used the citation correctly! We have seen creationists citing, say, 2nd Law of thermodynamics to counter against evolution. Here, the source is valid, but the USE of it is not. It requires someone with a good knowledge of the field, i.e. an expert, to be able to spot when a paper has been cited either out of context, or in a faulty way.

Zz.

 

[SixNein]

Just because someone has the ability to cite papers does not mean that that person have used the citation correctly! We have seen creationists citing, say, 2nd Law of thermodynamics to counter against evolution. Here, the source is valid, but the USE of it is not. It requires someone with a good knowledge of the field, i.e. an expert, to be able to spot when a paper has been cited either out of context, or in a faulty way.

Zz.

No, but citations do allow others to explore the evidence behind the statement. At that point, the reader has the responsibility to decide if the evidence is strong enough to be considered for discussion. Outside of citations, global warming is not really a field so much as it is the convergence of research by many different fields that have reached a conclusion. So one would not need a single expert but an array of experts to be able to pre-judge every paper on the topic. To the point, I'm simply asking why not leave more up to the reader on this topic with various moderators glancing over some things in their specific areas?

But I think Borg has answered my question: Flame wars lol

In a fashion it is sad, there are interesting discussions to be had.

 

[russ_watters]

No, but citations do allow others to explore the evidence behind the statement. At that point, the reader has the responsibility to decide if the evidence is strong enough to be considered for discussion...

To the point, I'm simply asking why not leave more up to the reader on this topic with various moderators glancing over some things in their specific areas?

The intent of this site is that the moderators make that decision (based on the rules), not the readers. That's the way all other discussions on this site work. To over use a cliche, what you suggest leaves the insane to run the asylum.

In a fashion it is sad, there are interesting discussions to be had.

Agreed.

 

[SixNein]

The intent of this site is that the moderators make that decision (based on the rules), not the readers. That's the way all other discussions on this site work. To over use a cliche, what you suggest leaves the insane to run the asylum.
Agreed.

Perhaps, but I believe global warming to be the topic of our time, and the topic needs to be discussed even if it is somewhat messy. There are so many fields involved that a traditional method of moderation may prove to be difficult or impossible. One would need a expert on everything from the mathematics of ice to tree rings.

I will not drag this out further, but I do encourage some thought to reconsider. Put it in a form out of the way, and place special rules upon it.

 

[Evo]

Thanks, we have considered it over a period of several years. There are many blogs by climate scientists that are better equipped to handle the discussions.