because those sorts of dialogues affect the general reputation of the site and thus the reputation of those who speak there.
So is it necessitated for consistency’s sake that those who would boycott BhTV over this incident must also boycott all other forums with lower intellectual standards… which would basically include all mainstream organizations? Somehow I don’t believe that it’s this simple.
The question I’m curious about is why a Creationist video on BhTV apparently creates reputational pollution in a way that a Creationist video on Youtube does not. My guess is that this has to do with BhTV being a smaller and more-exclusive community than Youtube, and this confers some benefits to “insiders”.
Youtube is a free-for-all with no intellectual standards whatsoever. I understood BhTV to be something different.
In terms of consistency, I imagine that most scientists would boycott any forum that presents itself as having intellectual standards and aiming at an audience skewed towards the educated, knowledgeable, informed subset of the population, IF THAT SITE also commonly supports discussion about topics such as creationism, ghost hunters, alien abduction, psychics, astrology, channelers of dead Atlanteans, etc.
I think it’s perfectly fair to have on “silly” topics, if the silly advocates are set up against skeptics who are strong debaters who usually proceed to kick silly butt all over the place. Nothing wrong with it. Seriously. It’s instructive for the nation’s youth.
because those sorts of dialogues affect the general reputation of the site and thus the reputation of those who speak there.
So is it necessitated for consistency’s sake that those who would boycott BhTV over this incident must also boycott all other forums with lower intellectual standards… which would basically include all mainstream organizations? Somehow I don’t believe that it’s this simple.
The question I’m curious about is why a Creationist video on BhTV apparently creates reputational pollution in a way that a Creationist video on Youtube does not. My guess is that this has to do with BhTV being a smaller and more-exclusive community than Youtube, and this confers some benefits to “insiders”.
Youtube is a free-for-all with no intellectual standards whatsoever. I understood BhTV to be something different.
In terms of consistency, I imagine that most scientists would boycott any forum that presents itself as having intellectual standards and aiming at an audience skewed towards the educated, knowledgeable, informed subset of the population, IF THAT SITE also commonly supports discussion about topics such as creationism, ghost hunters, alien abduction, psychics, astrology, channelers of dead Atlanteans, etc.
I think it’s perfectly fair to have on “silly” topics, if the silly advocates are set up against skeptics who are strong debaters who usually proceed to kick silly butt all over the place. Nothing wrong with it. Seriously. It’s instructive for the nation’s youth.
It’s instructive and worthwhile, and I agree it should happen somewhere. It’s just not what I thought BhTV was all about.