What is Junk Science?
"Junk
science" is the use of faulty data
and/or analysis
to further a special agenda.
(Alternatively:
It is the use of scientific or pseudoscientific
methods for any purpose, other than the pursuit
of truth.)
The
leading
practitioners include:
- The media, who may use junk science to make sensational headlines. Some use junk science to advance social and political agendas. Many of the media use it because they're unqualified to assess the information or too lazy to search for confirmation beyond the media darlings du jour.
- Personal injury lawyers, who may use junk science to bamboozle juries into awarding huge verdicts. Large awards, no matter how unjustified, can then be used to extort even greater sums from other businesses, wary of future juries.
- Social activists, such as the "food police," environmental extremists, animals' rights groups, religious fundamentalists, and gun-control advocates, may use junk science to achieve social and political change.
- Government regulators, who may use junk science to expand their authority and to increase their budgets - the prime directive of all bureaucracies being: Grow the agency.
- Businesses, large and small, who may use junk science to bad-mouth competitors' products, to make bogus claims about their own products, or to manipulate the marketplace by manipulating the regulatory environment.
- Politicians, who may use junk science to curry favor with special interest groups, or to be politically correct, or out of amazing, incredible ignorance.
- Individual scientists, who may use junk science to achieve fame and fortune - or job security - or who may contribute to its dissemination by treating a "peer review" as an application to a "good ol' boys club."
- Individuals, who may use junk science to blame others for a real or imagined illness.
- and Individuals who, through ignorance or insufficient capacity to understand, promote junk science because it is consistent with what they have "always believed" or "always heard" or because they just don't like the real answers.
Why we do this
Individuals do things for individual reasons. But one thing in common is that none of the staff makes any money or accumulates any power as a result of postings on this board ... ours or yours. The effort is all volunteer, and while the opinions of the staff are diverse, we do have the common interest of blowing away the smoke which is used by interested parties to obscure and mislead, albeit sometimes with the best of intentions. So, if there's a single common motivation, perhaps it's to promote clarity of vision - not just yours but ours, as well.
History of this board
This site is descended from a bulletin board named "Trash Talk" that was hosted on the junkscience.com web site by Steve Milloy. While there, a tradition of free operation was established - that is, the only things censored were profanity and severely uncivil behavior - all viewpoints welcomed.
Although this board operationally split from its original host site in May 1999, the tradition of free operation has remained very important. One exception is that now we don't allow obvious nutcases to monopolize any of the forums. They are allowed to present their case, make arguments and rebuttals, but are not allowed to flood the board. People who cannot restrain their urges to do this sort of thing are subject to banishment. Thus far, banishment has been applied to less than 1/10% of the total registrants, so it seems safe to claim that this ultimate punishment has not been applied with reckless abandon. (In fact, the personal opinion of this writer is that if you are one of the banned, you've established yourself to be a genuinely unpleasant person, or really nuts.)
A year or so after the split, Milloy disassociated himself from ownership of the board, and we have been without affiliations to any other website since that time. The resulting effect is small as this site has never accepted money nor remuneration of any sort from any external source. Nor does it accept efforts to lobby any position.
The administrators and moderators who manage daily operations also set the policies for operation. An effort made to maintain a wide range of political points of view and technical backgrounds within this group. The group debates and decides major issues, sometimes with vigor. Such debates are conducted within a private forum that is not visible to the membership.
History of this board (continued)
This is the third version of the board, if we count major changes in the hosting software to represent separate versions. The first version was based on a now forgotten software package which did not allow for the posting of discussions under separate topics. The second version, now behind us, was the venerable but obsolete UBB package ... a collection of cgi scripts. This version of the BB, the third, is presented via phpBB, which is one of the leading open source BB packages. The Debunkers Blog is presented, as it has been via WordPress, one of the leading open source packages for that purpose.
The Rules
Welcome! We're glad
you found your way here and hope you benefit
from your visit.
I'm Alan
-
the current Administrator of this board. In
addition to sharing the fews rules we have,
I thought you might benefit by some
discussion of how this board works and why
it's here.
This board has a primary function that we
consider important: It is to promote the
discussion of the junk science issues of the
day - to bring them out into the light.
That's not to say that we don't occasionally
stray from that function and have a bit of fun
chatting about things that are not specifically
tied to junk science; but the primary function
remains.
Accordingly, we have a few general rules that
apply to all of the forums in this board. As
individual sub-topics heat up, moderators of
the individual forums may, from time to time,
find it necessary to impose additional rules in
the areas under their management. However,
these general rules always apply.
- We don't do things that might endanger the existence of the board. That specifically includes the promotion of illegal acts or the practice of posting that is - in the opinion of the administrator - only intended to disrupt the legitimate function of this board.
- We don't swamp the board with irrelevant c&p's so-as to make it unusable to people with slow downloads or, by copyright violations, break rule #1.
- If we have one primary issue, we do not swamp the board with repetitive posts on that single issue or habitually interject it into unrelated topics.
- We don't use language that's likely to embarrass my Mother. Substitute your Mother into the equation and you're probably ok.
- We do not divulge the private information of any member which has not been divulged, on the board, by him. This is threatening behavior and the most certain way to have your posting privileges revoked.
You'll find that the general bent of the moderators is toward a skeptical, libertarian point of view. That does not mean that other points of view are unwelcome - to the contrary! - all points of view that are developed through honest thinking are very welcome.
Your honest thoughts and conclusions are welcome even if you are focused on a single issue. However, the function of this board is to create skeptical examination and critical comments. If you are part of an organization or group that is focused on emotional support, be prepared. Regardless of your sincerity, the correctness of your assertions will be questioned. This board is not - and will never be - a support group.
Your honest thoughts and conclusions are welcome even if most of the world considers you to be a nutcase (i.e., sincere flat earther) - so long as you don't forget the rules spelled out above. We are all fully aware that most of the greater geniuses throughout history were considered nutcases by many of their peers. You, however, should be aware that most people who are widely perceived to be nutcases actually are.
The revocation of posting privileges is done by me, the administrator, and may or may not be triggered by the recommendations of moderators or other members of the board. All bitches and appeals should be directed this way as no-one else makes the decision. Pledges of better future behavior will always be considered; but none have yet been received. Of the several persons, to date, who have been banned, the majority have promoted positions that I, personally, largely support. However, if you keep the rules and the purpose of the board in mind, your posting privileges will remain in force even if you are only here to promote your sincere belief in a governmental conspiracy to hide the "fact" that the moon is made of government surplus, green cheese.
We have, in the past, created forums which were dedicated to the special interest of sections of the membership. We may, in the future, do this again if the request is made and a sufficient interest is demonstrated.
The entire management staff is volunteer ... although the administrator does confess to allowing the staff of moderators to believe that the "check is in the mail." Shhhhhh. Don't tell.
Sponsorship: Although no money changes hands in any direction as a result of any of the activities associated with this board, the cost of hosting Debunkers, including its BB, Blog and other pages, is born by www.notesoft.com. The sponsor has no interest in editorial control or influence, which is exclusively reserved for the staff and membership of Debunkers dot org.
