Been Deleted From a Forum? You're Not Alone

" Science Forum NEWS Room ........ allegedly" is what happened when a member of a science forum got fed up with moderators deleting / banning members whose opinions the didn't like.

This is a wake-up call to those who haven't noticed that the rules have changed.

In the good old days, editorial boards of prestigious journals could decide who got published, and who didn't.

• If they didn't like an article's ideas, they could not publish it: and it wouldn't get read.
• If they liked the ideas, but the article was written by someone who simply wasn't the proper sort, they could wait until one of the proper people wrote a similar article, and publish that (based on actual event)

Nice setup, while it lasted.

Now, one of those absolute outsiders can set up a website or blog of their own. And, if their ideas are worthwhile, the new site might outshine the proper, established set of experts.

I am willing to put up with the occasional weird opinion and fraudulent fact in "the marketplace of ideas," if it means that people are free to discuss ideas that don't conform to what established 'experts' would like to be true.

I'm getting off my soapbox now: the next post will be quite harmless.