Does anyone else notice this on the AGW board

[slh1234]

I'm really questioning what I'm getting out of the GW board and whether or not I should continue coming here. I was wondering if anyone else notices what I think I'm seeing on there.

It seems to me that all threads start to look the same after the first page. It's the same arguments put forward by the same players, and often it seems like they energetically ignore any other posts that may have questioned something they say previously. The bottom line is that there is nothing new on any of them other than the Arctic Ice thread, and even that one only has a dozen or so posts that pertain to anything scientific.

The summer/winter watch posts are interesting, and give a place for some anecdotal evidence which may cause us to go check longer trends, so I'll have to give it up to those threads. They also seem to be of least interest to the pro-AGW folks ...

I guess I'm just questioning whether it is worth the time I spend on the board if I'm hoping to learn something in that time, and I'm beginning to think it isn't. Please tell me if I'm missing something.

[scpg02]

Well I'm a member of a skeptics forum that is populated by mostly scientists. While there is more science discussion the drawbacks are much the same as you pointed out here. I must warn you though, a pro AGW view will be torn apart scientifically. Gavin is still a member though he no longer posts.

[slh1234]

If there is scientific discussion, then I don't have a problem with that. Personally, I'm skeptical of anything someone is trying to scare me with, but I want level headed discussion ... I'm more interested in learning than in contributing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to follow blindly.

[scpg02]

slh, you need to check your messages.

[nautonnier]

I think that unfortunately there is a level of untamed thread drift. In a complex area with interaction between 'thread subjects' this is bound to happen to some extent. But you are right that there can be multiple threads with the same proponents having identical argument/discussion regardless of the thread subject.

Its easy to say but perhaps there is a need for a moderator to just step in and 'move drifting threads' to the appropriate place. This was done relatively successfully to prevent AGW invading Space Weather. We need the same inside the GW area.

The baby should be kept separate from the bathwater though - this site is still one of the better sources of tangential information.

[scpg02]

Jun 19, 2010 18:06:45 GMT nautonnier said:

I think that unfortunately there is a level of untamed thread drift.

I realize I am one of the worst offenders. I don't have the educational background to discuss the science but I'm well schooled in politics. That is what I bring to the table.