Then, maybe you could lay off the personal attacks and let him speak his mind?
We're
not "attacking"
sceptimatic at a personal level. What
are suggesting is that he brings absolutely nothing of worth to the flat earth discussion other than absurd, often self-contradictory, scientifically-implausible, and at times willfully inflammatory comments. Often these comments (such as they could even be considered comments!) are personal attacks and/or insults directed at other members—particularly round earthers. It would appear to many folks here (even flat earthers) that
sceptimatic is not in any way, shape or form a trued believer in the flat earth theory.
His usual
modus operandi is simply to flatly deny the veracity of other members' comments—made in a genuine attempt to debate the likelihood of a flat earth—and respond with puerile, rhetorical questions of his own which offer no alternative, relevant explanations to support
his position statements. It's fairly obvious to everybody here that
sceptimatic has not the slightest intention of providing any meaningful evidence for any of his own pseudo-scientific claims, or his disparagement of others' claims. Consider the dozens of logically meaningless comments he's posted about the Foucault Pendulum as a classic example of this.
I'm more than happy to debate the flat earth versus round earth conundrum with other folks who enter into the spirit of the debate with their own sound, considered arguments in favour of either model, but I have the expectation (as would most other articulate people here) of rational, robust, adult responses to the efforts I make towards an articulate debate. I'm constantly annoyed by
sceptimatic's continuous and deliberate derailing of thread after thread for no other reason (apparently) than to give his ego a stroke, or wield some sort of deluded "power" over other respondents.
And of course I agree; everyone on a forum such as this
is more than entitled to voice their personal opinion, but that shouldn't allow deliberate obstruction, misdirection, evasion, or calculated prevarication.
In my opinion, people such as
sceptimatic should be banned permanently
unless they can show by example that they have a genuine, focussed and legitimate interest in furthering their cause, be it round earth or flat earth.
(And before anyone suggests it, I've repeatedly asked
sceptimatic to add me to his IGNORE listing. He's claimed that he's done so, but he still insists on trawling through my comments and responding—usually with inconsequential content and/or thinly-veiled personal insults.) So what's the intended purpose of the IGNORE option?
I'm also guessing that there'll be quite a few other members here agreeing quietly with my rather long-winded (apologies!) post about
sceptimatic's ongoing and disruptive activities on this forum.
I've also been told by a couple of moderators
not to report
sceptimatic's transgressions and/or non-compliance with the forum's terms and conditions. And I've also worn a 48-hour ban with no warning or reason, other than—apparently—upsetting a moderator. And which moderator flatly refused to offer any
specific reason(s) for my banning.
There's obviously two sets of rules on this forum (regrettably); one for flat earthers, and a far more restrictive one for round earthers. As the moderating team repeatedly fail to censure any of
sceptimatic's postings, I can only assume that he shares some sort of privileged position within this forum that insulates him from the usual rules that apply to everybody else. It's been noted that despite many other respondents getting "low content - upper fora" warnings, I have
not once seen this warning applied to even one of
sceptimatic's zero content posts—even those consisting solely of a single word!