Revision as of 07:03, 1 January 2009 editDicklyon (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Rollbackers477,473 edits →Big bang section -- what happened?← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 19:13, 6 January 2025 edit undoCewbot (talk | contribs)Bots7,900,888 editsm Maintain {{WPBS}}: 2 WikiProject templates. (Fix Category:Pages using WikiProject banner shell with unknown parameters)Tag: Talk banner shell conversion | ||
(251 intermediate revisions by 47 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{WikiProject banner shell |class=Start |listas=Lerner, Eric |blp=yes|1= | |||
{| name="notice" class="messagebox" id="bizan standard-talk" style="background: #bee; border: 1px solid #666666; text-align: center; font-size: 100%;" | |||
{{WikiProject Biography|s&a-work-group=yes|s&a-priority=low}} | |||
| | '''Notice: ] is banned from editing this article.''' | |||
{{WikiProject Physics|importance=Low|bio=yes}} | |||
|- | |||
| style="text-align: left; border-top: 1px solid #666666; " | The user specified has been banned by the ] from editing this article indefinitely. The user is not prevented from discussing or proposing changes on this talk page. | |||
<sub>Posted by ] 03:01, 3 December 2006 (UTC) for the Arbitration committee. See ].</sub> | |||
|} | |||
{{physics|class= Start|auto=yes|importance=Low}} | |||
{{WPBiography | |||
|living=yes | |||
|class=start | |||
|importance= | |||
|s&a-work-group=yes | |||
|listas=Lerner, Eric | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{Connected contributor|User1=Elerner|U1-EH=yes|declared=yes | |||
{{Notable Wikipedian|Elerner|Lerner, Eric}} | |||
|User2=Posa51|U2-EH=yes}} | |||
{{oldafdfull|page=Eric Lerner|date=13 April 2008|result='''no consensus'''}} | |||
{{oldafdfull|page=Eric Lerner|date=13 April 2008|result='''No consensus'''}} | |||
{{User:MiszaBot/config | {{User:MiszaBot/config | ||
|maxarchivesize = 250K | |maxarchivesize = 250K | ||
|counter = |
|counter = 4 | ||
|algo = old(7d) | |algo = old(7d) | ||
|archive = Talk:Eric Lerner/Archive %(counter)d | |archive = Talk:Eric Lerner/Archive %(counter)d | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{archive box|auto=yes}} | {{archive box|auto=yes|search=yes}} | ||
{{ArbCom Pseudoscience}} | |||
== Peer-reviewed fringe journals? == | |||
Arthur, we were trying to ascertain whether Lerner's peer-reviewed papers mentioned above, were published in '''fringe''' journals, including the ], the IEEE ], in ], . Do you have any sources that suggest this as I can't find any myself? --] (]) 08:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC) | |||
:ApJ and IEEE Journals are hardly "fringe" ] (]) 13:11, 19 October 2008 (UTC) | |||
== Wright vs. Lerner diction == | |||
<blockquote> | |||
Professor Edward L. Wright of UCLA says that there are several errors of fact in the book, a position which Lerner attacked/refuted/complained about/contradicted on his website. | |||
</blockquote> | |||
My choice is "disputed", but I hesitate to make the change with all that fur flying. --] (]) 09:42, 31 October 2008 (UTC) | |||
:Disputed is a neutral term that is acceptable to me. ] (]) 13:48, 31 October 2008 (UTC) | |||
::Actually, I have no objection to refuted as a neutral term, as Lerner ''claims'' (sorry) that he's discredited Wright's ''claims''. (Sorry, we can't say ''claims'' in the article, but we should be able to use the word to discuss the issue, without violating BLP or WEASEL.) — ] ] 18:00, 31 October 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::Arthur, "refuted" was my first choice, but "disputed" is fine with me too. However, an even deeper question that Epleite brought up involved the appropriateness of the whole Wright/Lerner exchange. Does Wright's personal page constitute a RS? According to ]... | |||
::::"Self-published material may, in some circumstances, be acceptable when produced by an established expert on the topic of the article whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications. However, caution should be exercised when using such sources: '''if the information in question is really worth reporting''', '''someone else is likely to have done so'''. For example, a reliable self-published source on a given subject is likely to have been cited on that subject as authoritative by a reliable source. Self-published sources should never be used as third-party sources about living persons, even if the author is a well-known professional researcher or writer; see ]." | |||
:::Frankly, I think we could and should eliminate a lot of the book section, as there is too much detail in explaining Lerner's position as well as his critics'. I don't know of any other article that discusses and quotes various banter from opinion pieces in the NYT regarding a semi-obscure book. In any event, I think we should stick to the relevant and notable facts about the book and dwell less on the subsequent opinions of, reactions to, and arguments over its propositions. Really, who cares? ] (]) 19:59, 31 October 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::Do you think that there should be an article at all, ABlake? If we remove that section, what's left? Perhaps Lerner is a ] candidate for deletion. ] (]) 10:04, 4 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::Yes, there should be an article, but probably much shorter. As much as my COI and POV would like to use Misplaced Pages as a soapbox, I understand and respect the Misplaced Pages project too much to do that. Looking over the article, a lot of info comes from primary sources, like personal/corporate web pages, etc. There are a few RSs that make him notable, but if I honestly had to apply my understanding of all the policies, I'd have to remove a lot of stuff, both "positive" and "negative". In the past, a lot of the flare-ups and arguing have been over including marginal material (criticisms from blogs, the LaRouche stuff, the Van Allen quote, etc.). Can we set up a working page where I can hack and slash and see what I can come up with? I don't know how to do that, although I could probably figure it out. ] (]) 11:37, 4 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
A shorter article? I'm not so sure an article that is this short really belongs in the encyclopedia at all and one that is even shorter seems to me to be rife for deletion. Anyway, if you want to give it a shot, just make a page in user space like: ]. Just make sure you don't put it in any mainspace categories. ] (]) 11:58, 4 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:Thanks for the link. It is set up now. I boiled it down to the verifiable, notable facts, without any spin (as far as I can tell) using reliable sources. Anyone is invited to comment on the talk page, but please leave the actual editing to me. ] (]) 14:40, 4 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::I'm not a fan of this approach. I think the article is not so bad as it is, going into the controversy around his views a bit. But I agree it's a bit unbalanced in favor of the critics, e.g. by putting them into the lead paragraph. I think we can get to a good article by more selective edits. ] (]) 15:53, 4 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::I'm pretty sure that the article, if anything, is too unbalanced in favor of the subject. The critics are far more notable and their criticisms are far more relevant to the grand-scheme than Eric Lerner's protestations and nipping at the heals of the scientific community. ] (]) 21:21, 4 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::Sure, the scientific mainsteam guys are more notable, and, at least within the current paradigm, more relevant to the "grand-scheme". But this article is about Eric Lerner, and it shouldn't threaten those guys to have his views presented here, without overwhelming the article by viewpoints of those that he criticizes. Keep it encyclopedic, meaning focus on the topic first, and then a fair mention of the criticisms. ] (]) 06:50, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::His views are presented here. Nor is the article "overwhelmed" by viewpoints of those that he criticizes. I believe the article has done exactly what you propose in its present state. ] (]) 06:53, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::Well, if we're going to keep working with this version, I think we might as well put in something about his activism too. He's been quoted on a couple of occasions in newspapers on immigration topics as a leader and spokesman for the New Jersey something something something, so I think that's notable too, and helps serve to round out the article. ] (]) 02:31, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::I think his break with LaRouche which is referenced by a third party would also be relevant too. ] (]) 06:32, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::It could be relevant. What's the reference? ] (]) 13:25, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::See below. ] (]) 22:34, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
== Activism / LaRouche == | |||
I propose the following bit about his political activism. I believe it meets all of the criteria for inclusion. ] (]) 14:32, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
*Lerner has also been involved in political activism. He has sought ] protection for immigrants as a member and spokesman for the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee.<ref>Spencer S. Hsu, , ], Jan. 17, 2007; A08</ref><ref>Eman Varoqua, , The Record (Bergen County, NJ), Dec. 7, 2004</ref> | |||
I think that's fine, but I think that this also meets all of the criteria for its inclusion. ] (]) 22:28, 5 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
*He was a former follower of ] who left the movement after being pressured to funnel money from a desalination company he started into the ].<ref>{{cite book |title=Lyndon Larouche and the New American Fascism|last=King |first=Dennis |year=1989 |publisher=Doubleday|isbn=0385238800 |chapter=32|chapterurl=http://lyndonlarouchewatch.org/fascism32.htm }}</ref> | |||
{{reflist|2}} | |||
:I can't speak for how reliable the source is, but assuming it is fine, how about this verbiage, which puts it into a little better context: | |||
::"Lerner's activism led to his involvement for a time with the National Caucus of Labor Committees and the ], led by ]. A company had been formed to promote Lerner's water desalinization invention. When Lerner was allegedly pressured to funnel the profits to the US Labor Party, he quit the movement and sued." | |||
:This captures the situation and hopefully avoids the negative association that was argued over before, if you remember. ] (]) 00:58, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::Looks okay to me except for the bit about "allegedly pressured". I think we should say something like "Lerner testified that he was pressured to funnel the profits to the US Labor Party causing him to quit the movement and sue." | |||
::How about that? | |||
::] (]) 01:21, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::I added the LaRouche stuff to my proposed page ]. Comments? ] (]) 02:12, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::Well, your draft is quite problematic from my perspective. It doesn't detail at all how marginalized Lerner is from the academic communities. The current version does a much better job of this. ] (]) 02:16, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::I'm willing to look at any source you might have that details that marginalization. If you can find a good source, I'll include it. Otherwise, I think I've done a pretty good job of getting the meat and cutting the fat. ] (]) 02:39, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::You eliminated more than half of the sources that are currently being used in this article that indicate just that. Take your pick. They're all reliable (many moreso than most of Lerner's ramblings). Otherwise, I'm afraid consensus for your revision is something you do not currently have. ] (]) 03:02, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::Some notable people don't agree with him. OK, noted and documented. Beleaguering the point smacks of ]. See ], Impartial Tone. ] (]) 16:34, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::::I think the issue is that Lerner's point is totally dismissed. It's not just that the notable people don't agree with him, it's that everybody disagrees with him for very straightforward and easy to explain reasons. Reasons that we refer to in this article but not in your version. ] (]) 20:46, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::So Lerner doesn't agree with them for very straightforward and easy to explain reasons. So what? As ], Impartial tone discusses (did you even look at it?), this is not the place to bring the arguments. In my version, I appropriately say that there was some controversy over it, give citations, and leave it at that. I believe that is the appropriate weight to give to some opinion-page banter. I understand that it is your desire and intention (AGF) to ensure that the world knows just what a kook Lerner is. Might I suggest that WP is not the correct venue? It's an encyclopedia. ] (]) 02:04, 7 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::::::Your version is dishonest. There isn't ''any'' controversy over it. It is simply an intellectually bankrupt backwater. We have the verifiable sources of Nobel Prize winning physicists explaining why Lerner's ideas are not worth the paper upon which they're written, and it is the job of verifiable, reliable encyclopedias to let readers know this so that they can really understand the context of this particular person. ] (]) 03:09, 7 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::::You certainly have a flair for hyperbole. There was a controversy, and it is referenced appropriately. ] (]) 14:18, 7 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::::::::The controversy existed only as invented by Lerner. Nobody really took him all that seriously in the community and although he may have gotten some level of popular support judging by the discussion of his book, this is not a controversy happening within the scientific community. Lerner is shut-out. ] (]) 04:13, 8 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::SA, I think you're right. Lerner is marginalized, but the current sources were poor examples of that. They only argued about scientific points, without specifically saying, "Hey, Lerner and his cohorts are marginalized." However, as I was thinking about it more, I had an idea. Lerner ''himself'' talks about that marginalization in the open letter in New Scientist. So, hey, problem solved! ] (]) 16:49, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::Yeah, the New Scientist letter does indicate that they themselves admit to marginalization. Unfortunately, it doesn't explain ''why'' he's marginalized. For that we need the sources you want to excise. ] (]) 20:46, 6 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::Which sources are you referring to? The only one that hints of those reasons for marginalization is the personal blog of Sean Carroll. The others merely point out perceived discrepancies in Lerner's arguments. I "excised" Carroll's because it violates ], "Self-published sources should never be used as third-party sources about living persons, even if the author is a well-known professional researcher or writer." Seems pretty clear to me. I "excised" the Stenger citation because it was also self published and didn't add anything to the article. I suppose I could add it to my version, but then I would be obligated to put in Lerner's self-published rebuttal. Either way, I don't care, as long as it's balanced (without undue weight either way). I'd prefer to leave them out unless they really, truly add some sort of value, which I doubt. At least the Stenger quote comes from a RS that we can actually use. I propose deleting the Carroll link for reasons I just cited. I think the correct and RS way to show that marginalization is through the New Scientist letter. ] (]) 02:04, 7 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::::These aren't just "perceived" discrepancies. They are really big problems with Lerner's intellectual integrity, understanding, and capability. You are also misapplying SPS. Carroll is criticizing Lerner's entire pathos, not just him personally. In fact, he doesn't single Lerner out at all. But that's important because Lerner's attempts to critique the Big Bang need to be properly contextualized as marginal and as intellectually bankrupt as the relevant community thinks they are. The problem is that you are trying to "balance" an elephant and a mouse: Lerner's ideas simply do not hold a candle to those who criticize him and it is Misplaced Pages's repsonsibility to get that across. Unfortunately, it is becoming clear to me that you haven't quite grasped this yet. ] (]) 03:07, 7 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::I'm not misapplying SPS. You're ignoring it. This is a BLP. If you want to argue the merits (or lack thereof) of ], Carroll's commentary may be appropriate on that page. Your straw man arguments aren't helping. I'm working the content issue, which is that the Carroll line is not up to snuff according to policy. It is becoming abundantly clear to me that you are failing to distinguish between a BLP and a fringe science article. I believe that is the root cause of this discussion. ] (]) 13:59, 7 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::::::You are misapplying it, and you're becoming very shrill in this discussion. This has nothing to do with plasma cosmology (which is not discussed by Carroll in any case): it has to do with the idiosyncratic beliefs of the subject of this article: beliefs for which he has received a moderate amount of notability that is the only reason this article exists. Carroll's critique of Lerner's (and others of his ilk) position vis-a-vis the establishment of academia is vital for readers who are not familiar the situation. I'm afraid we aren't going to make any progress. I hope that Eric isn't telling you to advocate this way. I'm not sure that someone who is as emotionally and financially involved with his madcap endeavors as you are should be consulting on this article. ] (]) 04:11, 8 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::::Nobody is pushing me to advocate for this. I also think we're not going to make any progress on this, so we'll just agree to disagree. Cheers. ] (]) 13:15, 8 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::::OK, I referenced the critical material that we've been discussing, and I updated the Carroll link, which didn't include a subsequent blog entry. So, did we come to an agreement on the activism stuff? ] (]) 19:47, 10 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
I have added the material concerning Eric Lerner's civil rights activism to the article. However, Dennis King's political attack book "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism" is not even close to a sufficiently reliable source to make a certain controversial claim: it is unacceptable to use political extremist sources to make controversial claims relating to third parties. To describe Dennis King's anti-LaRouche diatribe as extremist is quite an understatement -- ], anyone? ] 03:37, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:King's book was issued by a major publisher, and well-reviewed in the mainstream media. If you have any reliable sources that impeach its accuracy then please cite them. Otherwise, the book qualifies as a reliable source on Misplaced Pages. ]] ] 04:45, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::Erik Lerner's own book "The Big Bang Never Happened" was published by Times Books, a division of Random House -- but it's hardly a reliable source for anything except its own contents as described in this article. We're certainly not going to use "The Big Bang Never Happened" as a source for mainstream cosmology articles such as ] or ]. Mere printing of a book "by a major publisher" does not conclusively indicate its reliability when there are otherwise very good reasons to doubt it. Do you have any sources to support the claim that "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism" was "well-reviewed in the mainstream media"? In any event, the remedies and enforcement in ] strongly council against any mention of Lyndon LaRouche in what is, at best, a tangentially related article. Let's avoid importing the Lyndon LaRouche conflict into ''this'' biography. ] 05:01, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::Do you have any sources to support your views on the King book? ]] ] 05:04, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::If we're going to claim that "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism" is a reliable source because clearly reliable sources attest to its reliability, then we very much need to see the sources that support Dennis King's book. However, we do not, as a general matter, require that source reliability be proven by references to additional sources, nor can we, because of a problem of infinite recursion. Suppose that we wish to show that source A is reliable. Let us further assume that the only means by which we can establish source A's reliability is by citation to a source B which claims that source A is reliable. But now we need a source C to establish source B's reliability, and so on, so we cannot establish the reliability of anything. Source reliability is therefore, at a very fundamental level, a subjectively evaluated quality of the source itself. We need to cite further sources for claims of source reliability or unreliability ''only'' where such claims expressly assert the existence of such sources. ] 05:17, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
If you have an issue with this, take it to ]. But don't try to push content that hasn't been agreed to. There is consensus above for inclusion of all of it. Please include all of it or none of it. Thanks. ] (]) 05:18, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:The " all of it or none of it" isn't a consensus, it's your own ultimatum. There are good reasons to believe that respected newspapers are reliable sources for uncontroversial claims concerning Eric Lerner's civil rights activism, but a political attack book comparing Lyndon LaRouche to Adolph Hitler isn't a reliable source for establishing your highly controversial claim that Eric Lerner "was a former follower of ]". ] 05:30, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::If I understnad correctly, the book is proposed as a source for this sentence: | |||
::*''He was a former follower of Lyndon LaRouche who left the movement after being pressured to funnel money from a desalination company he started into the US Labor Party.'' | |||
::Which part of that is contested? ]] ] 05:23, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::The entire sentence is contested. Any mention of Lyndon LaRouche in this substantially unrelated article is contested as inconsistent with the remedies and enforcement in ], while the use of a political attack book is contested as being an unreliable source for making a controversial claim concerning a living person. ] 05:30, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::According to whom is it a "political attack book"? ]] ] 05:33, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::According to a reasonable reader, who would view the comparison between Lyndon LaRouche and Adolph Hitler as a nasty political attack on LaRouche. ] 05:36, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::That's not adequate. You haven't shown that any part of the book is inaccurate, and you're just giving your personal opinion. As for Lerner, the same assertions are also in a Wall Street Journal piece co-written by King and Patricia Lynch, an NBC news producer. ]] ] 05:40, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::An article co-written by the author of the political attack book may not be a reliable source. ] 05:58, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:The bit that ScienceApologist just removed doesn't appear to be related to that, and as far as I can tell from the discussion above, there was no question as to whether it was acceptable, so I don't understand his remarks here. I'm going to put it back. ] (]) 05:26, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:It also appears that the LaRouche relationship appeared , which would be a better source (still written by King, but presumbly got past an editor at least). ] (]) 05:45, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::While I wouldn't use this as a direct source, this page of contemporary history indicates that Lerner wrote a paper on the LaRouche Campaigns views of science. Lerner is also mentioned in this LaRouche essay. If John254 is asserting that there was no relationship between LaRouche and Lerner then I don't think that's supported by the evidence. ]] ] 05:51, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::Has he asserted anything like that? Not that I've noticed. ] (]) 05:56, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::That’s correct: I haven't claimed that there was no connection between Eric Lerner and Lyndon LaRouche. What I have asserted is that the alleged connection cannot be established via reliable sources. Per ], "The threshold for inclusion in Misplaced Pages is '''verifiability, not truth'''". ] 06:03, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::i still haven't seen any substantial reason why the King book and article should be excluded, beyond John254's opinion. ]] ] 06:08, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::Well, I certainly don't think the pages that Will Beback links above would be confused with reliable sources, and I agree that the King stuff looks pretty wild, but he did get an article in the WSJ, it appears; assuming that article is verified to exist, is that not a sufficiently reliable source to say something about the connection? ] (]) 06:10, 24 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
After reviewing the LaRouche paragraph, I have to agree with John254 that the web site is not a reliable source. Therefore, I'm withdrawing my agreement to have it in the article, and I'm removing it from my proposed Lerner page. I suggest that it also be removed from the article unless and until there is broader support for its inclusion. ] (]) 04:28, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:It's not just a website, it's a published book. Do you not think that the book is a reliabe source? If so, why? I don't think that Lerner's civil rights activities are any more reliably covered than this particular activity which, to me, seems just as relevant to the reader as anything else we propose here. Did you talk to Lerner about this? ] (]) 05:13, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::The web site is based on the book. The book was published by a real publisher, but John254 suggested that it was a political attack book. I looked up the ISBN number in the reference section, which led to the Book Sources page, where I clicked on Find this book at Google Book Search, which led me to this description: "Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism, by Dennis King - Biography & Autobiography - 1989 - 415 pages, This is a searing portrait of the man, his ideology, and the cult that surrounds him." This description (as well as a simple reading of the book) indicate to me that this is a political attack book. John254 suggested that "it is unacceptable to use political extremist sources to make controversial claims relating to third parties." The lines in the article make a serious and controversial claim, which Eric has already energetically challenged as being untrue and libelous. This is the fundamental difference between the LaRouche information and the other civil rights activities. I'm not challenging whether there was an association, or whether it is relevant to the reader. The nature of the source as well as the untrue nature of the claims make these lines unacceptable. As this article is a BLP, editors must be very cautious about what information to include, and how it is included. In this case, untrue and potentially damaging information should be speedily removed. ] (]) 17:06, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::Interesting link. I hadn't realized that ] has such a clear ]. I recommend that he stop trying to smear Lerner, and refrain from editing controversial material in which he has a professional interest, given his strongly declared bias. ] (]) 17:16, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::If Lerner has disputed the assertions in a reliable or self-published source then we should certainly report that. However the King book meets the requirements for ] and ]. We shouldn't delete material just because we disagree with it. If the material is untrue and libelous then the subject has full recourse against the publisher and author. So far as I'm aware, he's never taken any action against them. ] confirms that he was a member of the LaRouche organization. ]] ] 19:09, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::I think that's a very backward interpretation of ]; see especially where it says, "Content should be sourced to reliable sources and should be about the subject of the article specifically. Beware of claims that rely on guilt by association. Be on the lookout for biased or malicious content about living persons. If someone appears to be promoting a biased point of view, insist on reliable third-party published sources and a clear demonstration of relevance to the person's notability." This is a clear case of wanting to smear Lerner by association, using a source that is clearly biased and not even about him, and obviously has no role in Lerner's notability. ] (]) 20:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::Dick posted in his response before I could, but just happened to say the same thing. Here is what I posted and moved here. "Will, in addition to ] and ], we have to consider ] in this case. As an admin, I assumed you would be familiar with this idea from BLP: "(Removed quote to save space.)" In the case of this reference, was the book about Eric Lerner specifically? No. Is there any guilt by association implied? Yes (LaRouche). Is there biased or malicious content (as Lerner pointed out in the link above)? Yes. Is there a clear relevance to Lerner's notability? No. To me, this reference fails on all four accounts, and should be removed. Since I have a COI, I'm abstaining from doing it myself. Otherwise, I would. ] (]) 20:33, 29 December 2008 (UTC)" | |||
*I've reverted the outright deletion, but removed the part about the business and lawsuit. This material is based on a reliable, third party sources. No one disputes that Lerner was a member of the NCLC, and ] has confirmed it. There is nothing biased about including this basic, biographical information. The subject is notable because of his scholarship and advocacy of what we describe as a "non-standard cosmology". The LaRouche movement is also associated with non-standard theories on a variety of topics, including astrophysics. So the subject's association with that groups is relevant to his notability. ]] ] 20:55, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
*The article contains several other references to political activism by the subject. I'd like to hear why editors think some of these are appropriate while others are not. ]] ] 21:01, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::Thanks, Will. I agree with your analysis of the situation. ] (]) 23:11, 29 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::Will, I took out the U. S. Labor Party bit, as I didn't see any support for that in the King chapter. And I took out the mention of LaRouche, which didn't seem to have any relevance. The mention of his involvement in the NCLC itself is not derogatory, so doesn't require particularly reliable sourcing, so it's OK. ] (]) 03:23, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::The US Labor Party is in the King Book and the connection to LaRouche is extremely important as there is likely a philosophical connection. LaRouche himself advocates an infinite universe and whether he was influenced by Lerner or the other way around, the reader should be aware of the connection which is made clear from the source. Therefore, I reverted per ]. ] (]) 03:58, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::If there's a scientific relevance to the connection with LaRouche, you should say so and source it. I saw where King mentioned U. S. Labor Party in the same sentence of Lerner, but it didn't say he was associated with it in any way. So it's out. ] (]) 04:20, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::In order to quell the edit warring which has and probably will take place over the activism stuff, I'm removing all activism-related info from the article. I think this is an appropriate measure until it can be sorted out on the talk page. This is a reasonable step because Lerner isn't known for his activism anyway, and SA has already proposed having the LaRouche quote or none of it. That's probably a wise compromise for now in order to turn down the heat. ] (]) 04:33, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::::::This was the agreement we had before. I'm fine with it. If it is really a BLP-related issue to discuss Lerner's political history, we should leave it out entirely. ] (]) 04:34, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:::::::Why can't we just work on getting well sourced material consistent with BLP? It's clear that SA's agenda is to remove as much positive stuff, and add as much negative stuff, as he can get away with, since that helps in his campaign to discredit Eric Lerner and frame his controversial ideas as "pseudoscience." Aren't their any editors around who are willing to call him on it and try for a more neutral article in the spirit of wikipedia policy and guidelines? Why should we agree to having his political activism work removed just because we don't let SA say things not supported even by the flaky source he cites? Why should we let SA talk about LaRouche in the Lerner article on the flimsiest of sources? Neither makes any sense. I'm putting it back... ] (]) 04:46, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
While the rhetoric is flying fast and thick, I have one question, why is Eric Lerner's political activities of any interest to an enyclopedia reader? Isn't it mostly a private affair? He is notable for his pseudoscientific ideas, not for his politics. Furthermore, if anyone has any problems with the book that was published by a reliable publisher and looks to me to be well-regarded, simply take it up on ]. ] seems to be a pretty perennial problem here. ] (]) 05:19, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:I don't know about rhetoric, but I have a very different view of the problem here. It seems to me, reading the article and the sources, that Eric Lerner's activism is a big part of who he is. And further that your anti-Lerner campaign is based on a particular conflict of interest of yours, as Eric himself pointed out (if this has been discussed before, sorry, I've missed it; let me know if you've either declared this conflict of interest, or denied it). ] (]) 06:59, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::Yeah, Lerner has an extreme persecution complex. He believes that I'm being paid by my academic advisers to dig up all the sources that criticized him because we mainstream cosmologists are so threatened by his exposition of The Truth. Yeah, I've denied it before and I'll deny it again, my interest in Lerner is no different than my interest in any other fringe/pseudo-science topic/persona. You could try reading the archives here, at ] and at ] for more. ] (]) 08:20, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:Per your suggestions, I'm seeking comments on the source as it applies to the "guilt-by-association" statements here: ]. ] (]) 07:23, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
== External links modified (January 2018) == | |||
::Coming from BLP/N, my personal view is I'm not seeing compelling evidence either way re: the political activism in immigration section. The WP refs only seem mentions Eric as a spokesperson. I can't read the full version of The Record one but I presume its similar. In that case, it's not that great a ref since it's incidental to Eric. One the otherhand, being spokesperson for a group is generally a prominent and highly public role so it's not something we should definitely exclude especially with a ref from a prominent newspaper (WP). If we could get a another ref or two particularly from prominent sources I would lean to include. Even better though would be if the activism is mentioned in an aritcle about Eric or an interview with Eric. In terms of the LaRouche thing I have to say exclude based on what I've seen. I haven't read the ref but I'm presuming it simply mentions Eric briefly. In that case and given he was simply a member I would definitely have to say exclude even more so since the book while perhaps an RS doesn't seem that notable. If the book mentions Eric's involvement in detail (say 10 paragraphs or more long) then I may reconsider. ] (]) 15:11, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
Hello fellow Wikipedians, | |||
:::The book mentions Lerner only in one four-sentence paragraph, and it's not really even about him: ] (]) 06:54, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
I have just modified one external link on ]. Please take a moment to review ]. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit ] for additional information. I made the following changes: | |||
::::'''Businesses run by NCLC members are expected to put the NCLC's needs first. Former LaRouchian Eric Lerner found this out when he and several comrades formed a company to promote a water desalinization invention. After leaving the NCLC, he stated in a 1979 lawsuit that NCLC leaders had pressured him to funnel the firm's profits to the U.S. Labor Party, the electoral arm of the NCLC, in violation of election laws. Lerner charged that this was standard policy with other NCLC-controlled businesses.''' | |||
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060925150243/http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/bang.txt to http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/bang.txt | |||
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs. | |||
(Following this here from the note on BLP/N, and copying this comment from ]). Will Beback says above that Lerner's political activism is a constant and important part of his life. If this is the case, and can be demonstrated by more than the brief mentions in the King book and piece in the WSJ (which is, I'm guessing, an op-ed?) then it makes sense to include a political activism section in the article. As to whether Lerner can be described as a "follower of LaRouche" or "LaRouchian" (or a formerly either) -- my opinion is that the sources don't support that. King's identification of Lerner as a LaRouchian seems off-hand, and he hasn't given details that would support that description. An association with an organization led or founded by LaRouche, or subordinate to another organization that is, doesn't make Lerner a "follower" any more than being a Democrat or Republican makes one a "follower" of Obama or Bush. | |||
{{sourcecheck|checked=false|needhelp=}} | |||
I'm not sure its established that inclusion of the political activism material is necessary for this article, but if that is agreed then here is the version of the sentence above that I suggest: | |||
Cheers.—] <span style="color:green;font-family:Rockwell">(])</span> 18:47, 22 January 2018 (UTC) | |||
* "In the 1970s, Lerner became involved in the ], an offshoot of the Columbia University ]. Lerner left the National Caucus in 1978, and later argued in a lawsuit that he had been pressured to (but did not) illegaly channel profits of an engineering firm to the ], an organization led by ]." | |||
===External links modified (April 2024) ====== | |||
Is that an improvement? It doesn't represent him as a LaRouche follower, or inaccurately claim a connection to the US Labor Party, but it does note his connection to the NCLC and the lawsuit that followed his disassociation with that group. ]] 15:24, 30 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
I have recently added a new external link detailing peer-reviewed research that was | |||
:It's an improvement over any of the versions that SA wrote, but is it really necessary to go into why he left the NCLC, when all we know about it is the offhand comment by King in his LaRouche attack book? I don't see how it helps the article, and I don't see why the King source would be judge reliable enough to include such a thing as fact. I think it still fails the bit I quoted from BLP. ] (]) 06:49, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
conducted last year in March 2023. This research was also published in the media | |||
as well. Here is the link: https://www.ibtimes.com/goodbye-fossil-fuels-hello-fusion-energy-3718669. If you have any questions please direct them to LPP Fusion | |||
using their email or business website. Thank you. <!-- Template:Unsigned --><small class="autosigned">— Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 22:10, 15 April 2024 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot--> | |||
I also deleted the external link detailing that LPP Fusion was not close to a working commercial reactor due to the link showing no evidence that this claim is | |||
== Big Bang "theory" vs. "model" == | |||
based on. The link references a commercial website on plasma technology that has no mention of LPP Fusion at all. <!-- Template:Unsigned --><small class="autosigned">— Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 22:21, 15 April 2024 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot--> | |||
==LPPFusion== | |||
An anonymous editor "Big Bang theory" to "Big Bang model" at one point in the article with the summary "Big Bang is a model not a "theory" as it is too ambiguous." | |||
I was about to revert because the current scientific understanding of the Big Bang is anything but ambiguous. But then I looked at the ] articles. It starts, "The Big Bang is the cosmological '''model''' of the universe that is ..." (my emphasis). On the other hand, that article uses both phrases, "Big Bang theory" and Big Bang model", repeatedly and apparently interchangeably. Before this edit, this article used the phrase "Big Bang theory" three times. "Big Bang model" only appeared in a quote from Penzias. I started writing this comment thinking I was going to plea for consistency, one way or the other, but as I look closely at the usage in Misplaced Pages and in my own experience as a scientist, I think the distinction the anonymous editor wants to make between theory and model doesn't exist. In other words, I don't think it really matters (so let's not start an edit war). --] (]) 10:11, 26 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
Hi from the notorious subject of this page, not banned from talking. If anyone still edits this, I would like them to update the outdated links. The correct link for Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, DBA LPPFusion, is https://lppfusion.com/ | |||
If anybody is interested in this topic (anyway), ] goes into considerable detail on the muddy relationship between the terms. ] (to which ] redirects) is not very helpful. (And the disambiguation page ] is worthless in this regard.) --] (]) 10:31, 26 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
] (]) 03:12, 16 May 2020 (UTC) | |||
:Done by Jonathanischoice, thanks, —]] – 17:07, 25 May 2020 (UTC) | |||
== mention pseudoscience/fringe in opening == | |||
:I always thought that a model was a combinational result of theoretical arguments and simplifying assumptions that describes nature. The theory is what the model is based on. The Big Bang is a "model" in the sense that it describes nature using various theories (general relativity, thermodynamics, nuclear physics, etc.) with a few reasonable assumptions (]). In another sense, it is a "theory" because it provides a framework for understanding certain physical processes by direct appeal. In other words, when people refer to an even being "due to the Big Bang", they are referring to the Big Bang as a theory. When they refer to some aspect of the Big Bang, they are referring to the Big Bang as a model. ] (]) 15:10, 26 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
Should the opening graph/lead not mention the lack of credentials and fringe/woo hobby horses? It doesn't get into that until much later in the article. | |||
I just noticed that Eric Lerner himself refers to the Big Bang as a theory. (Not that he's an RS on this issue, but he might bear some weight with that anonymous editor with an ax to grind.) The full title of his book is "The Big Bang Never Happened: A Startling Refutation of the Dominant '''Theory''' of the Origin of the Universe". Anyway, since we are not using these words in any strict technical sense, I don't think the wikilink to "model" (or "theory") is helpful. I'm removing it. --] (]) 17:23, 26 November 2008 (UTC) | |||
I don't think "independent plasma researcher" sufficiently conveys the facts. ] (]) 01:42, 15 July 2023 (UTC) | |||
== COI proposal == | |||
== Rollback == | |||
I propose that ] and ] agree to not edit this article, since each of them has a too-strong conflict of interest and POV. Of course, both are welcome to mention errors and to propose corrections and improvements here on the talk page. I think the remaining editors, if not quite neutral, are at least not so conflicted that they can't work together to improve the article. OK? ] (]) 08:33, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
::Not OK. ] (]) 08:50, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
@] was messed up, so I had to rollback to a previous one. Please have a look at ] and ]. ] (]) 12:30, 3 November 2023 (UTC) | |||
*This isn't best place to decide something like this proposal, but I support it. I think the named editors have a hard time editing this article with the neutral point of view. Solutions like this have their own problems that also need to be discussed. Would either a ] thread or a ] motion under the 2006 case be most appropriate? ]] ] 09:40, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
{{ping|Posa51}} I reverted the page back to an earlier version from September 2023. You added a lot of unsourced or primary sourced material, written with a promotional tone. If you want to further contribute to this article, please provide material that is written from a neutral point of view (see ]) and uses '''reliable secondary sources''' (sources from the subject himself or his company are not relevant), see ]. I would be happy to discuss with you proposed additions in this talk page. ] (]) 19:16, 31 January 2024 (UTC) | |||
:Since it's not OK with SA, we'll have to pursue other methods. There's an RFAR case ongoing already about him at . I recommend people post relevant evidence there (at , that is). ] (]) 10:05, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:1) I was in the process of adding footnotes when you stepped in and inserted a reverted text. Can you at least give me a chance to put the footnotes in? Furthermore there was existing text that I had added to the article that was heavily referenced, principally from the scientific literature. What's your excuse for deleting that text? | |||
Can you outline what you think their conflicts of interest are? They have an opinion, that is clear enough, but they don't appear to be alone in that. Having a COI, by the way, isn't an automatic bar to contributing to a particular topic. ]] 14:57, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
:2) Have you reviewed the reverted text? Several of the links don't exist or never existed. Why don't you scrutinize the reverted text? | |||
:3) Many of the claims in the reverted text are patently false we're almost 20 years out of date. For example: Eric Lerner is a bona fide scientist with 27 articles published in the scientific literature many of them peer reviewed. The nuclear fusion device he developed has been commented upon very favorably by some of the leading lights infusion Energy research. To claim he is merely a "science writer" as the reverted text does is false and accurate and misleading. | |||
:4) It doesn't seem as if you're management of this article has been fair and impartial | |||
:5) May I please have the opportunity to post an accurate and up-to-date text and add the footnotes in a timely fashion? Is that asking so much? | |||
:Peter Catalano ] (]) 19:27, 31 January 2024 (UTC) | |||
::I agree that the previous version is not perfect, and that several improvements are needed. The article describes Lerner as "an independent plasma researcher" which I think is the appropriate definition, given he has no affiliation to research institutions. | |||
::If you want to add a mention about his publications in peer reviewed journals, please go ahead. If there are false claims in the article, you can also remove them. | |||
::Just make sure to avoid promotion, ], and to stick to facts that have been reported in reliable secondary sources. This means you should not use articles published by the subject himself to describe his achievements! And given some of his ideas are controversial, all point of views should be represented in the article, no matter what your own one is. ] (]) 21:51, 31 January 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::Hey Broc: | |||
:::You wrote, "Just make sure to avoid promotion, puffery, and to stick to facts that have been reported in reliable secondary sources. This means you should not use articles published by the subject himself to describe his achievements!" | |||
:::Help me unpack that to save us all a lot of time. Lerner has achieved a lot. In science, people establish their cred by publishing findings and explanations. Then other scientists may challenge the data and interpretation. I start by just reporting his findings. That's not puffery. Or self-promotion. | |||
:::Example: The guy invented a fusion energy device that set milestones for things like reaction temperature (> 2 B degrees K). He published results in a big-time, peer reviewed science journal. NO ONE has claimed that his experimental device didn't work or hit that milestone. | |||
:::You want me to invent skepticism where it doesn't exist? Lerner uses a unique design, very different from the (failed) mainstream configurations. | |||
:::You want me to ignore that? Several key figures have commented positively about what he's achieved so far. MIT plasma physicists. | |||
:::Are you saying I can't publish that result just because I can't find someone who says "Lerner's a charlatan"? | |||
:::Cosmology- When a scientist reports findings of an experiment in his lab or an observation through a telescope, he publishes a paper-- often peer reviewed-- then presents at a scientific conference. That's a primary source in science. Quoting the research premise and findings is not self-promoting hype. It's science. That's how science works. | |||
:::You seem to think it's better that a blogger who may or may not understand the experiment and may have his/her own axe to grind, tries to explain the science instead of the scientist himself in an academic paper? | |||
:::Before a critic is introduced, the findings have to be stated first and explained to a lay audience. Then you quote the critics. If there are any. And who they are. And whether they're throwing mud or engaging research data. | |||
:::I stated Lerner was polarizing. You didn't even let me fill in the sections on the reception among his peers. There's a whole faction that's formed in alliance with Lerner. They're not in the mainstream. But the mainstream Big Bang Hypothesis is in crisis. Cosmologists are writing op-ed opinion pieces in the NYTimes about it. (Which I quoted) That's the context readers needs to know about. | |||
:::Where critics exist I'll report that. But even in cosmology few rebuttal papers have been published that repudiate Lerner. And remember, anyone can add comments to a wiki page themselves. | |||
:::So please help me out here. Writing a Wiki article shouldn't be root canal. ] (]) 22:54, 31 January 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::Puffery would be things like "influential", "significant social activism", "distinct contributions", "strongly challenge" etc. All of these are words you might wish to write in a CV or a journalistic biography or such like, but Misplaced Pages is an encyclopaedia, so the tone must be encyclopaedic. Again, see ]. Take a look at this article . It has: {{tqb|Lerner has written a few hundred articles as a writer and he is also a scientist of good repute, having co-authored some papers on plasma research in ''The Astrophysical Journal'' and the ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.'' }}But even this is not encyclopaedic. "Good repute" is editorialising. It might be okay, because the source says it, but it would be better to rewrite that as: {{tqb|Lerner is a writer and scientist, who has co-authored peer reviewed papers on plasma research.}} Do you see how this takes the factual kernel, and removes all editorialising? ] (]) 23:47, 31 January 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::You wrote: | |||
:::::"Lerner is a writer and scientist, who has co-authored peer reviewed papers on plasma research." | |||
:::::Ok, I can see that. Thanks for the guidance. ] (]) 03:43, 1 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::Hi {{u|Posa51}}, back to the example you mentioned: {{tqb|The guy invented a fusion energy device that set milestones for things like reaction temperature (> 2 B degrees K)}} | |||
::::::To claim it "set a milestone" you need to provide secondary sources, such as review articles, that recognize this. See: ] Alternatively, if you only have primary sources, such as a peer-reviewed article published by Lerner himself (subject of the page), you might state: {{tqb|In 2017, Lerner published an article on claiming to have reached a reaction temperature above 2 billion Kelvin.}} ] (]) 09:10, 1 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::::Whoa. Broc- you deleted a lot of foot-noted text that was published on Wiki in Nov-Dec. I'll rewrite the intro which was deleted before footnotes could be added and was too-long and did not conform to Wiki style guidelines. ( I agree) | |||
:::::::BUT You need to republish the footnoted text which you deleted which was published in Nov-Dec 2023... everything I wrote there is FULLY in COMPLIANCE to Wiki guidelines on sources. According to WIKI's policy publications scientific journals is considered to be IDEAL SOURCES. Every statement that was in the foot-noted text that was published in Wiki during November- December 2023 was an IDEAL source. | |||
:::::::That took a lot of work. Please restore the text that was fully in compliance. | |||
:::::::Furthermore, you're TOTALLY WRONG to say that SECONDARY resources are more important than IDEAL sources ie scientific journals. Anyway I did provide a secondary source in the earlier text from Asia Times. ] (]) 20:45, 3 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
=== Sidebar on PRIMARY and SECONDARY === | |||
:SA is running near the edge of what's allowable in Misplaced Pages in other areas, and should probably cool down here, but it's not a COI issue. ABlake almost certainly does have a COI, but he hasn't made improper edits in the article lately. — ] ] 16:41, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
{{hatnote|Subsection ] from main dicussion; the initial post below is a reply to the 20:45, 3 Feb. comment above.}} | |||
For the purposes of writing an article at Misplaced Pages, Broc is correct that reliable, ] sources are ideal. (To that I would add, ].) Primary sources are far from ideal, and indeed may only be used with a ]. If you believe there is a guideline to the contrary, please quote it and link it. Since secondary sources are ideal, if you can only find primary sources and there there are insufficient reliable, ], secondary sources with ] of ], that may cast doubt on the ] of the topic "Eric Lerner" as suitable for a standalone article about Lerner apart from the existing article about ], and a separate article ]. In that case, the content here should be merged into a section at ], and this article turned into a ]. ] (]) 05:59, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:What part of this don't you understand? | |||
:"Scientific information should be based on reliable published sources and should accurately reflect the current state of knowledge. Ideal sources for these articles include comprehensive reviews in independent, reliable published sources, such as reputable scientific journals, statements and reports from reputable expert bodies.." | |||
:https://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources_(science) | |||
:According to Wiki standards listed above, the Journal of Plasma Physics, is an Ideal source. ] (]) 06:34, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:: Having worked with these policies and guidelines for over fifteen years I understand them pretty well. Did you see the words, ''comprehensive reviews''? Those and meta-analyses that accurately reflect the current state of knowledge are secondary, and are the gold standard; however the great majority of articles, often 100% of the articles in that journal (or any peer-reviewed scientific journal) are not secondary and not ideal. Please do not use primary sources in this article, except as defined in the list of restrictions; you may use them for bare statements of fact (author, date, location of laboratory, research sponsors, affiliations, etc.) but not for the meat and potatoes of the article, other than brief quotations without comment, summary, or interpretation which *must* come from secondary sources, not from you or any editor. | |||
:: I grant that you have a different interpretation of how a primary source may be used at Misplaced Pages than I or {{u|Broc}} do, but the purpose of this talk page is exclusively to discuss how to improve the article, not to debate how primary sources may be used. There is such a place, though, and it is at ]. ] (for short) is one of Misplaced Pages's three core content policies, the others being ] (NPOV) and ] (V); jointly they determine the type and quality of material acceptable in articles. You are welcome to start a discussion at ] about your view of PRIMARY sources and their role here. Not only that, but since all policies at Misplaced Pages are developed by the community itself—they are not handed down on high from the Wikimedia Foundation—if your view disagrees with the accepted policy, you are free to attempt to change the policy. (Spoiler: imho, that would be a gigantic waste of your time, but it is a path theoretically open to you.) | |||
:: Now, can we please devote further conversation on this page to how to improve the article? Any further discussion about the value of a primary source on this page are both off-topic, and futile. Thanks, ] (]) 08:30, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::A Self-serving reply from you. You're making up your own rules. This has to be appealed. There was never any intent to make my article "better"... the entire published piece was summarily taken down. | |||
:::You can't find the comment I referring to because my publication was entirely deleted by BROC. | |||
:::If you're serious about making my piece "better", then revert to what I published and we can go through it line by line. I can make changes to the text so it reads as unadorned, declarative sentences. | |||
:::Obviously scientific findings published in a recognized, peer-reviewed journal are, as Wiki (science) clearly states, IDEAL sources. | |||
:::You're being argumentative and irrational... you seem quite eager to prevent Eric Lerner's findings, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals of the highest professional stature, to be suppressed. So what are your motives? ] (]) 08:42, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::As for NOR, you're being entirely disingenuous.The NOR policy states: | |||
:::"Misplaced Pages articles must not contain original research. On Misplaced Pages, original research means material—such as facts, allegations, and ideas—for which no reliable, published source exists. This includes any analysis or synthesis of published material that reaches or implies a conclusion not stated by the sources." | |||
:::The Physics of Plasmas qualifies as "reliable, published source" ... basically you're banning any reports in the scientific literature, since presumably ALL scientific research is ORIGINAL. Jeez. ] (]) 08:46, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::@] First of all, note that your edits are all visible in the article's history, nothing was deleted. | |||
::::Now to answer your doubts, hopefully once and for all as I think we are all repeating the same point. As you mentioned earlier: {{tq|Ideal sources for these articles include comprehensive reviews in independent, reliable published sources, such as reputable scientific journals}} yet you have failed to provide a mention of Lerner's work in any comprehensive meta-review. Not all peer-reviewed published papers have pages on Misplaced Pages, an for a reason: they are primary sources, and they do not represent the scientific consensus on a topic. Meta-reviews, collecting all previous research on a topic, are usually good secondary sources that could (and perhaps should) be used in a Misplaced Pages article. Please provide such publication and I will be supporting its inclusion in the page. | |||
::::@] I don't think the page should be redirected to ], as the subject is notable as author of ''The Big Bang Never Happened'', in addition to his work on nuclear fusion. I think a good place to gather consensus on this would be an AfD. ] (]) 09:51, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::: Posa51, I've responded to behavioral issues that aren't germane here at your Talk page. | |||
::::: Broc, I wasn't advocating a redirect, just pointing out general features of Notability and sourcing. Also, I'm new to the topic and still learning about it; having read some more sources just since I got here, I'm persuaded about Notability already (a lot of it due to negative attention, but that counts just as much). If you're curious, some of my earlier questions about notability were due to the extraordinary number of primary or non-independent sources in the references, but the others are probably sufficient, and I've found even more in the searches I've been able to perform myself. Having said that, simply being a book author wouldn't be enough for ], or every author in the world would be notable; clearly not the case. Neverthless, we've already established notability, so that doesn't matter. ] (]) 10:39, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::You rolled back the article... ie deleted what viewers see. | |||
::::::This will be appealed. You're making up your own Wiki rules. ] (]) 15:38, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::Furthermore, the reverted version of the Lerner article is filled with errors, misleading info and vast omissions. Yet you're not at all concerned about the quality and integrity of the publication. | |||
::::::Sounds as though there's a faction at Wiki with their own agenda and are suppressing/ censoring under some cover of legitimacy. ] (]) 16:18, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::::As mentioned earlier: we are here to reach consensus as clearly some editors (including me) disagree with the content you added to the page. If you want to make an addition to the page, propose it here and let's discuss it. ] (]) 17:18, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::::::::We can't discuss content, Broc, if you an a colleague decide to make your own rules about sourcing and disregard WIKI's clear policies on the subject. This has to be settled with appeal, since people are making up their own self-serving rules. | |||
::::::::Definitions on Primary Sources (science) state: | |||
::::::::"A primary source in science is one where the authors directly participated in the research. They filled the test tubes, analyzed the data, or designed the particle accelerator, or at least supervised those who did. Many, but not all, journal articles are primary sources—particularly original research articles. An appropriate primary source is one that was peer reviewed and published by a reputable publisher." | |||
::::::::This exactly describes Eric Lerner and his research. There are no qualifiers about "meta-research" or some such invented criteria. ] (]) 23:05, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::::::If we can't discuss content then this is not the right place, as an article talk's page is uniquely devoted to discussing the content of the article. Repeating your point over and over will not change anything. Perhaps bring the topic to ]. | |||
:::::::::Ping me if you ever want to discuss actual content instead of repeating the same complaint. ] (]) 07:19, 5 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::::"First of all, note that your edits are all visible in the article's history, nothing was deleted." | |||
:::::People don't go to Wiki to read deleted material archived in History. You're censoring well established research and findings published in high end, peer-reviewed science journal. | |||
:::::I'm more than happy to add a Criticism section to the Lerner article. That was always my intention but BROC deleted everything while I was upgrading the whole article. | |||
:::::So How about you restore the text I published between Nov 23- Jan 24 and I add the Criticism? | |||
:::::But note: Wiki guidelines understand that publication in a peer-reviewed journal by definition means that a scientific observation or experiment has been scrutinized by a reviewer or a committee of reviewers. Errors are caught in this phase. Upon publication other scientists can respond with their own research or by published letters or even demands for retraction. | |||
:::::Lerner's articles have elicited no such response within the profession. Here and there a blog might launch a diatribe. You seem to place great weight on such documents. One article in Wired threw a lot of mud basically saying that the Big Bang Hypothesis (BBH) was beyond scientific criticism and anyone who presents evidence that shows failed predictions or paradoxes arising from the theory must be a crank or religious nut. In fact Wired claims that it's dangerous to even criticize the BBH because their author claims it opens the door to religious explanations of cosmology... Lerner, of course, presents an alternative SCIENTIFIC explanation of cosmology, which the NYTimes noted in an interviewed statement from Lerner back in the early 90s. | |||
:::::Meanwhile, last Summer the NYTimes published an op-ed: "Is there a crisis in the Big Bang" (spoiler- the authors conclude the answer is "yes"..). That op-ed was written a few weeks after a Canadian scientist Rajendra Gupta from the University of Ottawa in Canada already has found that the universe probably is twice as old as predicted by the BBH ... a finding which upends much of the BBH. | |||
:::::https://www.sciencealert.com/the-entire-universe-could-be-twice-as-old-as-we-thought | |||
:::::And note, Gupta has appeared with Lerner to exchange views on the latest data, much of it gathered from the James Webb Space Telescope. Wiki administrators seem to think these discussions need to be suppressed and deleted. ] (]) 23:33, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
'''Notice:''' as of ], user Posa51 had been indefinitely blocked. Discussion should continue based on the guidelines for Talk pages and for improving the article. Thanks, ] (]) 10:19, 5 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::Actually, I think ABlake knows that he has indeed made an inappropriate edit recently, and think that when an editor like SA has a bit of a COI and is running close to the edge of what's acceptable, that's unacceptable. But I understand we may assess things differently. ] (]) 18:51, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | |||
== Criticism == | |||
== Big bang section -- what happened? == | |||
I added a new section heading, "Criticism", over existing content in the article; haven't added any new content yet. I debated using a stronger word than ''criticism'', as even Einstein had criticism, pretty much any serious scientist does. But the opposition to Lerner seems a lot stronger than just "criticism", and I wonder if we should use ''controversy'' as a possibly better descriptor? Also, the content does include some criticism, but as I've started to look around and inform myself about this topic, some of the first things I've found, such as "]", or "]" use terms like ''falsehood'' and ''pseudoscientific'' (both of them). (This was from the results of a non-] search for "The Big Bang Never Happened".) The article doesn't mention this word, and if there are sufficient reliable voices that use this term when describing his theories, then we might include it in this section, bearing in mind ]. {{ec}} ] (]) 08:53, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
The section with the reviews of the book seemed terribly slanted, for example in pointing out that Penzias had a Nobel prize in Physics, but not mentioning that so does Alfvén. And in not saying anything that Lerner said in his rebuttal, and nothing that was said good about the book. I presume this must have been something like ScienceApologist's "scientific point of view" dominating over "neutral point of view." I've tried to restore some balance. Comments welcome. ] (]) 06:00, 1 January 2009 (UTC) | |||
:Thanks Mathglot. The criticism section brings some very necessary balance. I think I would oppose "controversy" because controversy sections are themselves controversial. Criticism will do as long as the facts of the criticism are unvarnished and reflective of what is in the sources. If we have sources saying "pseudoscientific" that would be validly used within that section. Above, you question Lerner's notability at all. I think that he probably is notable, although your comments w.r.t secondary sourcing are, of course, spot on. There are secondary sources about him, but those sources are, as a rule, rather critical (as you would expect). ] (]) 09:32, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
The anon edit moving the ref was me, too; looks like I got auto logged off when the ball dropped. ] (]) 06:12, 1 January 2009 (UTC) | |||
::@] I am not a fan of "Criticism" sections as mentioned in ]. It seems warranted in this case, though, as the page is placing undue weight on theories not supported by scientific consensus. ] (]) 09:55, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::: Honestly, I'm not a fan of the *word* "Criticism" as a section header, because it's suffered a negative taint here at Misplaced Pages a section heading for the reasons you state. Likewise, I agree it seems warranted here, and it was that tension between taint and desirability that made me muse a bit on possible other words for it, and I'm still open to another heading name, if you can find one. ] (]) 10:42, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:: Sirfurboy, I hope it brings balance, but if so, I can't take credit for any of it, other than the section header itself! But maybe that's enough to call attention to that part of the content (that, and the ToC entry at the top) so maybe even that is a slight improvement in itself. That was certainly part of my motivation for that edit (as well as a place to hang additional expansion, if it happens). ] (]) 10:50, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:I haven't even gotten to the Criticism section though I did mention Lerner was "polarizing" ... you guys deleted everything and then complain that you can't find it. Sounds like Bad Faith ] (]) 23:07, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:Have you ever written a Wiki article? When the subject matter is vast and technical, the first thing that's needed is to provide a clear statement of a scientist's views. You do that first and document it. You've prevented me from doing that. | |||
:Once the science is presented and explained, a Reception and Criticism section is written. | |||
:You deleted my whole publication before I even got yo that section. Then you complain it's not there. That sounds like bad faith to me. ] (]) 23:47, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
How much attention is there to a description as "pseudoscientific" in the sources? I was struck that it came up twice in the top ten results for a non-cherrypicked query; a 20% result population would easily fit the "minority view" threshold of ], and if a typical percentage of all sources would merit some kind of mention in the section. Otoh, if that was a fluke, and there's only those two, then maybe it's more like "tiny minority", and doesn't warrant a mention. What have you all seen, wrt this? ] (]) 10:55, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
::Your edits were mostly fine, but there were some problems with some non-NPOV wording and a bit of mischaracterization of the science. I fixed them. Also, we agreed in the archives not to include statements from people who weren't ] for reviewing Lerner's book. That includes librarians. If you would like to restart that discussion, please read it first and then begin the discussion here. ] (]) 06:43, 1 January 2009 (UTC) | |||
:@] I'm not sure if you have seen this old discussion: ] ] (]) 17:32, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:::I reverted your "fixes" as being mostly very clear POV spin. What the heck? As to not being able to quote any review not by an insider in the standard mainstream POV, that's just absurd. I'll look for the prior discussion, but I can't imagine that I'll find a consensus there. ] (]) 07:03, 1 January 2009 (UTC) | |||
:: I hadn't; thanks for adding that link. ] (]) 02:59, 5 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:You need to send your deep concerns about Eric Lerner's psuedo-science to the Astrophysical Journal, The British Royal Society, the Physics of Plasmas etc. Ask them why they're all printing Eric Lerner's psuedo-science. Tell them that you read some anonymous blogger or YouTube influencer slinging mud about Eric Lerner, so the editors at these journals really have to pay close attention. ] (]) 23:52, 4 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:: Responded to behavioral issues at your Talk page. ] (]) 03:17, 5 February 2024 (UTC) | |||
:Pseudoscience should go in the lead. The reason he has a wiki article is because he pushes the widely rejected pseudoscience of "plasma cosmology", and its pov not to mention this. ] (]) 06:26, 13 April 2024 (UTC) | |||
::Here's Lerner's scientific bibliography | |||
::https://www.lppfusion.com/peer-reviewed-papers/. I count 30 publications. | |||
::I haven't seen any demands in these journals for retractions or any articles repudiating Lerner's scientific findings and observations. Have you? I'd like to see them. I'd also like to see your bona fides that entitles you to be making these judgments about an accomplished scientist and inventor. | |||
::Of course nothing is stopping you from demanding retractions. Write the Astrophysical Journal, The British Royal Society, the Physics of Plasmas etc. Ask them why they're all printing Eric Lerner's psuedo-science. Tell them that you read some anonymous blogger or YouTube influencer slinging mud about Eric Lerner; this will make the editors at these journals really pay close attention. | |||
::I posed the same challenge to the grandiose editors at Misplaced Pages months ago. Never heard back from them. ] (]) 14:58, 13 April 2024 (UTC) |
Latest revision as of 19:13, 6 January 2025
This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page. |
This article is rated Start-class on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The following Misplaced Pages contributors may be personally or professionally connected to the subject of this article. Relevant policies and guidelines may include conflict of interest, autobiography, and neutral point of view. |
This article was nominated for deletion on 13 April 2008. The result of the discussion was No consensus. |
Archives |
This page has archives. Sections older than 7 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III. |
The contentious topics procedure applies to this page. This page is related to pseudoscience and fringe science, which has been designated as a contentious topic. Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Misplaced Pages, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page. |
Arbitration Ruling on the Treatment of Pseudoscience
In December of 2006 the Arbitration Committee ruled on guidelines for the presentation of topics as pseudoscience in Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Pseudoscience. The final decision was as follows:
|
External links modified (January 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Eric Lerner. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060925150243/http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/bang.txt to http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/bang.txt
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
- If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
- If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 18:47, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
External links modified (April 2024) ===
I have recently added a new external link detailing peer-reviewed research that was conducted last year in March 2023. This research was also published in the media as well. Here is the link: https://www.ibtimes.com/goodbye-fossil-fuels-hello-fusion-energy-3718669. If you have any questions please direct them to LPP Fusion using their email or business website. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Templean1994 (talk • contribs) 22:10, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
I also deleted the external link detailing that LPP Fusion was not close to a working commercial reactor due to the link showing no evidence that this claim is based on. The link references a commercial website on plasma technology that has no mention of LPP Fusion at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Templean1994 (talk • contribs) 22:21, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
LPPFusion
Hi from the notorious subject of this page, not banned from talking. If anyone still edits this, I would like them to update the outdated links. The correct link for Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, DBA LPPFusion, is https://lppfusion.com/ Elerner (talk) 03:12, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
- Done by Jonathanischoice, thanks, —PaleoNeonate – 17:07, 25 May 2020 (UTC)
mention pseudoscience/fringe in opening
Should the opening graph/lead not mention the lack of credentials and fringe/woo hobby horses? It doesn't get into that until much later in the article.
I don't think "independent plasma researcher" sufficiently conveys the facts. 76.156.115.193 (talk) 01:42, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
Rollback
@Posa51 Your version was messed up, so I had to rollback to a previous one. Please have a look at Help:Footnotes and Help:Section. Jaqen (talk) 12:30, 3 November 2023 (UTC)
@Posa51: I reverted the page back to an earlier version from September 2023. You added a lot of unsourced or primary sourced material, written with a promotional tone. If you want to further contribute to this article, please provide material that is written from a neutral point of view (see Misplaced Pages:Neutral point of view) and uses reliable secondary sources (sources from the subject himself or his company are not relevant), see Misplaced Pages:Reliable sources. I would be happy to discuss with you proposed additions in this talk page. Broc (talk) 19:16, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- 1) I was in the process of adding footnotes when you stepped in and inserted a reverted text. Can you at least give me a chance to put the footnotes in? Furthermore there was existing text that I had added to the article that was heavily referenced, principally from the scientific literature. What's your excuse for deleting that text?
- 2) Have you reviewed the reverted text? Several of the links don't exist or never existed. Why don't you scrutinize the reverted text?
- 3) Many of the claims in the reverted text are patently false we're almost 20 years out of date. For example: Eric Lerner is a bona fide scientist with 27 articles published in the scientific literature many of them peer reviewed. The nuclear fusion device he developed has been commented upon very favorably by some of the leading lights infusion Energy research. To claim he is merely a "science writer" as the reverted text does is false and accurate and misleading.
- 4) It doesn't seem as if you're management of this article has been fair and impartial
- 5) May I please have the opportunity to post an accurate and up-to-date text and add the footnotes in a timely fashion? Is that asking so much?
- Peter Catalano Posa51 (talk) 19:27, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- I agree that the previous version is not perfect, and that several improvements are needed. The article describes Lerner as "an independent plasma researcher" which I think is the appropriate definition, given he has no affiliation to research institutions.
- If you want to add a mention about his publications in peer reviewed journals, please go ahead. If there are false claims in the article, you can also remove them.
- Just make sure to avoid promotion, puffery, and to stick to facts that have been reported in reliable secondary sources. This means you should not use articles published by the subject himself to describe his achievements! And given some of his ideas are controversial, all point of views should be represented in the article, no matter what your own one is. Broc (talk) 21:51, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- Hey Broc:
- You wrote, "Just make sure to avoid promotion, puffery, and to stick to facts that have been reported in reliable secondary sources. This means you should not use articles published by the subject himself to describe his achievements!"
- Help me unpack that to save us all a lot of time. Lerner has achieved a lot. In science, people establish their cred by publishing findings and explanations. Then other scientists may challenge the data and interpretation. I start by just reporting his findings. That's not puffery. Or self-promotion.
- Example: The guy invented a fusion energy device that set milestones for things like reaction temperature (> 2 B degrees K). He published results in a big-time, peer reviewed science journal. NO ONE has claimed that his experimental device didn't work or hit that milestone.
- You want me to invent skepticism where it doesn't exist? Lerner uses a unique design, very different from the (failed) mainstream configurations.
- You want me to ignore that? Several key figures have commented positively about what he's achieved so far. MIT plasma physicists.
- Are you saying I can't publish that result just because I can't find someone who says "Lerner's a charlatan"?
- Cosmology- When a scientist reports findings of an experiment in his lab or an observation through a telescope, he publishes a paper-- often peer reviewed-- then presents at a scientific conference. That's a primary source in science. Quoting the research premise and findings is not self-promoting hype. It's science. That's how science works.
- You seem to think it's better that a blogger who may or may not understand the experiment and may have his/her own axe to grind, tries to explain the science instead of the scientist himself in an academic paper?
- Before a critic is introduced, the findings have to be stated first and explained to a lay audience. Then you quote the critics. If there are any. And who they are. And whether they're throwing mud or engaging research data.
- I stated Lerner was polarizing. You didn't even let me fill in the sections on the reception among his peers. There's a whole faction that's formed in alliance with Lerner. They're not in the mainstream. But the mainstream Big Bang Hypothesis is in crisis. Cosmologists are writing op-ed opinion pieces in the NYTimes about it. (Which I quoted) That's the context readers needs to know about.
- Where critics exist I'll report that. But even in cosmology few rebuttal papers have been published that repudiate Lerner. And remember, anyone can add comments to a wiki page themselves.
- So please help me out here. Writing a Wiki article shouldn't be root canal. Posa51 (talk) 22:54, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
- Puffery would be things like "influential", "significant social activism", "distinct contributions", "strongly challenge" etc. All of these are words you might wish to write in a CV or a journalistic biography or such like, but Misplaced Pages is an encyclopaedia, so the tone must be encyclopaedic. Again, see MOS:PEACOCK. Take a look at this article . It has:
But even this is not encyclopaedic. "Good repute" is editorialising. It might be okay, because the source says it, but it would be better to rewrite that as:Lerner has written a few hundred articles as a writer and he is also a scientist of good repute, having co-authored some papers on plasma research in The Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Do you see how this takes the factual kernel, and removes all editorialising? Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 23:47, 31 January 2024 (UTC)Lerner is a writer and scientist, who has co-authored peer reviewed papers on plasma research.
- You wrote:
- "Lerner is a writer and scientist, who has co-authored peer reviewed papers on plasma research."
- Ok, I can see that. Thanks for the guidance. Posa51 (talk) 03:43, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
- Hi Posa51, back to the example you mentioned:
The guy invented a fusion energy device that set milestones for things like reaction temperature (> 2 B degrees K)
- To claim it "set a milestone" you need to provide secondary sources, such as review articles, that recognize this. See: Misplaced Pages:Identifying reliable sources (science) Alternatively, if you only have primary sources, such as a peer-reviewed article published by Lerner himself (subject of the page), you might state:
Broc (talk) 09:10, 1 February 2024 (UTC)In 2017, Lerner published an article on claiming to have reached a reaction temperature above 2 billion Kelvin.
- Whoa. Broc- you deleted a lot of foot-noted text that was published on Wiki in Nov-Dec. I'll rewrite the intro which was deleted before footnotes could be added and was too-long and did not conform to Wiki style guidelines. ( I agree)
- BUT You need to republish the footnoted text which you deleted which was published in Nov-Dec 2023... everything I wrote there is FULLY in COMPLIANCE to Wiki guidelines on sources. According to WIKI's policy publications scientific journals is considered to be IDEAL SOURCES. Every statement that was in the foot-noted text that was published in Wiki during November- December 2023 was an IDEAL source.
- That took a lot of work. Please restore the text that was fully in compliance.
- Furthermore, you're TOTALLY WRONG to say that SECONDARY resources are more important than IDEAL sources ie scientific journals. Anyway I did provide a secondary source in the earlier text from Asia Times. Posa51 (talk) 20:45, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
- Hi Posa51, back to the example you mentioned:
- Puffery would be things like "influential", "significant social activism", "distinct contributions", "strongly challenge" etc. All of these are words you might wish to write in a CV or a journalistic biography or such like, but Misplaced Pages is an encyclopaedia, so the tone must be encyclopaedic. Again, see MOS:PEACOCK. Take a look at this article . It has:
Sidebar on PRIMARY and SECONDARY
Subsection refactored from main dicussion; the initial post below is a reply to the 20:45, 3 Feb. comment above.For the purposes of writing an article at Misplaced Pages, Broc is correct that reliable, WP:SECONDARY sources are ideal. (To that I would add, independent.) Primary sources are far from ideal, and indeed may only be used with a great deal of restrictions. If you believe there is a guideline to the contrary, please quote it and link it. Since secondary sources are ideal, if you can only find primary sources and there there are insufficient reliable, independent, secondary sources with significant coverage of Eric Lerner, that may cast doubt on the WP:Notability of the topic "Eric Lerner" as suitable for a standalone article about Lerner apart from the existing article about Plasma cosmology, and a separate article may be unwarranted. In that case, the content here should be merged into a section at Plasma cosmology, and this article turned into a redirect. Mathglot (talk) 05:59, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- What part of this don't you understand?
- "Scientific information should be based on reliable published sources and should accurately reflect the current state of knowledge. Ideal sources for these articles include comprehensive reviews in independent, reliable published sources, such as reputable scientific journals, statements and reports from reputable expert bodies.."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources_(science)
- According to Wiki standards listed above, the Journal of Plasma Physics, is an Ideal source. Posa51 (talk) 06:34, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Having worked with these policies and guidelines for over fifteen years I understand them pretty well. Did you see the words, comprehensive reviews? Those and meta-analyses that accurately reflect the current state of knowledge are secondary, and are the gold standard; however the great majority of articles, often 100% of the articles in that journal (or any peer-reviewed scientific journal) are not secondary and not ideal. Please do not use primary sources in this article, except as defined in the list of restrictions; you may use them for bare statements of fact (author, date, location of laboratory, research sponsors, affiliations, etc.) but not for the meat and potatoes of the article, other than brief quotations without comment, summary, or interpretation which *must* come from secondary sources, not from you or any editor.
- I grant that you have a different interpretation of how a primary source may be used at Misplaced Pages than I or Broc do, but the purpose of this talk page is exclusively to discuss how to improve the article, not to debate how primary sources may be used. There is such a place, though, and it is at Misplaced Pages talk:No original research. NOR (for short) is one of Misplaced Pages's three core content policies, the others being Neutral point of view (NPOV) and Verifiability (V); jointly they determine the type and quality of material acceptable in articles. You are welcome to start a discussion at WT:NOR about your view of PRIMARY sources and their role here. Not only that, but since all policies at Misplaced Pages are developed by the community itself—they are not handed down on high from the Wikimedia Foundation—if your view disagrees with the accepted policy, you are free to attempt to change the policy. (Spoiler: imho, that would be a gigantic waste of your time, but it is a path theoretically open to you.)
- Now, can we please devote further conversation on this page to how to improve the article? Any further discussion about the value of a primary source on this page are both off-topic, and futile. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 08:30, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- A Self-serving reply from you. You're making up your own rules. This has to be appealed. There was never any intent to make my article "better"... the entire published piece was summarily taken down.
- You can't find the comment I referring to because my publication was entirely deleted by BROC.
- If you're serious about making my piece "better", then revert to what I published and we can go through it line by line. I can make changes to the text so it reads as unadorned, declarative sentences.
- Obviously scientific findings published in a recognized, peer-reviewed journal are, as Wiki (science) clearly states, IDEAL sources.
- You're being argumentative and irrational... you seem quite eager to prevent Eric Lerner's findings, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals of the highest professional stature, to be suppressed. So what are your motives? Posa51 (talk) 08:42, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- As for NOR, you're being entirely disingenuous.The NOR policy states:
- "Misplaced Pages articles must not contain original research. On Misplaced Pages, original research means material—such as facts, allegations, and ideas—for which no reliable, published source exists. This includes any analysis or synthesis of published material that reaches or implies a conclusion not stated by the sources."
- The Physics of Plasmas qualifies as "reliable, published source" ... basically you're banning any reports in the scientific literature, since presumably ALL scientific research is ORIGINAL. Jeez. Posa51 (talk) 08:46, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- @Posa51 First of all, note that your edits are all visible in the article's history, nothing was deleted.
- Now to answer your doubts, hopefully once and for all as I think we are all repeating the same point. As you mentioned earlier:
Ideal sources for these articles include comprehensive reviews in independent, reliable published sources, such as reputable scientific journals
yet you have failed to provide a mention of Lerner's work in any comprehensive meta-review. Not all peer-reviewed published papers have pages on Misplaced Pages, an for a reason: they are primary sources, and they do not represent the scientific consensus on a topic. Meta-reviews, collecting all previous research on a topic, are usually good secondary sources that could (and perhaps should) be used in a Misplaced Pages article. Please provide such publication and I will be supporting its inclusion in the page. - @Mathglot I don't think the page should be redirected to Plasma cosmology, as the subject is notable as author of The Big Bang Never Happened, in addition to his work on nuclear fusion. I think a good place to gather consensus on this would be an AfD. Broc (talk) 09:51, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Posa51, I've responded to behavioral issues that aren't germane here at your Talk page.
- Broc, I wasn't advocating a redirect, just pointing out general features of Notability and sourcing. Also, I'm new to the topic and still learning about it; having read some more sources just since I got here, I'm persuaded about Notability already (a lot of it due to negative attention, but that counts just as much). If you're curious, some of my earlier questions about notability were due to the extraordinary number of primary or non-independent sources in the references, but the others are probably sufficient, and I've found even more in the searches I've been able to perform myself. Having said that, simply being a book author wouldn't be enough for WP:NAUTHOR, or every author in the world would be notable; clearly not the case. Neverthless, we've already established notability, so that doesn't matter. Mathglot (talk) 10:39, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- You rolled back the article... ie deleted what viewers see.
- This will be appealed. You're making up your own Wiki rules. Posa51 (talk) 15:38, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Furthermore, the reverted version of the Lerner article is filled with errors, misleading info and vast omissions. Yet you're not at all concerned about the quality and integrity of the publication.
- Sounds as though there's a faction at Wiki with their own agenda and are suppressing/ censoring under some cover of legitimacy. Posa51 (talk) 16:18, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- As mentioned earlier: we are here to reach consensus as clearly some editors (including me) disagree with the content you added to the page. If you want to make an addition to the page, propose it here and let's discuss it. Broc (talk) 17:18, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- We can't discuss content, Broc, if you an a colleague decide to make your own rules about sourcing and disregard WIKI's clear policies on the subject. This has to be settled with appeal, since people are making up their own self-serving rules.
- Definitions on Primary Sources (science) state:
- "A primary source in science is one where the authors directly participated in the research. They filled the test tubes, analyzed the data, or designed the particle accelerator, or at least supervised those who did. Many, but not all, journal articles are primary sources—particularly original research articles. An appropriate primary source is one that was peer reviewed and published by a reputable publisher."
- This exactly describes Eric Lerner and his research. There are no qualifiers about "meta-research" or some such invented criteria. Posa51 (talk) 23:05, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- If we can't discuss content then this is not the right place, as an article talk's page is uniquely devoted to discussing the content of the article. Repeating your point over and over will not change anything. Perhaps bring the topic to WP:FTN.
- Ping me if you ever want to discuss actual content instead of repeating the same complaint. Broc (talk) 07:19, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
- As mentioned earlier: we are here to reach consensus as clearly some editors (including me) disagree with the content you added to the page. If you want to make an addition to the page, propose it here and let's discuss it. Broc (talk) 17:18, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- "First of all, note that your edits are all visible in the article's history, nothing was deleted."
- People don't go to Wiki to read deleted material archived in History. You're censoring well established research and findings published in high end, peer-reviewed science journal.
- I'm more than happy to add a Criticism section to the Lerner article. That was always my intention but BROC deleted everything while I was upgrading the whole article.
- So How about you restore the text I published between Nov 23- Jan 24 and I add the Criticism?
- But note: Wiki guidelines understand that publication in a peer-reviewed journal by definition means that a scientific observation or experiment has been scrutinized by a reviewer or a committee of reviewers. Errors are caught in this phase. Upon publication other scientists can respond with their own research or by published letters or even demands for retraction.
- Lerner's articles have elicited no such response within the profession. Here and there a blog might launch a diatribe. You seem to place great weight on such documents. One article in Wired threw a lot of mud basically saying that the Big Bang Hypothesis (BBH) was beyond scientific criticism and anyone who presents evidence that shows failed predictions or paradoxes arising from the theory must be a crank or religious nut. In fact Wired claims that it's dangerous to even criticize the BBH because their author claims it opens the door to religious explanations of cosmology... Lerner, of course, presents an alternative SCIENTIFIC explanation of cosmology, which the NYTimes noted in an interviewed statement from Lerner back in the early 90s.
- Meanwhile, last Summer the NYTimes published an op-ed: "Is there a crisis in the Big Bang" (spoiler- the authors conclude the answer is "yes"..). That op-ed was written a few weeks after a Canadian scientist Rajendra Gupta from the University of Ottawa in Canada already has found that the universe probably is twice as old as predicted by the BBH ... a finding which upends much of the BBH.
- https://www.sciencealert.com/the-entire-universe-could-be-twice-as-old-as-we-thought
- And note, Gupta has appeared with Lerner to exchange views on the latest data, much of it gathered from the James Webb Space Telescope. Wiki administrators seem to think these discussions need to be suppressed and deleted. Posa51 (talk) 23:33, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
Notice: as of this edit, user Posa51 had been indefinitely blocked. Discussion should continue based on the guidelines for Talk pages and for improving the article. Thanks, Mathglot (talk) 10:19, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
Criticism
I added a new section heading, "Criticism", over existing content in the article; haven't added any new content yet. I debated using a stronger word than criticism, as even Einstein had criticism, pretty much any serious scientist does. But the opposition to Lerner seems a lot stronger than just "criticism", and I wonder if we should use controversy as a possibly better descriptor? Also, the content does include some criticism, but as I've started to look around and inform myself about this topic, some of the first things I've found, such as "", or "" use terms like falsehood and pseudoscientific (both of them). (This was from the results of a non-cherrypicked search for "The Big Bang Never Happened".) The article doesn't mention this word, and if there are sufficient reliable voices that use this term when describing his theories, then we might include it in this section, bearing in mind WP:DUEWEIGHT. (edit conflict) Mathglot (talk) 08:53, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Thanks Mathglot. The criticism section brings some very necessary balance. I think I would oppose "controversy" because controversy sections are themselves controversial. Criticism will do as long as the facts of the criticism are unvarnished and reflective of what is in the sources. If we have sources saying "pseudoscientific" that would be validly used within that section. Above, you question Lerner's notability at all. I think that he probably is notable, although your comments w.r.t secondary sourcing are, of course, spot on. There are secondary sources about him, but those sources are, as a rule, rather critical (as you would expect). Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 09:32, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- @Mathglot I am not a fan of "Criticism" sections as mentioned in WP:CRITS. It seems warranted in this case, though, as the page is placing undue weight on theories not supported by scientific consensus. Broc (talk) 09:55, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Honestly, I'm not a fan of the *word* "Criticism" as a section header, because it's suffered a negative taint here at Misplaced Pages a section heading for the reasons you state. Likewise, I agree it seems warranted here, and it was that tension between taint and desirability that made me muse a bit on possible other words for it, and I'm still open to another heading name, if you can find one. Mathglot (talk) 10:42, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Sirfurboy, I hope it brings balance, but if so, I can't take credit for any of it, other than the section header itself! But maybe that's enough to call attention to that part of the content (that, and the ToC entry at the top) so maybe even that is a slight improvement in itself. That was certainly part of my motivation for that edit (as well as a place to hang additional expansion, if it happens). Mathglot (talk) 10:50, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- @Mathglot I am not a fan of "Criticism" sections as mentioned in WP:CRITS. It seems warranted in this case, though, as the page is placing undue weight on theories not supported by scientific consensus. Broc (talk) 09:55, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- I haven't even gotten to the Criticism section though I did mention Lerner was "polarizing" ... you guys deleted everything and then complain that you can't find it. Sounds like Bad Faith Posa51 (talk) 23:07, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Have you ever written a Wiki article? When the subject matter is vast and technical, the first thing that's needed is to provide a clear statement of a scientist's views. You do that first and document it. You've prevented me from doing that.
- Once the science is presented and explained, a Reception and Criticism section is written.
- You deleted my whole publication before I even got yo that section. Then you complain it's not there. That sounds like bad faith to me. Posa51 (talk) 23:47, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
How much attention is there to a description as "pseudoscientific" in the sources? I was struck that it came up twice in the top ten results for a non-cherrypicked query; a 20% result population would easily fit the "minority view" threshold of WP:DUEWEIGHT, and if a typical percentage of all sources would merit some kind of mention in the section. Otoh, if that was a fluke, and there's only those two, then maybe it's more like "tiny minority", and doesn't warrant a mention. What have you all seen, wrt this? Mathglot (talk) 10:55, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- @Mathglot I'm not sure if you have seen this old discussion: Talk:Eric Lerner/Archive 2#What do cosmologists say about Eric Lerner? Broc (talk) 17:32, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- I hadn't; thanks for adding that link. Mathglot (talk) 02:59, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
- You need to send your deep concerns about Eric Lerner's psuedo-science to the Astrophysical Journal, The British Royal Society, the Physics of Plasmas etc. Ask them why they're all printing Eric Lerner's psuedo-science. Tell them that you read some anonymous blogger or YouTube influencer slinging mud about Eric Lerner, so the editors at these journals really have to pay close attention. Posa51 (talk) 23:52, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
- Responded to behavioral issues at your Talk page. Mathglot (talk) 03:17, 5 February 2024 (UTC)
- Pseudoscience should go in the lead. The reason he has a wiki article is because he pushes the widely rejected pseudoscience of "plasma cosmology", and its pov not to mention this. 66.41.165.13 (talk) 06:26, 13 April 2024 (UTC)
- Here's Lerner's scientific bibliography
- https://www.lppfusion.com/peer-reviewed-papers/. I count 30 publications.
- I haven't seen any demands in these journals for retractions or any articles repudiating Lerner's scientific findings and observations. Have you? I'd like to see them. I'd also like to see your bona fides that entitles you to be making these judgments about an accomplished scientist and inventor.
- Of course nothing is stopping you from demanding retractions. Write the Astrophysical Journal, The British Royal Society, the Physics of Plasmas etc. Ask them why they're all printing Eric Lerner's psuedo-science. Tell them that you read some anonymous blogger or YouTube influencer slinging mud about Eric Lerner; this will make the editors at these journals really pay close attention.
- I posed the same challenge to the grandiose editors at Misplaced Pages months ago. Never heard back from them. 74.221.178.245 (talk) 14:58, 13 April 2024 (UTC)
- Biography articles of living people
- Start-Class biography articles
- Start-Class biography (science and academia) articles
- Low-importance biography (science and academia) articles
- Science and academia work group articles
- WikiProject Biography articles
- Start-Class physics articles
- Low-importance physics articles
- Start-Class physics articles of Low-importance
- Start-Class physics biographies articles
- Physics biographies articles
- Articles edited by connected contributors
- Pseudoscience articles under contentious topics procedure