new posts

[CPL.Luke]

is it just me or has there been a decline in the number of new posts recently

[Sayonara]

Nope, it is not just you:

 

Week 19 (May 2006) 689

Week 20 (May 2006) 1743

Week 21 (May 2006) 1846

Week 22 (June 2006) 1924

Week 23 (June 2006) 1736

Week 24 (June 2006) 1712

Week 25 (June 2006) 1806

Week 26 (July 2006) 1174

Week 27 (July 2006) 1368

Week 28 (July 2006) 2007

Week 29 (July 2006) 1563

Week 30 (July 2006) 1232

Week 31 (August 2006) 914

Week 32 (August 2006) 647

 

But don't forget it is holiday season.

[CPL.Luke]

well there has definatly been a major decline, this weeks numbers are down to almost a quarter what they were 4 weeks ago, but I guess your right and it is just holiday season.

[Bettina]

While were on the subject...

 

When I read the science books I'm interested in and have a question, I go to Wiki to find the answer instead of coming here and posting it. Do you think that other SFN members do that too?

 

Bee

[ecoli]

But don't forget it is holiday season.

 

And it's my birthday today, so I expect that most people are busy celebrating in the streets.

[YT2095]

Bettina: I do also, well... not Wiki exactly, but I do Google a bit 1`st, and for alot of Hard Chem stuff I use another forum of which I`ve been a member of nearly as long as I have here.

 

seeking other sources and getting a "Second Opinion" is Good Science IMO.

 

I really don`t think that others doing that is the reason for the low figures, our User-base shows this isn`t the case, I think it`s just as Sayo said, Holiday season, infact we`re down a few Staff members for that exact reason

[Anjruu]

When I read the science books I'm interested in and have a question, I go to Wiki to find the answer instead of coming here and posting it. Do you think that other SFN members do that too?

 

Not me, unless its something easy and very specific, like what wavelenght is the Alpha line of hydrogen. Usually I post here instead.

[silkworm]

Nope' date=' it is not just you:

 

 

 

But don't forget it is holiday season.[/quote']

 

Yeah, and it looks as though Cinco De Mayo crippled the numbers a hell of a lot more than the 4th of July. I didn't realize there were so many users here South of the US border.

 

While were on the subject...

 

When I read the science books I'm interested in and have a question' date=' I go to Wiki to find the answer instead of coming here and posting it. Do you think that other SFN members do that too?

 

Bee[/quote']

 

You'd be wise not to use this place as a primary source of information, just a place to discuss (and very cautiously at that). I have my doubts about Wiki, but there are a ton of decent resources out there.

 

My guess is that the decline is due to drama fatigue. Nobody freak out, this is just a post.

[Bettina]

You'd be wise not to use this place as a primary source of information' date=' just a place to discuss (and very cautiously at that)

 

I don't have a problem separating fact from fiction. There is a lot of knowledge here and sometimes even the "way out" posters can lead you in a good direction. Its also a great place to get links.

 

Be good Silkworm.

 

Bettina

[gcol]

 

Prompted by YT's "pattern recognition" thread, and spotting a possible coincidence, I could deduce a drop in posts coinciding with the recent witch hunt against religious threads. (Unless the religion is, ahem, atheism, of course). I also spy an increasing tendency from the great and good to imply that QM and relativity have all the answers, so why bother with anything else. String theory? That is just idle speculation, because it cannot be proven. Gravity? Who knows. Dont waste study time on it. Can't explain the apparent drop-off in chemistry though.

 

From Wikipedia one gets an unopinionated answer which can be accepted or not, and compared with other sources.

 

This forum seldom provides unequivocal answers, and seems to often officially frown on the sort of speculation one gets in a free discussion.

 

The forum is for (by name) discussion and debate, it is not called science answers.

 

Some would seem to want it to be neither fish nor fowl.

[Anjruu]

Can't explain the apparent drop-off in chemistry though.

 

Perhaps the halo effect? People who would normally be posting in that area also would post in the 'banned' or 'proscribed' areas, such as religion or gravity. They stop posting in those, so they stop posting in chemistry as well.

[Phi for All]

This forum seldom provides unequivocal answers' date=' and seems to often officially frown on the sort of speculation one gets in a free discussion.

 

The forum is for (by name) discussion and debate, it is not called science answers.

 

Some would seem to want it to be neither fish nor fowl.[/quote']It's always been a bit of a problem. Do you allow the person who disagrees with widely accepted views a platform? We would absolutely LOVE to have someone forge a ground-breaking theory here on our modest forum. But it's always the same old misunderstandings and misinformation ("Since C is not constant I have a big prolem with relativity"). And the crackpots usually derail every thread they get involved in, trying to get someone, anyone, to help validate their new idea.

 

Free discussions are never free if you want any decent amount of moderation, and without it you get a bunch of time-wasting brawls and attacks from extreme positions. The Mods try (try) to give more leeway in the Speculations and Pseudoscience fora but even there it's tough to let misinformation slip by unchallenged.

[gcol]

Phi:

 

You are right of course. But the voice of reason and moderation (you have to listen really hard for it), like a referee, is always liable to be thumped by both sides. Refs dont get paid much, do they. They must do it for love or something else completely illogical. I thought of altruism, but somehow it got stuck in my throat.