I agree with this guy Bolen that many Wikipedia articles are
anti-intellectual, but filing suits against Wikipeida is WAY over the
line. That is not how to respond! Just ignore it. Don't mess with free speech.
In a few cases vandals at Wikipedia defamed people. I think they have
put in place mechanisms to prevent that from happening now. The
comments in the Wikipedia cold fusion talk section have insulted me
from time to time, mainly with accusations that I am violating
copyright laws. This does not warrant a lawsuit. It does not rise to
the level of defamation, in my opinion. It is just silly.
This article by Bolen discusses William Connolley, who is one of the
leading opponents of cold fusion. In recent weeks he and the other
extremists have tossed out Pierre Carbonnelle -- permanently this
time. Then they permanently tossed out someone names GoRight who had
the temerity to discuss Carbonnelle's case. Then one of them posted a
masterpiece of confusion and fallacies such as red herring, guilt by
association, ad hominem, and circumstantial ad hominem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Cold_fusion#the_60_minutes_video_and_mainstream_acceptance
These people are extremists but so are the editors of the Scientific
American, the Executive Director of the AIP and many others. Filing
lawsuits would not improve this situation even if it were not a
violation of free speech.
It is funny that these people imagine they have a neutral point of
view! I do not labor under any such illusion, but I also don't go
around censoring and tossing people off of LENR-CANR because I
disagree with them. On the contrary, I am trying to get more
contributions from the arch-skeptical enemies of cold fusion.
By the way, I do not think that the people at Wikipedia are violating
Carbonnelle's right to free speech, or mine, for that matter.
Wikipedia is a private organization run by a gang of fruitcakes. They
can say anything they like. They can set any membership requirements
they like, and accept or reject any member of the public. They don't
have to have a reason. They have censored all references to
LENR-CANR, which is fine with me. They would only be violating my
free speech if they made efforts to shut down LENR-CANR, for example
with a cyber-attack or a lawsuit.
In my opinion, the Wikipedia people are hypocritical and they violate
their own rules about things like neutrality, objectivity and
civility. Any number of other people and organizations are guilty of
this. It is not a legal matter. It is human nature.
- Jed
