Should pitching woo be a bannable offense on DU?

[Zorra]

19 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	No, there's always room for more love here.
	0 (0%)
	Yes, it is pushing conspiracy theories and unscientific nonsense.
	3 (16%)
	No. Much of what is believed to be woo today may not be woo tomorrow.
	5 (26%)
	Yes, woo, like chicken, is an unacceptable topic.
	0 (0%)
	No, I like woo very much. Wanna go get a cup of coffee?
	1 (5%)
	No. Woo cares? It's just a message board
	9 (47%)
	You Better Believe It!
	0 (0%)
	Other
	1 (5%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[ret5hd]

1. Not bannable...but maybe laughable.

[SidDithers]

2. Yup. It's like chemtrails...

It's Crazy Talk.

Sid

[Pretzel_Warrior]

3. Weird. There aren't a bunch of psychopaths stalking this harmless thread

Poking fun at woo threads. Weird.

[pintobean]

5. Psychopaths?

Don't go overboard with the crazy talk.

Democratic Underground is not intended to be a platform for kooks and crackpots peddling paranoid fantasies with little or no basis in fact. To accommodate our more imaginative members we tolerate some limited discussion of so-called "conspiracy theories" under the following circumstances: First, those discussions are not permitted in our heavily-trafficked Main forums; and second, those discussions cannot stray too far into Crazyland (eg: chemtrails, black helicopters, 9/11 death rays or holograms, the "New World Order," the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, alien abduction, Bigfoot, and the like). In addition, please be aware that many conspiracy theories have roots in racism and anti-semitism, and Democratic Underground has zero tolerance for bigoted hate speech. In short, you take your chances.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[enlightenment]

29. I never noticed that Freemasons was on that list.

Does that mean we can't have an historical discussion about that organization? Weird. Not that I was planning on starting an historical discussion of the Freemasons, even though it is an interesting topic - especially when comparing their success to other, similar fraternal organizations . . .

[KG]

4. I see what you did there....

[Zorra]

13. ...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. pitching woo could lead to spooning which could lead to forking

Last edited Sun Jan 5, 2014, 09:54 PM - Edit history (1)

just saying

[Zorra]

10. And there's many worse things, no?

You get a star

[Tuesday Afternoon]

16. that is nice ... thanks -

now then, how about that cup of coffee

[pinboy3niner]

17. Woon lump or twoo?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

21. I think the cow just jumped over the moon

and the cat ran away with the spoon ... or something

[Zorra]

22. You move kinda fast, dontcha?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. just have urgent need for caffeine ...

a coke will do, too

[Zorra]

25. I'm crushed! I thought maybe it was my cute smile and bubbly personality.

No more pitching woo with you.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

27. well, now of course the smile is cute and the coke is bubbly but, really

you had me at the pitch. just playing catch is all

[Zorra]

31. Ok, then...I have tomorrow open from 11:30 to 12:30.

Pike St. Cafe work for you?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

38. perfect! see ya then -

ciao

[Zorra]

39. ciao!

[pinboy3niner]

20. Much, much worse

Like sporking.

[gollygee]

7. I can think of things I'd make bannable before that

1. being anti-choice re abortion rights.

[NightWatcher]

8. What about flinging poo?

Just like the monkeys do.
In the wild and in the zoo.

[Vashta Nerada]

9. Woo should be in the Creative Speculation group.

[pinboy3niner]

11. You may be pitching a no-shitter! nt

[Glassunion]

12. WTF? Really?

I don't even think Kim Sun posts here...
But fine. Ban me.

[DirkGently]

14. Whoo-woo decides what's woo-woo?

Really -- is this something someone has suggested? Plenty of fringy medical stuff has turned out to be "real," and plenty of hard-science approaches have turned out to be bullshit.

Anti-vax talk annoys me, because it's not just wrong, but potentially harmful to the population at large, but is someone's head really exploding over people talking about homeopathic tea or something on DU?

I find militant skeptics are often the more annoying in those types of discussions. There's a personality type -- seemingly exacerbated by internet discussion forums -- that can't handle anything outside of their personal, narrow view of reality and feels the need to get exceedingly nasty about any thought that isn't on their personal list of approved facts.

[Electric Monk]

15. Today's "leading edge science" might be tomorrow's "woo", and vica versa

eg.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19644_the-5-most-insane-original-uses-famous-products.html

[solarhydrocan]

19. .

[DirkGently]

26. Priceless!

I think I read somewhere that the the "nationwide survey" amounted to sending a carton of Camels to any doctor that would take them, and then asking them if they liked their free cigs.

[Quixote1818]

45. Maybe more doctors did smoke Camels

than any other cigarette. Maybe at the time 2 out of 100 doctors smoked and out of that 2% most smoked Camels. The woo wasn't coming from peer review science at that time but from people like Smokey Joe Barton who were saying nicotine wasn't addictive and cigarettes weren't bad for you when the scientific research was starting to say it was:

[DirkGently]

24. Yikes. And Listerine cures colds!

And the list of FDA-approved prescription meds that have turned out to be more deadly than helpful grows daily.

I guess that's where I draw the line -- are we talking about something dangerous, or something that might help, or might help more or less than supposed, or something that at worst does nothing?

I think a certain amount of non-mainstream speculation is healthy. When people buckle down and start getting hostile or suggesting drastic action based on the supposed truth of something that's clearly speculative at best, that's certainly obnoxious, and potentially dangerous, but I'm equally suspicious about the view that certain ideas must be ruthlessly smashed into oblivion purely because they are unproven or presently un-proveable. Speaks of a mind fearful of anything it can't immediately grasp.

And suddenly militant skeptics have a new pet word -- "woo" -- with which they seem to think they can bludgeon anything they deem unworthy.

"Woo" is just another form of woo.

[Zorra]

28. Pitching woo

From urban dictionary:

To flirt. To mac. To exhibit your game. To woo a hottie.
Can be spelled pitchin woo as well.

pitching woo

Web definitions

Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. During courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement. ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitching_woo

[DirkGently]

36. woo-woo (or just plain woo)

woo-woo

Woo-woo (or just plain woo) refers to ideas considered irrational or based on extremely flimsy evidence or that appeal to mysterious occult forces or powers.

Here's a dictionary definition of woo-woo:

adj. concerned with emotions, mysticism, or spiritualism; other than rational or scientific; mysterious; new agey. Also n., a person who has mystical or new age beliefs.

When used by skeptics, woo-woo is a derogatory and dismissive term used to refer to beliefs one considers nonsense or to a person who holds such beliefs.

http://www.skepdic.com/woowoo.html

[Buns_of_Fire]

42. I think "exhibiting your game" is a misdemeanor around these parts.

"Exhibiting your woo" is acceptable legally, but you won't get invited to the best parties.

[Ms. Toad]

30. And the "woo" of yesterday being science today

Fecal transplants for the treatment of C. Diff or IBD

Clinical study results have been positive. Some people who have had multiple C. diff infections have realized benefits from the therapy hours later, have been cured of their symptoms within 24 hours, and have had no further infections.

As research continues, experts expect that fecal microbiota transplantation could become a primary therapy not only for C.diff infection, but also for inflammatory bowel disease. It even holds promise for treating conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson’s disease.

three of our families' doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are among the panel of experts identifying the key innovations of the year, including one involved in this work - and effectiveness, based on a meta-analysis of all of the studies reported in pubmed, originally published in English, is around 90%.

(Fecal transplants are one of the "science experiments" (in the words of a response to a post in another of today's threads) which my daughter and I have been researching since before it gained more mainstream respect recently).

[Ms. Toad]

18. This >>>

I find militant skeptics are often the more annoying in those types of discussions. There's a personality type -- seemingly exacerbated by internet discussion forums -- that can't handle anything outside of their personal, narrow view of reality and feels the need to get exceedingly nasty about any thought that isn't on their personal list of approved facts

.

It is getting really annoying.

[scarletwoman]

32. Agreed!

[pnwmom]

35. +1000. nt

[pnwmom]

33. I think we should simply ban the word, "woo."

It is too often used as a way to dismiss any medical or scientific topic the writer happens to disagree with.

And how do you define woo? Many DUers define it to include acupuncture, for example, which is backed up by dozens of published research studies and practiced by doctors at Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, and other respected institutions all over the country.

At one point only naturopaths recognized the importance of folic acid supplementation during pregnancy; now it is a routine part of medical care and has spared many children from a lifetime with spina bifida.

I'm in favor of banning woo as long as we ban all pro big pharma posts, too.

Not going to happen.

[winter is coming]

34. It's okay, but only in the Lounge.

Bunch of perverts.

[Zorra]

37. Ah, c'mon, don't be such a prude! And besides,

my mama told me that lounges are a bad place to meet women.

[winter is coming]

40. Hmm. Mama told me that lounges are a place to meet bad women.

[In_The_Wind]

41. Never

[DRoseDARs]

43. No. Woo should submit to the Thunderdome of Science...

...and come out either proven or proven false.

[Quixote1818]

44. It's amazing how many DUers believe in peer review when it comes to evolution and climate change

but when it comes to things like "natural food" which half the time are not even natural but something from a bogus website or alternative medicines that have failed the scientific method, they suddenly think it's a conspiracy. As Tim Minchin says: Do you know what they call alternative medicine that has been proven to work?

Medicine!

That being said, such posts should not be banned. Debate is always a good thing.

[freshwest]

46. Pitching Woo: Courting, kissing, hugging and sex threads are not allowed at DU. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

47. I think it's really gotta depend on the Woo.

On one end of the spectrum, you have chemtrails, HAARP caused Hurricane Katrina, the Moon landings were fake and NASA bombed the moon to attack the star folks lunar colony (but were stopped by the quick telekenetic advance action of Star Person Incarnate Fran)

...on the other end, you have stuff like 'gluten-free muffins cured my psoriasis'.


I think "woo" is a pretty broad umbrella. Some woo doesn't belong on DU at all, some woo ought to stay in the CS basement, and some woo is relatively harmless, open to debate, or at the very least in the eye of the beholder.

[DrDan]

48. put this garbage in the lounge