Just wanted to add to this sentiment and say thanks for all the effort. Brazil84 likely didn’t learn anything in that thread, but I sure did.
Or he is a message board equivalent of a swift boater. Not a troll, but someone actively seeking to spread misinformation or at least doubt by repeating certain talking points that sound reasonable but have been refuted.
I have already decided he is not worth my time, but I admire **jshore ** and others for keeping up the fight against ignorance.
I just want to add my frustration to this thread.
I was recently in a ‘debate’ with him (I assume it’s a ‘he’). Every time he responded to my posts it was clear he hadn’t properly read or understood what I’d said, but felt compelled to object anyway.
He’s the only person so far on SD that I’ve had a debate with that couldn’t follow even the basic courtesies of discussion.
To have an idea of the frustration, see this post
but note that this was long, long after losing my patience…
Well, I just want to thank those of you who said kind things about me here. I do sometimes wonder if it is worth the effort to continue to respond to brazil84, as I have long since given up on the idea that I can change his mind on anything. But, it is nice to hear that others still find my responses useful since that has been my main motivation for continuing to respond.
I can’t say it enough, you are one of the key science oriented posters that make the dope great.
Ditto…
Ditto.
Hear hear. I would especially like to express my admiration to jshore for dealing with the Global Warming issues so well for such a long period of time, and doing it patiently even with idiots like Brazil84. And as others have said, it does serve a purpose in informing others, as well as showing how weak the arguments of Global Warming Deniers are. But it really does take saintlike patience.
Brazil84 is truly one of the Board’s Fighting Ignorant. He has no interest in learning anything, or in honest debate. He merely wishes to prolong the argument as long as possible, even if he has no real insight into any of the issues. I’d note that he’s done the same thing on other topics, notably race, but Global Warming seems to be his favorite.
Like several others of his ilk, Brazil84 refuses to participate in the Pit. He really doesn’t care about the Board, or how he appears to other posters. He’s really just playing childish games.
Apparently, not so. Post a “climate change equals fascism” thread and he’ll show up.
Interesting. That means he’s certainly seen this thread, but has simply chosen not to respond to it.
Probably because there’s nothing in it for him. He denies he’s a “shill” for the oil companies, but knowing how he parses things that does not mean he’s not being paid by someone or has been given things to “aid” in the whole global warming “debate.” (After all, if he is on someone’s payroll, his job title doesn’t include the word “shill” so by his logic, he’s not a shill, even though by his actions he’s doing everything that a shill does.) He is quite practiced in throwing up crap about global warming. Too practiced for it to be a mere “hobby” or “interest” of his. He pulls links out of his ass faster and more specific than I could about Tuckers, which tells me that he’s either being fed the responses, or has a database which he plugs terms into and it spits out links. As evidence for this, I submit this GD thread on RFID tags in which he flails around and get’s all huffy at people pointing out that his reading comprehension skills are lacking. Contrast this with any of the threads on global warming where he’s throwing out replies and not getting all whiny about being called names. Kind of strange, don’t you think?
Nor, AFAIK, has he ever participated in any kind of “I hate my job/boss” thread, or given any kind of indication as to what his occupation or source of income might be. Now, while I couldn’t tell you what every Doper here does, and certainly not every Doper has revealed what they do for a living, with the vast majority of them, one can certainly look over their posting history and get an idea of the kind of things that they’ve done in their life and how they’ve felt about this or that job they’ve had. (They may not start a thread bitching about their boss, but at some point, everyone will inject a “I had to deal with this idiot at work one time” story sooner or later.)
True true, I’ve even had to stop mentioning what I do for work. I felt that the Pit thread titled: Shut the fuck up bbs2k! We “KNOW” you sell squirrels by ther side of the road already! was imminent.
Other than that I really can’t add much here. A lot of people smarter than me on the issue have helped to educate me a little more on this subject, and no** brazil ** to come along and disagree. I rate this as a very deserving Pit-ee, but a very bad Pit thread.
I felt the need to reiterate the sentiments in this thread. Brazil has posted a particularly egregious example, comparing scientific modeling to the board game RISK.
I think he might be dumber than Shodan.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9961164&postcount=86
Hey, let’s not go overboard, here.
I’m fairly active on Digg, and I’ve noticed that there’s a contingent of posters over there who seem to post just like Brazil84 does- tons of links, lots of talking points, and a complete unwillingness to bend on even the slightest point. Every thread they participate in (invariably AGW threads), they bring up the same. points. every. time. No matter how many times, or how well, they’ve been refuted.
I’ve given up on trying to convince them of, well, anything. It really does look like they’re being paid to just keep the controversy going.
That has been my feeling from almost the beginning. Sadly the Mods disagree with us enough not to ban his ass.
I, too, suspected he’s a shill. Now, I’m not so sure - he also seems to be a racist. Maybe that’s what he does for kicks, and the GW denialism is his day job?
I hear you. I hate it when people try to bring up information and data to back up what they are saying. Why can’t they just debate based on strictly on intuition and opinion???
Links and talking points are NOT necessarily information and data.
So it would appear. See post #21 et seq. Note, in post #115, the characteristic bob-and-weave when called on it.
I’d just like to also complement jshore. I participate occasionally even though I know that I know significantly less and am more likely to get caught off my feet and have to go scouting for information and do some hard thinking, but I hope that having someone in there a little less technical occasionally helps the lurking readers… Perhaps I just hinder things of course… :o