Here are “Da Roolz,” guidelines and strictures for posting on this website. The site has evolved since it was created in 2009 to provide evidence for evolution, and now covers a variety of topics that strike me as interesting or newsworthy. I like readers to have fun, weigh in with their opinions, learn, educate, but also respect the personal integrity of other readers.
- The opinions stated on this website are mine alone (or, when they’re posting, Greg Mayer and Matthew Cobb), and do not necessarily reflect those of our respective employers.
- If you’re a first-time poster, I have to approve your initial comment. This won’t necessarily be immediate, as it depends on my checking email. After that, posting is automatic.
- If you have your own website, you may put a link to your anonymous (or pseudonymous) website in your posting name. I like people to use their real names when possible, as I think this makes them more accountable for their words, but I recognize that there are sometimes good reasons for not doing so.
- If you try to post under more than one name in an attempt to circumvent moderation or pretend you are more than one person, you will be banned. Stick to one name. If you have to change your posting name for a good reason, let me know by email.
- If you are religious, and profess that strongly in your post, it’s often my habit to ask you to provide evidence for what you believe. (After all, I wrote a book on the evidence for evolution.) Do not be offended at this request; simply give a short list of the reasons why you’re so certain there’s a god. And be prepared for others to dispute the evidence.
- Please do not tell me how to run my site. That is, comments about “too many cats,” “too many boots,” “not enough biology,” “too much religion,” etc., are not welcome. I provide content free of charge, and if you don’t like the mix of posts, you’re free to go elsewhere. By all means take issue with what I say, but don’t argue about the balance of topics.
- Do not insult your host. Pretend that you’re speaking to me in my living room which is, in a sense, what this website is.
- Most important, please try to refrain from insulting other posters, no matter how misguided you think they are. I don’t like name-calling, for it lessens whatever class this site has and certainly doesn’t foster discussion. I will often warn people about this behavior either on the site, or in a private email. About 70% of those who are warned respond with truculence, either insulting me or saying that their behavior is fully justified. That’s a good way to get blacklisted—almost as good as telling me to stop posting on cats or cowboy boots. If I ask you to apologize to a commenter whom you insulted, please do so
- Try not to dominate threads, particularly in a one-on-one argument. I’ve found that those are rarely informative, and the participants never reach agreement. A good guideline is that if your comments constitute over 10% of the comments on a thread, you’re posting too much.
- If you find something that you think would interest readers, by all means send it to me. My email is easily available via elementary Googling. I can’t, of course, promise to use everything, but I do look at what people send me.
- Sometimes I miss comments, particularly ones that contain links, since those are held by WordPress. I don’t always read every comments that accompanies a post, so these sometimes slip through the cracks. Please don’t assume that your comment was trashed, as I rarely do that (except from those sent by trolls).
- Be judicious about posting videos and very long comments. I like good discussion, but essays are not on, particularly if you have your own website where you can post it. Embedded videos are okay, but please think before posting: do they add to the discussion? If your comment is longer than, say, 600 words, it is too long. If you want to write stuff longer than that, please get your own website!
- It’s a website, not a “blog.” Humor me on this. Likewise, you will see words like d*g (a play on the Hebrew word for God) and Twi**er, due to my aversion of seeing these words spelled out.
- I am glad to receive items from readers, though at times their number is a bit overwhelming! But many of my posts come from those contributions, and I try to remember to h/t readers if I use their contributions. (Sometimes I forget this acknowledgment—in which case my apologies.) If you send me a link and I don’t write about it, please do not feel bad. I get many more tips, photos, and other stuff than I can possibly use, and have to choose. But please do not send me items asking me to post them, or saying, “I think this would make a great post for your site.” That feels a bit presumptuous and coercive, and, as readership grows, I’m starting to get these requests more frequently. Also, please do not ask me to publicize your or your friend’s book, business, or any other endeavor. If you want to call something interesting to my attention—and of course it must be of potential interest not just to me, but to readers—that is great, but don’t ask me to post things.
- That said, I especially welcome readers’ photographs, particularly of wildlife or nature, but also their cats (in which case you must provide some information!). I can’t, however, promise to use every photo I’m sent.
- Linking to videos. Don’t embed them directly unless you have something really special to show, for it makes the comments unwieldy. If you just paste in the http:// address of a YouTube video, for instance, it will put the entire video in your comment. Occasionally I will let this go, but sometimes readers insert multiple videos. To avoid this, and create a link, use the following html formulation:
<a href=”URL”>LinkText</a> (note space after first “a”) - Please do not use this site to promote your project, book, website, and so on, or to raise money for your cause. If you think there’s a cause that deserves my attention, by all means email me simply calling it to my attention. Please do not tell me that I should post about your pet project, or that my readers need to hear about it or would love to hear about it. A simple mention of the project, without the pressure or, especially, fulsome flattery, will suffice.
- If you post a link to your website, referring us or asking us to read something you’ve written on that site, the site cannot be anonymous; there must be a real named person who writes it. You have every right to keep your site anonymous, but I don’t have to link to it, for I believe people should stand behind what they say publicly. That said, I’m not demanding that commenters on my own site reveal their real name. Further, I will not allow “pingbacks” in my site if your site, which has referenced this one or reposted part of one of my posts, cannot be linked to a named and real human.
- Please do not post comments consisting only of a link or a video. At least say a few words about why you’re posting it.
- If I post about food, and I often do, realize that those meals are exceptions and I don’t always eat like that! There is no need to give me (or the readers) a lesson on healthy eating.
- This is a cat-friendly site run by a biologist who cares about animals (and plants!). Please don’t diss the moggies, or advocate human violence or cruelty to any animal species.
- Finally, do not cry “censorship” if I don’t post your comment. I reserve the right to trash comments that are hyperreligious, hyper-creationist, uncivil, trollish in nature, or otherwise inappropriate. There is no “right” to have every comment you make published on this site. If that is “censorship,” then it’s also “censorship” when the editorial section of a newspaper doesn’t publish some readers’ letters in the interest of keeping a civil and interesting atmosphere. I try to use as light a hand as I can consonant with keeping an atmosphere of civility and sanity. If you have something to say that I won’t go along with, you are free to start your own site. Readers who are obnoxious and keep making the same argument again and again, adding nothing new, will be considered trolls and subjection to sanction.
- Due to the high volume of hate email I get, I reserve the right to not only publish threatening or extremely nasty and unsolicited emails,but also to publicize the email address and name associated with them. I do this to try to stem the tide of such emails. I will not, however, reveal any personal details (including email addresses and IP numbers) of people who leave comments on my website unless I consider those comments threatening to me, another reader, or some other identifiable person. In other words, don’t threaten anybody with harm, and if you email me anything abusive, do so at your own peril.
Problems using the site?
If you’re having problems commenting, subscribing, getting comments sent to you from this site—or any other technical issues about WEIT—email me (my email is at the “author’s website” at the upper right-hand side of the page. I will ask my tech person to sort it out. Thanks!
A very reasonable and interesting set of rules.
The “censorship” issue is very interesting. People somehow think that everybody has a duty to publish all comments they receive, as if not doing so would amount to censorship. They don’t know what censorship is. It would be censorship if the website owner was a Government agency with the power to prevent the publication of a book, news story or blog from that person. In this case, it is just sane editorial policy.
I agree. Censorship is the blocking of the content of a message. If all you’re doing is blowing smoke then it’s not censorship to turn on the exhaust fan.
Censorship is the denial, usually by a government agency, of a publication right that somebody would otherwise have. There is no right to have one’s comments published on a private web site, therefore there is no censorship.
It is still censorship. Just because it doesn’t violate a right doesn’t mean it isn’t censorship.
No, a private web site could decide to ban all comments, but it still wouldn’t be censorship.
Sometimes people forget that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom to be listened to politely.
Roolz rules.
Sorry to have missed the deadline for your cat confessions contest. Our cat has so much to confess it would have been a catharsis for him. If you are interested here is something I wrote along these same lines:
http://imaycontributeaverse.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/a-cat-with-gilded-paws/
I received a notice that I needed to explain my personal views on God and religion before I could post again.
However, I didn’t see a reply button of that requirement so that I could respond so am posting here:
whyevolutionistrue requested I answer some questions, “If you believe in God,, could you please provide for us the evidence a. for your God”
a.
As I stated previously, I think the existence of ethics, and self-conscious, reasoning human beings, and mathematics,and the structural organization of the cosmos show the universe isn’t meaningless and purposeless.
and
“and b. If you adhere to a specific faith, why do you think that, as opposed to others, is the right one. You must answer this question, according to the Roolz, before you can post again.”
b.
I don’t adhere to a specific faith, though in the recent past I was a member of the Society of Friends. However, for a number of reasons, I came to the conclusion that the Christian religion, even that espoused by liberal Quakers, isn’t probably true.
Currently,(as I already explained in one post here), if I speculate (How could I possibly “know” the ultimate nature of reality that gave forth the Big Bang and trillions of light years, etc.)
As I say if I speculate, I think the outlook of Charles Hartshorne, Whitehead, and other process philosophers
makes the most sense of existence and the facts.
I’m confused. Do you believe in God, yes or no?
?
Yes, I do (as I thought I explained, “I think the outlook of Charles Hartshorne, Whitehead, and other process philosophers makes the most sense of existence and the facts”).
(Sorry for the late response, haven’t been back here for a while).
Is there any amount of time for which a transgression might be forgiven? Is there any form of redemption at all? Attempting to engage in any type of meaningful conversation while awaiting approval for every single comment is an exercise in futility. I am lucky to get more than one comment posted before the article goes right off the end of the front page.
If I am to be forever under constant supervision here I will find other places to go. If I am not welcome you need only say so, inflicting training wheels with no foreseeable termination is unnecessary.
Please read item #2 in Da Roolz, again. It’s pretty clear.
//Try not to dominate threads, particularly in a one-on-one argument. I’ve found that those are rarely informative, and the participants never reach agreement. A good guideline is that if your comments constitute over 10% of the comments on a thread, you’re posting too much.//
I am sure that that is a good guide line, however if a believer turns up, it probable that that person might be asked multiples of questions which might make them look like they are dominating when all they are doing is seeking to answer questions.
Its just a thought, the intention to dominate might not be there.
Maybe, but you’ve said enough on this thread, okay?
Wildkennet, you were right. They do have an intention to dominate, but they hide it like a snake. This is a quote from the Humanist Manifesto where all of their beliefs come from: Expanding upon the role the public education establishment should play to bring about the goals described in the Humanist Manifesto II, John Dunphy wrote: “I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers that correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith: a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being…The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and new — the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent with the promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will finally be achieved.”
I trust you have seen
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=285584154813543&story_fbid=423948847643739
Retribution
Having blown himself up, an 18-year-old suicide bomber appeared before Allah.
He said, “Oh, Allah, I did your bidding but I have a request. Since I’m only 18 and spent all my time in terrorist training school, I have never been with a woman. So, instead of 72 virgins, who also won’t know what to do sexually, can I have 72 whores?”
Allah regarded him for a moment and then replied, “Actually, the 72 virgins are here in heaven because assholes like you murdered them before they could experience the pleasure of sex. So you’re here to service them. Since they’re virgins, they’re quite sexually ravenous, and frankly, you’ll be on constant, exhausting duty..”
The bomber responded, “Well, I guess I can live with that. How hard can it be to keep 72 women satisfied for all eternity?”
And Allah replied,
“Who said they were women?”
Hope this makes you smile!
Hullo Mr Coyne,on a number of occasions lately your subscribed post on Why Evolution Is True has arrived in my inbox marked with the warning, “phishing” e-mail. As I always enjoy your posts I just check it out on your W.E.I.T. web site. I have no idea where or why this “phishing” originates but thought that probably it should be brought to your attention.
All that apart I must say that I always enjoy the breadth and depth of the subject matter you cover. And your humour. And the cats.
Thank you.
Reggie
Seems like a reasonable request. I accept your roolz.
P.S. Watched your interview with Dr Noor on Cousera. Enjoyed thoroughly. (Nice demonstration of vestigial ear muscles! LOL)
Looking forward to reading ‘Why evolution is true’ and the contents on this website, not blog.
I think you might like this story,about a noble cat…http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/16/cathedral-cat-under-suspicion-following-dog-attacks-in-wells
Regards
David Hasson
Interesting link I found on my fab feed…
http://ncse.com/files/pub/evolution/excerpt–domesticated.pdf
Is there an email address for sending in photos?
Yes, since your retirement, what emails address would we use to send links, photos, emails, etc., please?
I am registering for commenting privileges. It says in the website rules that you may ask me to produce evidence of my beliefs, and I will be happy to provide them.
Well, what are your beliefs and what’s the evidence?
Have I received posting privileges?
No, because your statement of what you believed was an impenetrable word salad of science/woo stuff that I don’t need promulgated on this website. I suggest you try another website.
How clever of you.
You don’t allow your readers to see what I said, only your denouncement of it. And the echo chamber is protected.
Okay, since you want your day in the sun to spew your crazy theories on my site, here’s what you wrote:
Like all cranks, you’ve put up some impenetrable prose, and you’ve posted it on the ROOLZ thread,where it doesn’t belong (and where nobody will read it!). Now go away: you’ve had a moment to show your mushy theory, and you can go promulgate your nonsense somewhere else.
“(and where nobody will read it!”
I read it, the rules that is, and even this bit of weirdness. I did not try very hard to understand it (the weirdness; the rules are plain and simple).
If there were only one language that humans developed independently all over the earth, or only one system of representing words on a page that appeared independently, that truly would be strange and difficult to explain.
But actually, there are many. So these systems seem well enough explained by cultural evolution.
Not that you’ll probably ever see this, but… if you were honest or sincere, you could easily have had an audience here. Yes, believers do post here.
There is no “echo chamber.” But, you’re logo is nice.
Submitting this request to post comments on your website. I work as an urban planner at a university in Taiwan, with additional interests in human evolution, secularism, and atheism. Particularly relevant is that cats know me as a friend, as do other fellow species. Having read your two latter books, and have visited your website regularly for at least five years, I appreciate your efforts in contributing to a more rationale society. Many thanks.
Submitting this request to post comments (ask questions, really) on your website. I work in Zambia (Africa), managing a small-holdings where I have undertaken to train people who are interested in sustainable conservation agriculture and managing natural resources. I am also doing research into producing and using bio-fuels as a small-scale alternative to conventional electrical power. I am a Christian who has an interest in understanding evolution and I have been informed your website includes the best forum to provide me with any information I need. I have already subscribed for your email service. Thank you.
(Before you read this know that I wanted to comment on this on the article about God’s Not Dead 2)
I just wanted to say that even from a christ-like worldview, which I myself hold, God’s Not Dead is pretty unrealistic, and actually harmful. It kind of conditions christians who see it to believe that every one who doesnt follow Jesus is out to get them and persecute them. While this may be more true in other parts of the world, where some are martyred for their faith, this warning is more like a monster in the closet for most first world countries (for now anyway-I believe that severe persecution will come, as told in revelations) and only breeds tension, fear, and hostility, instead of encouraging believers to share the gospel openly, while being friendly and gentle, as The Bible prescribes us to do. If you wanna read more about this there’s some really interesting points made here: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/chrisicisms/2016/03/30/5-ways-gods-not-dead-fails-christians/
And, if its not too much of a bother, I’d like to hear (obviously message me privately) what your beliefs are about God, and how you came to them. I love hearing other perspectives! Thanks!
Thanks for providing this public service!
I lover your posts, I was discussing your ark park surveillance request with my financial advisor who lives in Louisville, KY and he sent me this link to a recent news story on the ark (http://www.wlwt.com/news/riding-wave-of-popularity-ark-encounter-exceeds-attendance-projections/41685054).
If this can be believed they are getting 4000 guests per day and are projecting 1.4 million per year.
Yikes! What a waste.
I could not figure out how to email you directly so put it in this spot.
I thought you might be interested in this: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/outrage-grows-scheduled-appearance-white-nationalist-texas/story?id=43761020&cid=abcn_tco
Initially I found some of da Roolz a bit on the harsh side, but the evidence of their effectiveness is there. Your site never has -as far as I know- a thread that degenerates into vulgarity and uninteresting shouting matches, something that can’t be said of many sites and blogs. (This is not flattery, just the observation of a fact).
If ever -not planning- I start a website, I hope to steal quite a few of da Roolz!
I visited this site in hopes of finding compelling arguements and evidence for “Why Evolution is True”. Instead, I found cats, religion disparagement, and social commentary promoting atheism. I am disappointed. Your agenda is quite apparent.
Dear Mr. Martin,
I feel your pain! If you want to read the compelling arguments and evidence for evolution, well, there’s one post right today. But yes, I post on a variety of stuff. If you don’t like it, don’t let the door hit you on the tuchas on the way out!
You won’t be posting here any longer, but perhaps you can learn to not just jump onto a website and begin disgorging your emotions within a few minutes.
But thank you for giving a prime example of a Roolz violation.
Dear professor Coyne,
I have 5-6 min video of “river” of cormorants flying past ( close to water surface ) Sir Bani Yas Island in United Arab Emirates. They’ve been flying past for about 15 min on the way to nearby island, apparently, it happens daily for about the week every year during mating season.
Wonder if you would be interested in posting this video and if yes, how to send it to you?
Send it along (ideally it would be on youtube as a 5-min video is too long to send). My email is listed under “about the author” at upper right.
How does post a comment on the website that is not in response to another post? – In other words, how to start a new thread. I would like your reaction to this linked article: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/cold-snap-makes-lizards-evolve-just-few-months?utm_campaign=news_daily_2017-08-03&et_rid=291148098&et_cid=1474226
I’ve been trying to resubscribe for several months. I don’t know why I lost my original subscription. WordPress totally ignores me, and I am becoming offended. Maybe clicking the box below will work. I love this website.
Thought you might appreciate this.
https://thenib.com/the-splendor-of-creation?utm_campaign=web-share-links&utm_medium=social&utm_source=email
Stuart
Posted in the wrong threasd – sorry
Hello,This is my first comment on this website. I love all wildlife photos posted by various readers and also the photos of cats on this site. I am myself an amature birder I have some photographs of birds from Indian sub-continent which if feasible,I would love to share with all the readers.
Send to my email (under “about the author” at upper right). Plz. follow the format that other readers use.
Professor Ceiling Cat is a god.
(I love this site!)
I stopped receiving email notifications two days ago. I could not find any other place to submit this.
I am hoping this will find its way to the appropriate destination.
Dan
Probably a stupid question, but how do we send in animal pix?
Send to my email obtained by clicking “research interests” at upper right.
Frankly, I prefer the more traditional Satan, as depicted in TV show Evil.: file:///Users/sumac2/Desktop/evilsatan.jpg
Ah! I have found the WP Wormhole! Wondered where that went…
Jerry- what email address should I use to send you something? Ex. Below…
My son and his family live in Brisbane, so I watch for news about AUS. Today I learned that ‘vegan’ includes testing vaccines if a non-human animal is in any way involved. This is ‘woke’ to an extreme. My opinion only of course. -TATE
See last paragraph below…
The Conversation
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Australia’s keenly awaited COVID vaccine rollout has officially begun, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison among a select group to receive the first jabs in a televised event yesterday.
Most of us will be waiting a while yet — the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine to front-line health and quarantine workers and aged-care staff officially begins today. The government has set a deadline of October to vaccinate all adults in Australia, mostly with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
No, you won’t be able to choose which of the approved vaccines goes into your arm, writes Marc Pellegrini of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, who has helped us out with a handy FAQ about some common queries, such as “how will I be monitored for any side-effects?”, and “will vaccinated people still have to follow COVID restrictions?”
One question that won’t be on everyone’s lips, but will be crucially important to some people, is “are the vaccines vegan?”. Ethicist Ben Bramble explains that no, they’re not really, as the early safety testing was done on animals. But he makes a moral case for taking it anyway, given human lives are at stake.
James Tate, Jr., PhD, CWB
2031 Huidekoper Pl. NW
Washington, DC 20007
202 841-2056
jim@tate-tate.us
Send photos to my email obtained by clicking “research interests” at upper right.
1869 – Harvey Cushing, American surgeon and academic (d. 1939) He operated on my grandfather’s brain tumor, in the 30s.Op a success, tumor removed, but patient left blind and bed ridden. As a very small child I recall dimly watching a hand coming out from under sheets to hold mine. Scary.He lived for a time thus. Married his nurse, becoming persona non to the family – I think. Too bad Cushing didn’t live to see the marvels of modern brain surgery. He had 3 gorgeous daughters who were famous society belles in the Boston-NY social scene. Sic transit gloria…..
I received this email today. I am a 1964 Alum and was a Hillel member at the Farm.
Don Yost
You’re in the Loop…
View In Browser
Stanford | Alumni
The Loop
from Stanford Alumni Association and STANFORD magazine
November 1, 2022
You’re in the Loop
‘These actions were wrong. They were damaging. And they were unacknowledged for too long.’
On October 12, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne issued an institutional apology after a task force report confirmed that in the 1950s, Stanford took measures to limit the number of Jewish students admitted to the university by suppressing admissions from two heavily Jewish high schools in the Los Angeles area. The advisory task force and report stemmed from a document a historian had found in Stanford’s archives. The 1953 memo to Stanford president J.E. Wallace Sterling, PhD ’38, from the assistant to the president, Fred Glover, ’33, indicates that director of admissions Rixford Snyder, ’30, MA ’34, PhD ’40, had stopped by to convey his concerns about the high number of Jewish male applicants to the university. “He says that the situation forces him to disregard our stated policy of paying no attention to the race or religion of applicants,” Glover wrote. The number of students enrolled from the two schools in question subsequently plummeted.
The task force, chaired by Ari Kelman, an associate professor of education and leading expert on Jewish life in America, was established to delve into the history of Jewish admissions and to recommend opportunities to enhance Jewish life on campus today. Those include making a public apology for the past suppression of admissions; clarifying Stanford’s relationship with Hillel; better serving the religious and cultural needs of students, for example, in dining halls and with regard to electronic dorm keys on the Sabbath; and ensuring that the start of fall quarter does not coincide with the Jewish High Holidays. “What allowed antisemitism to exist in the administration in the 1950s was silence and secrecy,” Kelman told STANFORD. “And our job is to daylight that—to do everything we can to have a frank conversation now, to integrate it into conversations about diversity, to make Jewish students feel at home on this campus.”
Oops, sorry Gerry, my last post was too long. If you want me to post it on my website instead, let me know, and I’ll do that and post a link. That will teach me to read Roolz first.