Be warned. I’m taking a moment here to construct my high horse, for I shall be mounting it in a moment.
OK. Almost done. Here we go.
I was minding my own business, perusing my Facebook feed (most horror stories seem to begin this way, btw), and noticed an innocuous post. It was composed by a somewhat big wig in the skepticism game. It said:
[Name redacted]’s wiki page got updated by someone.
Well, I happened to know who, exactly, updated that page because the information was splashed on my personal Facebook wall the day before. So I piped in:
I believe his page was updated as part of the Guerrilla Skeptic project, the one headed by Susan Gerbic. Wendy Hughes announced it on my page. They sure did a good job, I think.
No response from the original poster, which rather surprised me. I figured she’d say something like “Cool. That’s awesome. Thanks, Guerrilla Skeptics.” But she didn’t. So I posted again.
Still nothing. So I posted a third time:
They posted about [snip]’s edits here: https://www.facebook.com/GSoWproject
Nothing.
Finally, the recipient of the incredible edits chimed in. However, s/he didn’t thank the wiki editors… nope. S/he responded to a previous commenter about something unrelated to the edits.
Sigh.
I guess I’m too old for this biz. In my world, when someone does something terribly nice, you say, “Thanks.”
This person will clearly benefit from this updated and expanded wiki page. Indeed, even the commenters on that post pointed out some of the unsung, incredible things s/he’s done.
But the Guerrilla Skeptics got zero thanks for their efforts. Not even a nod. Not even a hat tip in their general direction.
Now, I’ll admit it’s possible this person has formally thanked the Guerrilla Skeptics and I missed it. But I haven’t seen it. I’m not holding my breath either.
But while researching the Guerrilla Skeptics, I found something else. It seems there are other people who are not only mum about their valuable contributions to Wikipedia, they’re downright hostile to their efforts. Like this writer at astrologer.com:
Now the cat is out of the bag! This video (May 2013) reveals a campaign to subvert our consciousness with propaganda and censorship. Not only does this covert ring of sceptics promote themselves, but they actively seek to demote competing viewpoints and to denigrate their opponents.(Sheldrake 2013) Watch it soon – as it is likely that those involved will wake up and want to remove it from public view on YouTube to cover up their embarassing and questionable practices.
Oh my! The blurb even has citations. It must be true, eh? I included the video below because (according to our fine astrologer), it appears as though the JREF might take it down at any minute. (Oh, and if you’ll note, the JREF vid is uploaded under the Astrology News Service account. Clearly these folks aren’t interested in copyright issues.)
Also, reported from the Guerrilla Skeptics page itself, we have the folks at White Crow Books complaining that the skeptics have wrongly edited pages on “dowsing.”
Skeptics with their Materialist dogma are anti-science because science consists of a series of investigative tools, used by people of all races, religions and beliefs. The moment religious or philosophical conclusions are made about reality, we no longer have science. Instead we have dogma. The science that each of us uses, needs to have humility in the face of hard data. It tries to gain some approximation to what is the case, with further investigations always possible.
The Skeptics prescribe the conclusions, and therefore attempt to preclude the research. Many of their members are not scientists, and only once as a group did they engage in serious research. Here is one of many sites that spell this out. They exist to influence the media, and unfortunately they have the ear of the media. If a paranormal event is reported, the Skeptics are invited to present an opposing view, in the name of “balance”. The public of course would be much better served if a real scientist competent in the field were to be consulted.
So yeah. The work of being a Guerrilla Skeptic is apparently thankless.
Which brings me to you. If you have a minute, please send support to the Guerrilla Skeptics. Like their page. Participate by sending an encouraging word. An occasional “thanks” would mean a lot. If you have time, train to become an official editor.
We, in the skeptic community, seem to like to call people out. We challenge beliefs. We question. That’s all fine and good. But sometimes it would be fabulous if we would occasionally point at something online and say, “Wow. That was awesome. Thanks!”
I’ll start: Great job, Guerrilla Skepticism! The before and after pages you edited are jaw droppingly amazing. I can’t imagine how much time it took to complete each entry: the research, citations, crafting of the page, wrestling with detractors. You are a talented, patient, and fabulous bunch of skeptics. Thanks!
I’ll dismount my high horse now. 🙂
