Of course no one here ever makes it personal ;). An ideal goal to be sure, but one hard to keep in heated debates and well known to be violated quite often here and in scientific debates. Fortunately facts usually get discussed along the way and the personality issues are more background than the main event.

The issue isn't nuttiness in the case of BD it is outright fraud and classic pseudo-scientist techniques. There is nothing nutty about panspermia or the possibility of life on Mars. These are legitimate research subjects followed by many real scientists. See Tom and my listing of pseudo-scientist techniques if you think BD's approach is scientific.

Regards,
Mark