Just like uncle Andy said, never trust a man with two first names.

My speculations about a very water rich Mars with global oceans (i.e a water planet) met with much disfavor, if not scorn, in most quarters.

Actually, the Blue Mars lobby has been around for quite a while.

It is only logical that Mars, or the destroyed Asteroid belt planet were the most water rich planets in the early universe, since Earth is mostly rock, and Jupiter is mostly light gases.

The Asteroid belt is a dynamically stable region that has accumulated alot of stuff, but never enough to form and keep a planet. Partially thanks to the perturbations of Jupiter, which is mostly Hydroden in metallic phase.

Elementary. This ocean would have persisted as long as there was sufficient magnetic field to protect it from the solar wind.

Astounding Holmes. But no. The magnetic field would slow the ablation of the atmosphere by the solar wind letting it persist longer. If the planet is too cold and not massive enough though, your ocean freezes, sublimes, photodissociates and still leaves the planet.

No chance of terraforming Mars now, unless you generate a magnetosphere first.

This is something that has been modeled. You know with math and physics. Uh, numbers and stuff...? Anyway it would last on the order of millions of years, if the space genie poofed a nice thick atmo around Mars.

If you don't do any homework, can you really claim to be the smartest kid in the class? Are you sure it wasn't you who was met with scorn? Understanding nothing but knowing everything?