TB has admitted himself that he's here for the lurkers, and I freely admit the same. We both know we're not going to change the minds of anyone here, but these boards are frequented by many intelligent laymen who are curious about what the science people are talking about.

A lively debate here on global warming might lead the lurker to believe that this is a topic of true controversy and uncertainty among the science types, not just a fringe position barely hanging on to the edges of a broad consensus. This will have political consequences. The constant bringing up of the tired old high school debate of Capitalism vs Communism might mislead the casual visitor that either the scientific community is vigorously conflicted about this, or that one side or the other is trying to stage a coup of sorts. In truth, scientists don't really care all that much about politics, and truly resent having it brought up and shoved down their throats all the time. Most see themselves as middle of the roaders, a position which is considered impossible and unacceptable by ideologues.

In short, controversy on this board has a great deal of leverage in a much larger general community because it legitimizes trivial positions, and gives an exaggerated importance to marginalized ones. Why else would people post several times a day on the same side of political issues for months, years at a time? It is a constant barrage that never stops. This is no accident, and you know that perfectly well my vorticle friend. It's either to try and change minds, or to try and prevent someone else from doing so. Of course, those who lurk or post here continuously recognize the futility of all this. But for someone just "passing through", a little bit of propaganda goes a long way. Like feces flung at a wall, some is bound to stick.

The big threat is not that someone has an opinion that differs from mine, or even that he expresses it, it's that a casual listener taking a limited sample from the stream of data will come away with a misleading idea of what it contains.