Talk.origins

talk.origins (also Talk.Origins or to ) is a moderated, English-speaking discussion group on Usenet , which deals with the origins of life and evolution . The talkgroup and the resulting web archive represent a central platform and collection of arguments on the subject of creationism and aim to present arguments from scientific news groups such as sci.bio.evolution in a popular way.

history

The newsgroup was started on September 5, 1986 by Mark Horton .

A number of FAQs have been published on it on a regular basis since the 1990s . In 1994 Brett J. Vickers set up an FTP site to host the FAQ collection and in 1995 an archive. Topics are diverse questions and answers on evolutionary biology , geology and astronomy . The forum aims to reflect the current state of science and to refute every known argument of creationists with proven arguments. Websites derived from this include TalkDesign in response to so-called Intelligent Design , Evowiki and the Panda's Thumb Weblog.

A moderation of the newsgroup was introduced after user inquiries, which is currently (2009) the responsibility of David Iain Greig and Jim Lippard on his behalf. In addition to some humorous aspects, talk.origins contains well-founded counter arguments against creationist arguments. The associated archive was recommended by Scientific American in August 2002 because of its in-depth argumentation and extensive bibliography in favor of the theory of evolution ; further recommendations were made by the Smithsonian Institution , the Leakey Foundation and the American National Center for Science Education , among others .

The discussion culture at talk.origins includes some humorous elements, such as a parody of a fictional University of Ediacara , the also fictional evil atheist conspiracy , which hides the evidence of creationism, and the monthly awarding of the Chez Watt Prize for edits, which a 'say what ' (Huh?) Evoke.

Awards

Talk.origins has received a number of awards and positive mentions.

Web links

• The Talk.Origins Archive
• The talk.origins homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ starter message for talk.origins, Horton, Mark, September 5, 1986, talk.origins id=[e-mail]
2. ^ John Rennie: Other Resources for Defending Evolution , Scientific American , June 17, 2002, accessed September 22, 2009.
3. ↑ Talk.origin as a recommended link on the Smithsonian Institution website
4. ↑ The Leakey Foundation - Recommended Links ( Memento from December 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ National Center for Science Education : Critiques of Creationism: Links . Retrieved September 9, 2009.
6. ^ Ediacara University Home Page . Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 26, 2014. 
7. ↑ The Evil Atheist Conspiracy . Retrieved February 19, 2011.
8. ↑ Grumbine, Robert: Re: Chez Watt (was Re: I am a creationist) . May 5, 2005. [e-mail]. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
9. ^ The Talk, Origins Archive: Awards, Honors, and Favorable Notices . Retrieved May 8, 2007.