Separate like oil an water.!!!

[cluelusshusbund]

Stryder--"Junk Sciences are "theories" (which are hypothesises) of things using Metaphysics rather than actual sciences. While it's great for everyone to have an imagination, this forum is pretty much to aid in stopping imagination ruining any actual science related discussions.

So if you want to talk about UFO's, Aliens, the Lochness monster or bizarre conspiracies (Like Religion) then this is the subforum for you (either by choice, or by moderation)"

So those who wish to post what SciVillage considers to be junk science topics can do so in the junk science subforum... sounds grate... a simple way to keep junk science separate from real science... an the junk-science that people choose to post in the junk science subforum will give new ideas for topics in the real science forum... an vice versa... yep... sounds like a win win situation.!!!  

[Mr Doodlebug]

Is having Religion, Philosophy Politics and Fringe proper for a science forum?
It's a good idea if you want post volume, but it doesn't give much scientific credibility.
These subjects are all about opinion and belief.
What kind of people does this forum want to attract?
Everybody?
Scientists?
Who?

---

This question needs to be sorted out very quickly.
I don't believe that you can have second class members who have to post on a second class section.
Either these are subjects to be welcomed, or excluded.
Make clear rules, or you will have a problem.
Added later.
There is a General Discussion section.
How about if any discussion can be held there, with basic rules on racism etc.?
People can say what they like. Scientific or not.
In the General discussion section, ideas need not have any basis at all.
I hate the idea of a Junk Science section.

[cluelusshusbund]

There is a General Discussion section.
How about if any discussion can be held there, with basic rules on racism etc.?
People can say what they like. Scientific or not.
In the General discussion section, ideas need not have any basis at all.
I hate the idea of a Junk Science section.

No mater how its packaged... i like the idea of people bein able to discuss "Religion, Philosophy Politics and Fringe" as long as it dont interfere wit Science discussions.!!!

[C C]

I hate the idea of a Junk Science section.

It should probably be moved down to either the bottom of that top section or the lower section, if the boards' administrator functions allow that to be possible. I mean, "junk science" indeed probably isn't the first thing a visitor wants to see (even the members interested in such might not like to immediately encounter what they'd perceive as a justifiably pejorative sub-title).

[stryder]

Initially it was just a test to work out how to handle things over at SF, however I didn't go any further with it (or mention to them over there the idea).

This site doesn't have to be strictly Science, the only reason I avoided Politics and Religion subforums is purely due to how Extremist people can be with those topics.  It doesn't mean those subforums don't have to exist, if you guys/gals want them, then I'll set them up.

I can even generate a better termed subforum for UFO's/Aliens/Ghosts (possibly in the Culture category) although I'd probably keep the Junk subforum in the General Science section. (Which I'll move to the bottom of that category)  We'll see if it works, if it doesn't we can always shift it again (or evolve it further)

[C C]

Initially it was just a test to work out how to handle things over at SF, however I didn't go any further with it (or mention to them over there the idea).

This site doesn't have to be strictly Science, the only reason I avoided Politics and Religion subforums is purely due to how Extremist people can be with those topics.  It doesn't mean those subforums don't have to exist, if you guys/gals want them, then I'll set them up.

I can even generate a better termed subforum for UFO's/Aliens/Ghosts (possibly in the Culture category) although I'd probably keep the Junk subforum in the General Science section. (Which I'll move to the bottom of that category)  We'll see if it works, if it doesn't we can always shift it again (or evolve it further)

The range and flexibility of what the overall forum can become sounds great. I'll leave it to those interested in the fringe stuff to suggest what they want there. A philosophy of religion forum / sub-forum or something that hints at an "external, objective study of the religious genre" might help accommodate a prized member like Yazata with some of his interests.

[stryder]

The range and flexibility of what the overall forum can become sounds great. I'll leave it to those interested in the fringe stuff to suggest what they want there. A philosophy of religion forum / sub-forum or something that hints at an "external, objective study of the religious genre" might help accommodate a prized member like Yazata with some of his interests.

Okay two new forums in the Culture section:
Weird and Beyond (UFO's, Aliens, Ghosts, Big Foot, Lochness Monster etc)
Religion and Spirituality

I'm apprehensive about politics... I've only ever harsh words for the subject.

[Yazata]

I think that a Philosophy forum is very important on a science board.

Science got its start as Natural Philosophy and philosophical problems continue to be generated by science at every turn.

There are metaphysical issues. (What is mathematics really, and why is it so damned useful in modeling physical phenomena? What about the problem of scientific realism.) There are epistemological issues concerning things like scientific objectivity and methodology. All kinds of stuff. (Just think of all of the interpretations of quantum mechanics.)

I'd favor a Religion forum too, but that's just my personal interest. (I won't hate this board or anything if Stryder doesn't agree with me.) In my experience, some of the most interesting arguments about how we know the things we think we know, about how words acquire their meaning and reference, and stuff like that, arise in the course of discussing problem-cases like religion.

Edit: I see that Stryder's already added a Religion and Spirituality forum. Thanks. I'll suggest that perhaps he might want to rename it 'Philosophy of Religion' or something like that. (It could be a subheading under 'Philosophy'.) My reason is just to make things a bit more scholarly and to head off preaching and 'witnessing', where people post about whatever it is they believe and feel offended and challenged if anyone asks why they believe it.

I'm very hesitant about a Politics forum. Things are way too polarized out there and the whole subject is just too divisive.

A Current Events forum might work, but it would probably just turn into a Politics forum in disguise. The Ethics forum is probably going to go that way too.

[stryder]

There is a Philosophy subforum (although I've got it labelled "Logic and Philosophy", perhaps I should invert that)

I tried to keep the whole Science Category based to the various area's of Science.  I initially was following this:

[Image: 512px-The_Scientific_Universe.png]

The Scientific Universe [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], by Efbrazil (Own work), from Wikimedia Commons

Science however isn't particularly suited to any form of T-tree's since for the most part all subjects are interdisciplinary to some extent (More of the topology of a web). So with that in mind, I tried to piece some topics together to make the subforums.

Religion isn't a Science so it falls into Culture, albeit there is plenty to discuss from the Psychological, Anthropological etc in regards to what religion has been like over time.

We'll see how it goes

[Yazata]

There is a Philosophy subforum (although I've got it labelled "Logic and Philosophy", perhaps I should invert that)

I think that the 'Logic and Philosophy' name is fine as it is, no need to change it.

The reason why I put in a word for the Philosophy of Science wasn't anything you did. It was mostly Mr. Doodlebug's suggestion that philosophy might be out of place on a science discussion board. (I think that he's right regarding a lot of philosophy.)

Having said that, I don't think that it's possible to do science without doing philosophy at the same time. So we probably need a place where we can make science's philosophical assumptions explicit from time to time (methodological assumptions, assumptions as to what kind of things are really real, etc.) so that people can think about them.

Religion isn't a Science

I agree. So yeah, including a Religion forum among the Science categories wouldn't be appropriate. Frankly, I'm not sure what religion is.  

so it falls into Culture, albeit there is plenty to discuss from the Psychological, Anthropological etc in regards to what religion has been like over time.

While religion isn't a science, it may or may not be possible to investigate the phenomenon of religion scientifically. It's certainly possible to address it rationally.

My own inclination is to address religion with the tools of philosophy, history, textual studies and the (so-called) 'social sciences'. (Are they really sciences? Another philosophical question...)

We'll see how it goes

That we will.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for starting the board.