LHC portal

You may have noticed that we now have a wiki (http://wiki.lhcportal.com). This is filling up nicely, especially considering it's only been up a few days. It is, however missing something I think is important: unbiased and complete descriptions of theories like, for example, Ivan's magnetic holes. What we need is for theories and claims like this to be written up in a sensible and logical manner, and the parts that can be conclusively proved written, and the parts that can be conclusively disproved written.

Therefore, here is an open invitation to MagneticTrap, and anyone else with theories about the LHC: write them up in an unbiased manner on the wiki.

What do I mean by unbiased? Well, for a start, you must state that it is a theory that hasn't been proved by experiment. You must not just assume you are right. Take a step back and write objectively *about* it. You're not trying to convince anyone of anything, merely write down the facts.

I think this will be a valuable and conducive thing to do. It will be of benefit to the theorists, the skeptics, the terrified and the community in general. That said, if this invitation sparks off abuse of the wiki, eg. writing opinions in general articles ("magnetic dipoles are baaaaad and will kill us all!", etc.), bear in mind that mediawiki makes it very easy for us to revert, lock and watch content, as well as banning IPs and users. I really *really* hope that people will be sensible and logical about this, and that these are measures that we will not need to take.

In conclusion: write stuff! Don't be biased, and focus on knowledge.

~2.0

Hi ~2.0

I wish you lots of luck of with your efforts to gather of information on your Wiki.

As to whether or not Ivan will be able to follow your rules, there I don't hold out much hope at all. So far nothing I have sent that he has written has followed them so far. I don't see the leopard changing his spots this late in the game.

Allan

Good idea, but I doubt Ivan has any desire to do it so close to the collisions.

OH MY....

Wow.... A wiki on Ivan... Wow...

1. Though I find the idea of allowing these kinds of unproven points of view (to say it neutrally) very admirable, I hope that you are well-prepared for conflict management, page defacement, having to ban people from the team of editors, etc. etc. I would not be surprised if there will be a lot of it.

2. I personally think it isn't a good idea to mix the facts with the fiction in such a wiki. If you take a look through some of the discussions here on the forum you will see how difficult it can be for people without a background in physics / general science to see the difference between serious scientific ideas and the crackpot theories / conspiracy theories, etc. And how some are badly affected by this (panic attacks, uncontrollable fear, etc.).

If you mix these two in one wiki, it becomes even more difficult for the unsuspecting visitor of the wiki to understand what is what. As in "It says so in the wiki so it must be true... Run for the hills!!". Don't underestimate the authority-power of just the wiki name...

If you are really serious about doing this, I hope that you are going to make it very clear on such pages (through some big red banner or something) that they are not about actual science, but para-science, pseudo-science or however you want to call it.

I like the idea; I am still a believer in democracy, just because all other systems are worse.
From the experience of Wikipedia, we see that although indeed there can be a lot of controversy, it will stabilize eventually. And indeed, we do need the concept of "operator", in order to stabilize things, and to add stuff that "normal" users cannot remove (i.e. red warning banners).

I disavow all responsibility for each and every single thing on the wiki..

( runs away as fast as possible )

I admit it might be a bad idea... All joking aside.. If its gets to be a problem,, it will have to go. Its time to come up with a management plan. No kidding...

While it sounds good n concept, in practice it might be a issue..