Happy Atheist Forum

General => Science => Topic started by: Tank on January 24, 2011, 05:33:01 PM

Title: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 24, 2011, 05:33:01 PM
Remove ICR, AIG, and CMI articles from Google Scholar (http://www.gopetition.com/petition/42229.html)

QuoteThere are several nonscholarly sources appearing on Google Scholar. These nonscholarly sources are AnswersInGenesis.org, Creation.com (Creation Ministries International), and ICR.org (Institute for Creation Research). These three groups do not produce scholarly material.

The information in their publications is deeply biased to represent Young Earth Creationism. The material that they publish is devoid of real scientific research and yet attempts to present it as if it were real scientific research. On top of this, these organizations also give out incorrect information as a way to dissuade people from believing real scientific research into matters such as the age of the Earth, and the validity of scientific knowledge such as the Theory of Evolution by natural selection.

Because Google Scholar has some weight, especially to youths doing research for class, it is highly inappropriate for these articles to show up under Google Scholar. Articles such as these, that have a distinct religious agenda and even go as far as giving incorrect information about science, should not be allowed on Google Scholar.

QuotePetition:

We, the undersigned, call for Google Scholar to remove the works of Answers in Genesis, Creation Ministries International, and the Institute for Creation Research from the Google Scholar search engine because they do not produce scholarly work.

Just signed this. You may wish to consider doing so to.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: LegendarySandwich on January 24, 2011, 05:37:39 PM
When you have a search engine for scholarly sources, things like this are bound to appear. I can't really find it in myself to get worked up over this, but what the hell, I'll sign the petition.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 24, 2011, 05:42:30 PM
Erm, no thanks. Although I'm no creationist myself, I believe in the right of everyone to have access to information. Bully boy tactics and censorship have no place in modern society. I'm afraid the days of the inquisition are over, my friend. Good luck with your petition, since I doubt :)
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: LegendarySandwich on January 24, 2011, 05:51:11 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"Erm, no thanks. Although I'm no creationist myself, I believe in the right of everyone to have access to information. Bully boy tactics and censorship have no place in modern society. I'm afraid the days of the inquisition are over, my friend. Good luck with your petition, since I doubt :)
This is not an effort of trying to silence creationist viewpoints through censorship. It is an effort of trying to remove unscholarly work from a search engine designed to give students scholarly articles.

Would you want an article saying that the Earth is flat appearing in a student's bibliography?
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 24, 2011, 05:56:50 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"Erm, no thanks. Although I'm no creationist myself, I believe in the right of everyone to have access to information. Bully boy tactics and censorship have no place in modern society. I'm afraid the days of the inquisition are over, my friend. Good luck with your petition, since I doubt Google will so much as bat an eyelid  :)
Google Scholar is aimed at users who want to find real and reliable scientifically valid research. Creationist lies have no place on Google Scholar. If Google Scholar is to be taken seriously as a research search engine it will need to pay attention to what the scientific community has to say about the appearance of creationist lies on their search engine.

Nobody is suggesting that creationist views should be excluded from Google, far from it. Their lies should be available for all to see.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 24, 2011, 05:58:41 PM
Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"
Quote from: "pilchardo"Erm, no thanks. Although I'm no creationist myself, I believe in the right of everyone to have access to information. Bully boy tactics and censorship have no place in modern society. I'm afraid the days of the inquisition are over, my friend. Good luck with your petition, since I doubt :)
This is not an effort of trying to silence creationist viewpoints through censorship. It is an effort of trying to remove unscholarly work from a search engine designed to give students scholarly articles.

Would you want an article saying that the Earth is flat appearing in a student's bibliography?
Only if the student was citing the article to debunk it!
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: LegendarySandwich on January 24, 2011, 06:00:12 PM
Quote from: "Tank"Only if the student was citing the article to debunk it!
lol , you get what I mean though.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Recusant on January 24, 2011, 06:04:56 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"Erm, no thanks. Although I'm no creationist myself, I believe in the right of everyone to have access to information. Bully boy tactics and censorship have no place in modern society. I'm afraid the days of the inquisition are over, my friend.
I agree with LengendarySandwich and Tank.  Removing these un-scholarly sources from "google scholar" does not mean that they will not be freely available to anyone who wishes to use them.  It merely tries to assure that students using "google scholar" will not be mislead into thinking that these Creationist sites and the pseudoscience which they purvey are valid from a scientific standpoint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for the heads-up, Tank.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 24, 2011, 06:05:12 PM
Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"
Quote from: "Tank"Only if the student was citing the article to debunk it!
lol , you get what I mean though.
Yes, I understood your point that if the student actually took the article seriously then there would be a serious issue. Mind you one would be under no illusion that the student who did believe anything on AiG et al was real would be a complete fucking moron!
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Will on January 24, 2011, 07:33:57 PM
I really support this.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 24, 2011, 09:04:21 PM
Google would clearly beg to differ. I doubt a few signatures will make even the slightest difference. Good luck though.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Whitney on January 24, 2011, 09:14:21 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"Google would clearly beg to differ. I doubt a few signatures will make even the slightest difference. Good luck though.

I don't think you have the ability to speak on behalf of google.

non-scholarly works should not be allowed in a database that is claimed to be scholarly.  That's not censorship, that's requiring people to meet quality standards.  If someone can write a scholarly research based argument on why evolution is false and god created the earth yesterday, more power to them.

Creationist nonsense can show up in the regular google search results all they want.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: McQ on January 24, 2011, 09:17:12 PM
I don't know too much about Goog1e Scholar, but I am surprised that non-scholarly work managed to get in it in the first place. Unless it's like Wikipedia, where just anyone can post information.

I'm also in favor of having non-scholarly work removed from there and being available freely on the regular Goog1e site.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 24, 2011, 09:23:43 PM
Quote from: "Whitney"
Quote from: "pilchardo"Google would clearly beg to differ. I doubt a few signatures will make even the slightest difference. Good luck though.

I don't think you have the ability to speak on behalf of google.

non-scholarly works should not be allowed in a database that is claimed to be scholarly.  That's not censorship, that's requiring people to meet quality standards.  If someone can write a scholarly research based argument on why evolution is false and god created the earth yesterday, more power to them.

Creationist nonsense can show up in the regular google search results all they want.

I do, and I just did. What google allows is up to google, not you or I.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Whitney on January 24, 2011, 09:27:54 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"I do, and I just did. What google allows is up to google, not you or I.

That doesn't make any sense.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 24, 2011, 09:32:17 PM
Quote from: "Whitney"
Quote from: "pilchardo"I do, and I just did. What google allows is up to google, not you or I.

That doesn't make any sense.

Alrighty then.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 24, 2011, 09:32:38 PM
The petition is getting spammed now, look at some of the names

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg408.imageshack.us%2Fimg408%2F2720%2Fpetition.jpg&hash=89efcb25a996cbc3c236cd7ce3eedc6098088d81)
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: McQ on January 24, 2011, 09:34:05 PM
Quote from: "Tank"The petition is getting spammed now, look at some of the names.


Sadly, this is not surprising. Sigh.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 24, 2011, 10:00:48 PM
Yet one more reason why it's not going to make any difference. It looks like Google Scholar will stay as is. Oh well.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: LegendarySandwich on January 24, 2011, 10:50:44 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"Yet one more reason why it's not going to make any difference. It looks like Google Scholar will stay as is. Oh well.
It seems to me that you're missing the point of petitions entirely.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 24, 2011, 11:30:38 PM
Quote from: "LegendarySandwich"
Quote from: "pilchardo"Yet one more reason why it's not going to make any difference. It looks like Google Scholar will stay as is. Oh well.
It seems to me that you're missing the point of petitions entirely.

I'm not.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Velma on January 25, 2011, 03:41:05 AM
If Google Scholar wants to be taken seriously as a scholarly resource, they will have to do something about such sites.  I've signed the petition.  I hope it helps.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: terranus on January 25, 2011, 05:59:06 AM
Signed, shared and tweeted. Done.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 25, 2011, 11:59:36 AM
So sad.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 25, 2011, 02:24:05 PM
pilchardo

Read this article and tell me why an organisation that can produce such drivel should be let anywhere near real science AiG How old is the Earth (http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2007/05/30/how-old-is-earth)
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: pilchardo on January 25, 2011, 04:12:32 PM
It's not up to me, Tank, it's up to google. I have about as much influence on what they'll include as you do. They've made their decision and I don't think your or I can change that. Sorry.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Kylyssa on January 25, 2011, 05:44:07 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"It's not up to me, Tank, it's up to google. I have about as much influence on what they'll include as you do. They've made their decision and I don't think your or I can change that. Sorry.
This is simply learned helplessness.  You can't do anything because you don't think you are able.  Working together, humans can accomplish some pretty big things.  

Google realize how idiotic including these folks makes them appear to the world.  They don't want to lose the share of profits that come from having more users worldwide.  A site catering to Young Earth Creationists will only be appreciated by a tiny portion of the world's population.  By including fantasists and Young Earth Creationists among scientists, Google Scholar.  I'm sure Google Scholar is intentionally including.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Stevil on January 25, 2011, 07:55:23 PM
Hopefully Google Myth and then they can put all this Religious stuff so people that are inclined that way can find it all and not have to wade through proven facts and stuff.
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Tank on January 25, 2011, 09:29:29 PM
Quote from: "pilchardo"It's not up to me, Tank, it's up to google. I have about as much influence on what they'll include as you do. They've made their decision and I don't think your or I can change that. Sorry.
You can be sorry if you like. I'll keep banging away.  :D
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: history_geek on January 27, 2011, 12:06:07 PM
Signed, and even managed to make a typo in my comment. Perkeleenperkeleenperkele! :yay: Not. Damn it... :drool
Title: Re: Help keep creationist off of Google Scholar
Post by: Newtonyd on February 04, 2011, 04:13:14 AM
Quote from: "pilchardo"It's not up to me, Tank, it's up to google. I have about as much influence on what they'll include as you do. They've made their decision and I don't think your or I can change that. Sorry.

As customers of the Google Scholar are mostly automated. Just because stuff from AiG is on there does not mean they've already 'made their decision.' They could be unaware of it, or only low level people within the company are aware of it. Petitions are a way of substantial groups of people to bring issues to the attention of the people who can change their policies.

You seem to be spending a lot of effort trying to make us believe it's not worth the effort. If you don't want to be a part of it, that's fine. It's hardly a productive use of your time to try to hinder an effort which you supposedly have no interest in opposing. If you care to try to stop the petition, please make your arguments as to why Scholar should keep the creationist papers. If not, then there's no point in trying to obstruct it.

*Edit* Ouch, just realized how old this post is.