Petr Kuzmic <pkuzmic at biokin.com> wrote:
> His lack of responsiveness really is
> maddening in any serious discussion, and it is a sign of a true crank or
> graphomaniac. Just don't bother him with facts! Several regular
> contributors to this group told me that they simply ordered their mail
> readers to send any of Mr. Valev's messages right to the Trash, but I
> think there must be a better way to deal with this.
I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments and greatly appreciate your
efforts to debunk mr Valev's postings...both his and Mr Plutonium's
contributions have been quite an irritation for some years, and I must
admit to confining them to the trash as soon as they appear. I was
simply advising caution; I am very jealous of my freedom of speech, and
see such newsgroups as this as a wonderful facility for serious
discussion.
There will be cranks, and teachers need to be selective in directing the
studies of children. University students might benefit from trying to
deduce the flaws in the arguments of Valev themselves (usually they are
far too opaque for this).
I know it was a completely dfferent situation, but the academic
establishment didn't exactly take on Peter Mitchell's ideas, and would
not like to think that someone with an even more completely novel way of
thinking might be silenced because of the conservativness of peer review
publication
with all best wishes,
simon dobbs
