You must know how to play the science game before you challenge a scientist.
Ok, so now you have a moral obligation to tell us what we need to do to make our evidence more acceptable to scientists.
Every profession has its vocabulary and methods which are unique to it. Science is no different, however we can go a small way towards presenting our evidence in a scientifically acceptable way if we know how it should be done. We can always choose to do this or not - depending on whether we want to gain acceptance from those scientists who are reading our threads.
Somehow, I doubt there will be many who will come here to challenge their belief systems out of choice, but rather that they come here because they have been asked to come here to find out what is being discussed. But thats fine too. At least they are here.
It is rather like we are trying to be pseudo-scientists and I do not think that is possible or desirable either. It is up to a scientists to take the evidence a lay-person has found and to present it in a scientific manner for his/her colleagues, to write papers or to investigate the phenomena further if there is an interest or funding available.
To ask us to be scientists is asking us to fail at it. Why not as I have suggested above, point out the things we can do which will make the job of the investigating scientist easier so that he or she does not have to think too hard to put our evidence into the science jargon and methodology framework.
Already we a) give links to the official site b) suggest our untrained 'hypotheis' or speculations c) give links to other Earth-based supporting evidence d) give other instances of the same or similar occurrances of the evidence.
These things should go some way towards helping science in their quest for knowledge(!)
Many of us do this out of interest, so as soon as our interest in the particular topic wanes, we move on to another more interesting topic. That is the way with hobbies and interests and that is all we can ask for from members of this forum. It is up to science to take what we have 'found' and run with it.
Qmantoo. I am on the same page as you. Personally, this is a passion and I am not scientifically trained but I do believe I have an open and enquiring mind and a good set of eyes. I have also travelled extensively absorbing different cultures and visiting as many historical sites as possible. This has opened my eyes and minds to 'patterns' that signify an intelligent design. I do not always know who the 'intelligence' was or what they intended with their structures but I can see them as such. The work I have posted on this site is meant for 'normal' people and is worded and presented in a way that most ordinary people could follow even if their first language is not English. The work is intended to open a dialogue on the possibilities presented, it not to be used as a sales tool to the scientific minds. I do not believe it is possible for a scientific mind to imagine much of what we are suggesting as the training in itself may prove to be a conditioning tool that limits the minds acceptance of anything that is not currently accepted or mainstream. Yes, there are members on the site that present in a more technical manner and one I am sure that scientists would approve of but in so doing they exclude the other 98% of the population of our planet. Now don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for the research and dedication show by the science fraternity world-wide, but I am not in agreement with their conclusions in many cases. I will take their data into consideration when I can understand it, use their tools and data when I can access it but I prefer to draw my own conclusions based on my own experiences. In my opinion, if we had always believed and accepted that what the scientific community told us was absolute fact we would probably still be living on a flat planet....
Most of us are self-taught pseudo-scientists with no real experience of science at all - except what we did at school with bunson burners and pestles and mortars.
All that we can use is common sense and that is not common at all when relating it to other world anomalies. Basically, the things which we would find out if we REALLY knew, would blow our minds and change all the laws of physics that we have come to believe. How can you closely encounter an alien species without having a major change of thinking?
In point of fact, scientists, with all their education and knowledge of science, are probably at a disadvantage in the real-life application of common sense - when it comes to compleely different thinking. I am not knocking scientists at all, but a trained mind is just that - trained to think and ask questions in a certain way. An untrained mind does not have the scientific constraints that go with the scientist job and the kind of thinking they need to be successful at their work. So in my mind, both groups have advantages in different areas, although if we seek approval an acceptance from the scientific community, then we will have to couch our results in the way they expect and require to see them. If we do not, then we will not be taken seriously.
The problem is our need for acceptance and approval by science. We do not need this.
It is difficult to cut a middle line, since one of the things the forum likes to pride itself on, is that there is not so much 'moderation' as in other forums. However, having said that, we do have to draw the line sometimes when things appear to be getting out of hand as far as ridiculous posts go. I agree with what you have said too.
The problem is that most of us are not scientists or even scientifically minded, so at one end of the scale there are people who crave sensation and are willing to post any old rubbish, and at the other end of the scale there are more scientifically minded people who crave acknowledgement of these anomalies by the establishment.
As a personality in its own right, the forum has to attract both of these kinds and also people who lurk in the middle too - well, at least the forum has to try to do this. It is all about public image and fitting into an internet niche I suspect, so that the people who are not comfortable here will move on elsewhere and find their niche there. Yes, sometimes they have to be pushed, but there have to be some rules and regulations otherwise we would have complete chaos.
I think it is useful for members to pull us up and make us more critical of our evidence. We cannot have too high a standard, since we are up against real trained scientists who know how to play the science game. These are the people who will judge our evidence and these are the people we need to persuade to look harder and perhaps question their data a little more than they have been used to doing.
There are plenty of adequate software out there to allow anyone with a little time to examine and discover anomalies in any of the original photographs. Even with PDS images we can use NASAView or other free .img reading software. There really is not much excuse for using poor images, since we have the same access to the same images scientists are expected to use for their research.
I just wanted to be certain everyone acknowledged this:
Suppose something's official explanation is incorrect. Saying something other than the official view only for the sake of saying something other than the official view is not right. Back it up with evidence that even a hardened skeptic cannot overlook.
I understand that you are all trying very hard to work for your cause, but for the moment, please focus on the most undeniablebits of evidence you can find. A lot of it can be interesting, but you won't make a difference at the rate you're going right now.
I have seen examples of good and poor evidence presented at this site. But please use more than just a few (a lot of) images as evidence. Use some science. Something as simple as the appearence of the soil or the color of the clouds and sky can go a way much longer than a bunch of questionable images and a couple really good ones. The smallest observations about general things is what you should be going for in your research, because these can be verified time and time again in very many images, not just a select few.
That is all. If you must call me out on anything, please do so. It's how we learn.
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What if Pinnochio says that his nose will grow longer?