Why the virtual particle hating?

[andresB]

[Mentor's note - this post was moved from this thread and both the title and the tag were assigned as part of moving the post into a new thread - if you disagree with eiether don't yell at @andresB because he didn't do it]

For some reason, PhysicsForum tend to become very hostile for Ops asking about virtual particles. A shame taking into account how nice it is everywhere else.

 

[Nugatory]

For some reason, PhysicsForum tend to become very hostile for OPs asking about virtual particles. A shame taking into account how nice it is everywhere else.

Could I ask which other sites you are thinking about?

 

[phinds]

For some reason, PhysicsForum tend to become very hostile for Ops asking about virtual particles. A shame taking into account how nice it is everywhere else.

[NOTE: I moved this response here from the other thread since it made no sense in the other thread now that the post to which it is responding was moved]

Well, not EVERYWHERE else. We are very hostile to crackpots. You'll notice that this thread was not locked or deleted so no one thinks the OP is a crackpot, just that he hasn't done any research and causing people to have to put in things they've put in many times already, which he would have realized had he done a forum search.

 

[andresB]

Could I ask which other sites you are thinking about?

I don't understand what you are asking.

 

[andresB]

Well, not EVERYWHERE else. We are very hostile to crackpots. You'll notice that this thread was not locked or deleted so no one thinks the OP is a crackpot, just that he hasn't done any research and causing people to have to put in things they've put in many times already, which he would have realized had he done a forum search.

Yet other questions get asked and answered time after time but only in the topic of virtual particle I've seen hostility toward a non-conflictive OPs.

 

[phinds]

Yet other questions get asked and answered time after time but only in the topic of virtual particle I've seen hostility toward a non-conflictive OPs.

I think you're missing my point. To take an extreme example, questions about the Flat Earth Theory would elicit hostility (they just wouldn't last long enough for many people to notice it).

And by the way, I'm buying into your whole "hostility" thing here just for the sake of answering you. I don't actually agree that the responses have been hostile, just truthful.

 

[andresB]

I could understand that, but in this case I don't see the relation. Unlike flat earth, Virtual particle are a very common misconception even in serious literature

 

[Vanadium 50]

When people ask questions, there is no 'hating'.

The problem starts when they aren't asking questions, but making statements. Wrong statements. It escalates when they continue to make these statements after correction.

Having read a popularization doesn't make you an expert, and it certainly doesn't make you more of an expert than someone who has spent years studying this.

 

[Nugatory]

I don't understand what you are asking.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood you.
The first time through I read "A shame taking into account how nice it is everywhere else" as saying that discussions of virtual particles elsewhere in the Internet are nicer - so I wanted to know where. But the second time through, I see that you were saying that Physics Forums itself is nice everywhere except when it comes to discussions of virtual particles. My mistake... ignore the question, now I understand what you meant.

 

[andresB]

The problem starts when they aren't asking questions, but making statements. Wrong statements. It escalates when they continue to make these statements after correction.
.

Everyone make statements, even wrong statements. Even staffmembers have been corrected in the past, I'm not sure why is different in this case. They get corrected and that is it.

And the guy was just repeating some very common and easy to learn misconception. I have not seems the hostility toward people stating other misconceptions. And the guy was just told he was wrong without much explanaitions, it is not like that will convince anyone.

Having read a popularization doesn't make you an expert, and it certainly doesn't make you more of an expert than someone who has spent years studying this.

Are you saying that the statements like "the Cassimir effect is an evidence of vacuum fluctuations" only happen in popularization books?.

 

[Drakkith]

And the guy was just told he was wrong without much explanaitions, it is not like that will convince anyone.

While this does happen sometimes, most threads that I've seen, including the one linked to in the first post in this thread, have some sort of explanation of why the common view of virtual particles is incorrect. If you see a specific post or member who isn't contributing to the thread, feel free to use the Report feature to bring them to the attention of the mentors.