RationalWiki:How I found RationalWiki/2017

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2017[edit]

December 2017[edit]

  • After updating a blog for about a year somebody suggested I start contributing here. I now have many hours of otherwise idle time to spend. Antigem (talk) 15:44, 29 December 2017 (UTC)
  • I was checking out some comments on my WordPress Lorenakoran blog that I had written several years ago titled 'What Johanna Michaelsen and other anti-occult “exposers” don’t want you to know.' A guy named Tony commented, "well you are in luck! a new rational wiki page has been written about Michaelsen http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Johanna_Michaelsen." To that someone using the name Free Rider replied, "rationalwiki?? Really?? That’s like asking the NAACP for a report on the KKK." Tony answered, "so a good thing right?" Naturally I had to check this Rational Wiki think out. I plan to share it with the Central Wisconsin Atheist Societies group. I think they'll like it as well. I'm a little lost on how to do this so sorry ahead of time if I did it wrong. User:Lorenakoran (talk) 18:14, 28 December 2017 */
  • Studying for phil, not totally sure what the first article I stumbled on was, but it led to about 99 more that night. As a staunch Chomsky reader, I was glued to the screen on the excellently written critiques of his writing and statements. Oddly, what made me join was not the breathtaking amount of work (bravo, comrades!), but the things I wanted to look up but could not find. The Neoconservatism page started this with it's Leo Strauss section needing just a little expanding and grammers here and there (I colleged the crap out of 4+ years of writing tutorship, which means I can fix your grammar, but not my own). And, despite username, I am as much a Platonist as Socrates' dog. SocraticrystalMethod (talk) 04:46, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

November 2017[edit]

  • I first found RationalWiki some five years ago, when in the process of dispelling my naive ideas about afterlife, spirits and the like. I may have even made an account back then, but I certainly can't remember what it was or how to log back in. Then, I had other things to do online up until rediscovering it this January. I binged for about a month as a lurker, but then moved away to Quora. Now, however, I began discovering pseudoscience there as well, and decided to rejoin this place to point it out and help refute it, as well as help out elsewhere. Bendazol (talk) 18:05, 28 November 2017 (UTC)
  • I am in my mid 20s and, up until about 6 months ago, was a Christian. Even though I considered myself a Christian, there were always certain aspects about it that bothered me. But, since I was raised in a very sheltered Christian home, I would just try not to think about it, because that's "the Christian way." But, having lived independently for a few years now, I started watching television shows like Morel Orel, Wonder Showzen, and Penn & Teller's Bullshit, among other things. With everything I had been learning combined with my own personal experiences, I just couldn't deny the fact that Christianity (along with religion in general), is just a bunch of bullshit. Wanting to do more research, I searched "was Moses real". Of course, I knew he wasn't, but I wanted to find a good article to read. I found this website's page on Moses, and now I can't stop coming here. Not only am I learning a lot, but am also getting a good laugh at this website's clever humor. I sure am glad this place exists. -SG Segagenitals (talk) 08:03, 26 November 2017 (UTC)
  • Back in 2009 I was a stupid teenager who just discovered the New Atheist Movement on YouTube. I lost countless hours of my life from 2009 to early 2011 or so fully embedding myself in communities ranging from toxic (TAA, Thunderf00t, and their ilk) to fun and lighthearted (FSTDT). I came across RationalWiki back then and frequented the website a lot. I edited a bunch of articles and would lurk the saloon, but I never made an account and eventually a mod threatened me over an edit where I broke a link by mistake. As I grew out of my "embarrassing atheist phase" I stopped frequenting this place, but gradually came back in college due to the great articles on GamerGate and the like. Nowadays this place is back on my list of favorite places on the web, and hopefully I can contribute every now and then without breaking any links this time around. Jt7959 (talk) 17:10, 16 November 2017 (UTC)
  • I found Rational Wiki by fact checking some recent Instagram pages i had recently come across, conspiracy theories, hidden medicine/magic, and all the other stuff that comes with the things we talk about here. i gave a listen to what they had to say, then i decided to check if any of it holds water. Many conspiracy theories sound really viable when you read or hear them, but instead of just going with them i decided to dig further, and it brought me here. i was surprised when i realized i hadn't heard of this community before, especially because i look this kind of stuff up all the time. Anyway, its really great so far, and i hope to stick around for a long time, learn some new stuff and debate some stuff. ---- Happy truth-seeking all! ---- Carpetbomb911 — Unsigned, by: Carpetbomb911 / talk / contribs
  • I found RationalWiki from looking up some american slang from twitter, and lurked a long time before creating a profile. like a-year-and-a-bit long time. Thanks, RW! N6vi (talk) 02:07, 14 November 2017 (UTC)
  • I was looking for sources to justify my reflexive hatred of JonTron to my friend earlier this month, and I found that and much more. The snarkular and humorous way the information is presented (and how well the claims are sourced) lead me to stick around. Chess-z (talk) 17:56, 15 November 2017 (UTC)

October 2017[edit]

  • I discovered this website about a year ago, and I loved it. The work you guys do, and the way you do it with such humor, is what really drew me here. When I discovered your DysLexicon, I read Lurker, and realized I qualified as one. So, I made an account and wish to do my best to contribute.````— Unsigned, by: Doitforstate / talk / contribs
  • I discovered this website like I discover most websites: boredom and having no life. That being said, I love this website with the very fibre of my being, and I have for a number of years (even before I signed up), so all I can say is keep fighting the good fight and all that stuff. PearOfSalamanca
Hello and welcome to RationalWiki! In response to your edit comment, use four tildes (~~~~) to automatically insert a sig with timestamp, name, talk, etc. LynnR (talk) 23:09, 12 October 2017 (UTC)
  • My reason for joining was to assist in showing that cryonics is ridiculous nonscientific quackery, but apparently my initial edits were somehow misconstrued as promoting cryonics (or some company?) by someone who apparently didn't read anything I actually wrote. My "welcome to RationalWiki" moment was my edits all being reverted by this person and then a hostile, nonsensical message being left on my talk page. So instead of adding material and sources and making improvements, I guess I'll go elsewhere online. --Vital Forces (talk) 02:03, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
I'm really sorry about the rude welcome! I've done my best to amend the problem by adding your edits, which seem to be mostly harmless, back and I hope you will decide to stay here at RW. LynnR (talk) 02:27, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I have found RationalWiki via casual switching from website to website whilst having a plethora of free time. Read a couple of the articles, enjoyed the content quite a significant amount and felt like some parts of the articles could be possibly improved. As a result, decided to create an account and do some work on the Wiki. Netytus (talk) 21:18, 28 October 2017 (UTC)

September 2017[edit]

  • I'm from Córdoba, Argentina. My father is always "challenging" me with crazy theories about everything, but the landing point was Homeopathy. I give my parents everything there is but they insist on it. Hope some day they will understand. A spanish RationalWiki would be great.— Unsigned, by: Livingtool / talk / contribs
  • I honestly don't remember when or how I found RW due to lurking for so long... I guess it was just one of the sites I'd found after discovering anti-theists on YouTube around 2013. It's one of the few products of 2000s internet atheism I still follow, due to much of internet atheism turning decidedly anti-skeptical. Capefeather (talk) 00:00, 1 October 2017 (UTC)
  • I was brought here by the Cats article. Rationalwiki is the start of many an internets rabbit hole for me. Love this place. Signed up just to add this. LOL. Sepplchikn (talk) 16:50, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
  • I've been reading and lurking for a solid year now. I honestly don't remember how I found it but I was probably researching woo out of utter boredom. I joined the discord as soon as I saw there was one and just registered. Ohnomorewoo (talk) 15:42, 25 September 2017 (UTC)
  • Via numerous internet searches over the years on subjects such as crackpots like David Duke, UFOs and the like. I can't remember the actual article, but I read one recently that had such a great "tone" to it. In context of the recent rise of banal media coverage concerning most of the idiots in the alt-right (the tragedy at Charlottesville notwithstanding), the tone of this one particular entry was spot on, and more helpful when compared to the way the relatively same info was presented on Wikipedia. So I did a couple of edits and signed up. Looking forward to hopefully contributing more as needed around here. Nycskeptic2017 (talk) 23:25, 24 September 2017 (UTC)
  • In Advisory at my school, two boys "introduced" Conservapedia and went on it. I checked it out; it's "About" page, "Benefits of Capitalism" (factual), and "How Conservapedia Differs From Wikipedia". When I was done, I went to the Wikipedia page on it and read the first few "parts". After I woke up from bed to check The Strain on IMDB, I read more "parts" on Wikipedia. To wrap this up, the phrase "It's too good to be true." prevails, and in the "Reception" part it states that this' made in responce to Conservapedia banning a doctor's and contributors' attempts to type in factual info and that it "monitors" it! — Unsigned, by: 70.198.61.178 / talk / contribs

August 2017[edit]

  • I just Googled "Theta Healing" to see what it was. It sounded like woo, and of course it is. But the great thing is that I found this wonderful Wiki. I registered within minutes of loading the site for the first time. Awesome! BowlEcho (talk) 07:31, 25 August 2017 (UTC)
  • Four years ago, when I got banned from Encyclopedia Dramatica by the Alt-right in the on-going Phobosgate scandal, I saw Rationalwiki. I didn't, however made a single edit until now, 10 months after the election of Donald Trump, helped by Russia through the alt-right and the far-left. -- Bryan See (talk) 12:27, 13 August 2017 (UTC)
  • I've been lurking here a while, i find some articles useful for arguing with eejits, and some very funny, so i finally decided it was time i joined in a bit. Probably won't do much initially, till i find my way round more. Changeling (talk) 19:03, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

July 2017[edit]

  • I've been here a few times; it's fun to explore and read stuff, and there's many interesting thingies around here. I have made a fair amount of edits anonymously, fixing grammar and whatnot, so since I'm here I might as well create an account and claim credit for my corrections. And of course maybe add to pages that need it. -Xbony2 (talk) 12:46, 28 July 2017 (UTC)
  • I was looking through the offline offer of Kiwix and checking some of the proposed content and whether it was still online. By coincidence the main page was at that moment an article about the non-acceptability of Intelligent Design (ID). So I stayed a while to go through some of the stuff on this skeptics wiki... Jansegers (talk) 18:46, 22 July 2017 (UTC)
  • I was looking for some articles about Creationism and how it makes absolutely no sense and stuck around for the articles on Feminism and Men's Rights. Created account so that I can contribute to this great wiki (in my opinion). TB100 (talk) 20:10, 18 July 2017 (UTC)
  • I was looking for a good article on the Mandela Effect, and after i found it, i just started reading some stuff here, conspiracy theories, logical fallacies, etc. Also, i still felt the need to translate the wiki to Portuguese, so i created an account. Questgalleon196 (talk) 15:11, 3 July 2017 (UTC)

June 2017[edit]

  • I'm not entirely sure, but thinking back it might be from the Time Cube article. Did some reading around here, then forgot all about it. Came back (months) later, read even more, and decided register to correct various typos and other (hopefully more major) issues. —Kazitor, pending 06:56, 3 July 2017 (UTC)
  • I had gotten into Armoured Skeptic, and looked him up on the Googles. Rational Wiki gave me lots of good insight on him (and Sargon), and after seeing the Essay features (essays!!!!!) I figured I had to join. Thetruehuman (talk) 15:28, 26 June 2017 (UTC)
  • Once, I looked up Autism Speaks on Autism Wiki. Turns out, Autism Speaks sucks. So I looked it up again, and this website confirmed they suck. Out of curiosity, I looked at some more of the site, and found that it shares a lot of my views (though I still oppose its certain degree of antitheism). And I kept going, and followed it for months before finally creating an account. -Bigljbigl (talk/stalk) 20:14, 24 June 2017 (UTC)

May 2017[edit]

  • On a whim I Googled the term "Xenuphobia" to see if anyone had used it or if I had an original neologism. I got distracted by your article on Xenu, which I liked, except for one error which annoyed me. So I checked out your mission statement, then edited the piece accordingly. I loathe those that try to turn religion into science, and also those who abuse the authority of social science credentials without the slightest genuine scientific inquiry to essentially issue secular fatwas. The effect of these phony pseudoscientists on climate change denial, "wage gap" and other misinformation campaigns, makes them IMO far more dangerous than Creationists, who lost the war a century ago and are basically only hanging around to entertain us.— Unsigned, by: Pnutt / talk / contribs
  • I've been a visitor here for a long time and really appreciate the community of individuals who donate their time to dispelling pseudoscience and misinformation. As an attorney who works with scientific expert witnesses, I am becoming increasingly alarmed with the danger of pseudoscience and poorly-supported ideas working their way into American courts.— Unsigned, by: RationalAttorney / talk / contribs
  • The other day I was having a conversation with a friend about conspiracy theories. We talk about this sort of thing (science, politics, why people think the way they think) a fair amount, and I remember he brought up the favorite tactic of anti-vaxxers, flat-earthers, and the anti-Shillary crowd: Scary Infographics. I was so sure there was a name for it... Sure enough, à la Baader-Meinhof, here it was a couple days later. And then I remembered stumbling across RationalWiki a couple years ago when I was a conservative young-earth creationist sort, and I remember really hating that I wanted to like this place so much. The logic was good. The listing of fallacies was top-notch. The ideology was WRONG, because dogma is a sneaky critter like that, and so the site was Off-Limits to a Top Mind like mine. And... well, I let go of a lot of stuff, and now I'm back, and surprise, it sure grates a lot less now. Anyway, hello! Trambelus (talk) 15:28, 24 May 2017 (UTC)

April 2017[edit]

  • I'm always interested to see creationists and other pseudo-intellectuals get a karmic beat down, so I was bound to end up here sooner or later. I also enjoy a good logical fallacy :) Keithmeister55 (talk) 04:20, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

March 2017[edit]

  • I first discovered RationalWiki through a pothole on TV Tropes. I was a lurker for a long time before I signed up. CJ-Moki (talk) 02:16, 18 August 2017 (UTC)
  • Being very interested in cults, cult-like behaviour and fringe religious (creationist) extremes I ended up here years ago after noticing the Wikipedia article on 'the wedge strategy'. Cynihilapatheist (talk) 23:52, 7 April 2017 (UTC)
  • Googling "Stephen Moore" of the Heritage Foundation. Turns out that your Wingnut welfare article called him an economist, which he isn't, actually (look it up on Heritage's own site). --Calton (talk) 17:58, 30 March 2017 (UTC)
  • huffingtonpost.com -> university course teaching critical thinking -> Carl Sagan's baloney detection kit -> Google search -> Here! 65.203.150.126 (talk) 19:53, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
  • Holocaust denial and the myriad of stupidity it encompasses. I was doing research on the subject for history (yes, I was a high school student at the time of this comment) and started looking into holocaust denial. While I am unable to cite this website as a reputable source, the article still summed it up for me in a helpful way to enhance my understanding of the subject. Twoandtwoalwaysmakesafive (talk) 05:22, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
  • I'd lurked a little bit a few years back, but the other night I ended up here somehow through Google. I read a bunch of articles of fallacies (a favorite pastime of mine) and then immediately created an account after reading the article on Drumpf. Papayaman1000 (talk) 00:02, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
  • Found it a while back and used it as a gradually de converted myself. Did not like a good bit of it but since the arguments were annoyingly sound and logical i became a strong proponent.--That Imbecile (talk) 22:08, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
  • I was debating with a Hindu and not-so-subtly telling them that they were wrong for their belief in cyclic time and an infinite regression. I searched 'infinite regress fallacy' on the web to tell them of the formal logical fallacy that applied and found this site as a search result.Inyë (Carfa) 22:01, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
  • I landed here on the article "List of forms of government" when searching about different types of government on Google. 109 (talk) 02:54, 13 March 2017 (UTC)

February 2017[edit]

  • I followed a link from a friend's thread on Facebook about the Backfire effect. Happy to know about RationalWiki! --Jrbedford (talk) 18:48, 28 February 2017 (UTC)
  • I was enjoying the articles around here for around a month, my first one being the article on Mormonism, a real gem among Religions Bump On A Log (talk) 15:39, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
  • I was lurking for a while before I made an account but if I remember correctly I looked up something about fringe Christianity. Vorarchivist (talk) 19:15, 12 February 2017 (UTC)

January 2017[edit]

  • I googled invisible pink unicorn and this was one of the first results. Christopher (talk) 17:49, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
  • If I recall correctly(I've been doing a lot of lurking since then), I believe I first landed on the homeopathy article. Although I do remember it was off a Google search, and it seems unlikely that I skimmed through 5+ pages of crap to get here, so my memory might be clouded. I know, not very helpful. Still, happy to be here. Tma (talk) 16:30, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
  • Found it sometime 2 years ago? When looking for and excuse to laugh at the crappy Christian film "God's Not Dead" [ScholarHasSpoken] January 15, 2017 13:44 CT
  • AVG Yahoo search for "wiki of logic" brought me to the main page. Scp (talk) 03:10, 10 January 2017 (UTC)
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