RationalWiki:How I found RationalWiki/2019

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2019[edit]

December 2019[edit]

  • I discovered Rational Wiki via a fb user's post regarding Autism $peaks — Unsigned, by: 2600:1:b00d:9e00:596b:3a7c:cd02:4dd9 / talk / contribs
  • I discovered this website through reddit, specifically r/anarchism. leSanoi (1talk)
  • I discovered it by looking for wiki that’s tries to refutes pseudoscience.User:An Rational Macaw
  • I got here whilst challenging my employers' opressive firewall and trying to get anything at all on the general Internet - this site strolled through as if there were no firewall at all!User:Arthur Foxache

November 2019[edit]

  • Paul Krugman published a typically incisive editorial in the New York Times which linked to a RW article on "wingnut welfare." I had never heard the term and after chasing the link I spent the next couple of hours reading around. Chisel58 (talk) 01:34, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
  • You might be surprised if I told you I found out about RW in Encyclopedia Dramatica. I expected it to be terrible and, was somewhat surprised by what I found. As a somewhat conservative person, I disagreed with a lot of what I read, but I kept lurking regardless. At a certain point, every politics-related controversy that I read about, I ended up checking here to see what the opposition had to say about it. After months of this, I must say this wiki has prevented me from being radicalized, even if I am still conservative in many ways. So far I've learned a lot, so thank you. Leepdroon (talk) 22:15, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I discovered this site while trying to find info on Black supremacy and the Nation of Islam. I have been lurking at this website since them, and took a break at one point to do other things. I have been back lurking again for about a few months now and have decided to join. I can't remember if I tried to join at one point in the past, but I will be here to stay. Crazymantis91 (talk) 21:40, 5 November 2019 (UTC)
  • I discovered this site trying to find info on Dave Rubin. Later I found out how easy it was to get information about people from the left and right of the political spectrum I am quite active on this server I might try to give more info for more obscure figures. David1033gd (talk) 23:50, 5 November 2019
  • I discovered this site because my obsession with operating systems led me to OS Wars. I liked a lot of the other Fun articles like You Have Two Cows. This is also how I found out about Conservapedia. Url8 (talk) 19:54, 16 November 2019

October 2019[edit]

  • I've been a reader of this wiki for several months but I've only recently become a "member." I believe I found this place when I was searching up fallacies. RationalHindu (talk)
  • Looking up if Josh Axe had a medical degree and where he went to school. I discovered he is a chiropractor who went to school in Kentucky and is not an MD. Among the search results was RationalWiki. — Unsigned, by: 50.1.119.136 / talk
  • A year long lurker, only registered yesterday, but I suppose here I am. Discovered the site due to it's extensive account of Gamergate, and after that lurked for a while. Was initially drawn towards the site due to it's snarky tone, it's desire to not mince words in it's criticism, it's well sourced articles and largely due to it's easy to understand word choice (something I prefer over dry tomes like Wikipedia which throw jargon around like crazy). Decided to finally register because I think that I can help out in some sections. I hope to be able to make a positive contribution to the site. The Crow (talk) 10:08, 8 October 2019 (UTC)
  • So late for two years (account added September '17), but here i am now. Stumbled upon this site during the 2016 U.S. presidential election or before i made my account here, during the time when i started to doubt about what i had been believing before . Because of this wiki i preached rationality around that year and 2018, but i'm getting myself back now. I look to become more active in the future, especially concerning drafts around this website. When i work in it, i hope to finally become a sysop for RationalWiki and getting to learn about the role. I also would like to take care of this website in the future should established RationalWikians are retiring and quitting. Maybe i'm too ambitious, but who knows. SMB99thx XD 05:22, 6 October 2019 (UTC)

I was checking out a YouTube video by "Friends of Science". The speaker was an older woman playing the "grandmother knows best" card and using absurd assertions. When I checked into them I was directed to RationalWiki and like what I see. Grumpy24

September 2019[edit]

  • I stumbled upon this website while doing some research on a preacher that lives in my city named Steven Anderson and was delighted at how snarky it was. This man has made me considered moving several times just so I can be further away from the people who listen to him. After I thoroughly enjoyed reading the articles here I delved into the talk pages and was happy to see members fighting against misinformation and bigotry, all while still feeling kinda… fun? If that makes sense. Y'all are good people, and I thought I'd like to join you in editing articles and discussing the goings on. Gives me something to do when it's slow at work anyway.CAPSlOCKrOXX (talk) 19:20, 20 September 2019 (UTC)
  • About a couple months ago I got interested in watching on YouTube videos dedicated to debunking the Flat Earth theory. Later I would find a website dedicated to the same purpose, FlatEarth.ws, and they use RationalWiki as a source for some of their logic and facts. After lurking for awhile, now I have an account here! StrangerCoug (talk) 16:21, 14 September 2019 (UTC)
  • I was talking with my supervisor about artificial intelligence and how it was a threat to humanity and he made a joke about Roko's Basilisk. Intrigued, I asked him what he was talking about and he brought up the LessWrong community and how they were a smart bunch of cranks. Curiosity killed my cat as I googled the LessWrong community during down time at work. A lot of what they had to say made sense but I was confused by how someone I respect as an intellectual could think these people were cranks so I googled something along the lines of 'What's wrong with the LessWrong community' and I found a RationalWiki link at around the third result down. What followed was a rabbit hole of hours spent reading various topics on this website. This website has helped me greatly in my search for Truth. ~Cumulus (talk) 04:18, 13 September 2019 (UTC)
  • Yesterday was seeing the last Wingnut Roundup of Jeff Holiday (who i put sometimes for see the most strange woo) and suddenly appears the word "starseed" i get intrigued; someone claimed to be an starseed and an alien. Ended searching for the word in Google, because the term sounded kinda familiar, even pretty. So saw the name RationalWiki, so make me inmediatelly ok for try (the others had lot of more woo) and discovered who was the same thing who was before the Indigo childs (thing who was a boom in the 2000s, thing who hated too much)... And remembered why the name sounded in my memory (Starseeds are the cristals/souls of a sailor scout, in Sailor Moon Stars. They get inspiration of this show for create that name? who knows.) Ended reading and reading lot of stuff here, very interesting, kinda disturbing, (how many woo and lies in this world!) but well researched.

Thanks for your work. 190.46.73.183 (talk) 05:35, 12 September 2019 (UTC) –VIVI

  • While doing some research on zionism for a history course a few years back, through travelling the deep web I happened upon the far right website (or webshite, as they're known here) Smoloko, which was so over the top with anti-semitism, blatant nazism and white supremacy, and just about every conspiracy theory that I pondered if it was some kind of parody (Poe's Law definitely applied to that hellhole). That lead me to carry out a bit of separate research, and the only Google result that wasn't the site itself or some other insane website or forum was RationalWiki. I found the information supplied interesting and amusing which lead me to explore entries on more crazy websites and individuals. And now, here I am. -Mr_Kaine, 18:11, Wednesday 4th September 2019 (UTC)
  • I don't know where I heard someplace that Mel Gibson's father was/is (IDK if he's alive and note I have not rabbit holed to google that) a member of a fundamentalist Catholic group that rejects Vatican II. After a few trials and errors, I eventually googled "Belief that popes since 1958 are heretical" and voila, I wound up on Sedevacantism, and from there wasted no time getting right to the Cadaver Synod. Love this stuff! — Unsigned, by: 69.74.160.106 / talk

August 2019[edit]

  • I have a hobby of structured online debate (well over 100 straight wins, determined by the voters; here's a link if curious), and I saw this site on Google while trying to figure out what to call certain logical fallacies which were not listed on the list sites I used back then. It took me awhile to switch completely over, and longer still to begin to contribute, but on both I'm glad I have. Ragnar (talk) 15:10, 21 August 2019 (UTC)
  • Technically I made this account a year ago, but I didn't use it, so anyway: a while back, someone sent me a link to Time Cube, I thought "what is this?", googled it, and found this site. Vomitorium (talk) 04:00, 7 August 2019 (UTC)
  • I was looking up Ben Shapiro and I found this article. I found it amusing, & decided to another page here. Let's just say one turned to ten. -Hiryeoka (talk) 06:58, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

July 2019[edit]

  • Followed a link in a CritRoleStats write-up to the War on Christmas article. Article-hopped for approximately 16 hours (although I slept and ate during that time, too), then got up in arms about the Alexander Hamilton page enough to register and post. Esoteric24 (talk) 20:43, 29 July 2019 (UTC)
  • I'm writing a book of poetry about kooky beliefs and found RationalWiki's coverage of the Denver Airport conspiracy theories. It's nice to have kooky propositions and refutations in one place. -FTSharp (talk) 16:47, 18 July 2019 (UTC)
  • My crazy herbalist friend was talking to me about the world ending and that I would be thrown into a FEMA camp for not believing in herbalism. Little old me didn't know what a FEMA camp was, so I googled it and accidentally clicked on this website instead of Wikipedia. Enjoyed the snarkiness and the humor... so I stayed and read a few tens of articles about who knows what. Jungkook (talk) 21:21, 13 July 2019 (UTC)
  • I subscribe to YouTube OxfordUnion. Heard debate with Katie Hopkins (who?). Googled her name and RationalWiki was on the first page. Anything named "rational" is balm for my soul and mind. (southeast PA planet Earth)Cassandra (talk) 15:53, 13 July 2019 (UTC)
  • I saw something that said "Satanic Panic" in relation to D&D so I Googled it and found this place.161.6.1.134 (talk) 14:52, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
  • I look up "furries" on Baidu I find rationalwiki. 刺杀习近平 (talk) 22:17, 6 July 2019 (UTC)
  • I got it from taking too many mushrooms, the machine elves led me to this sacred place. — Oxyaena Harass 18:28, 13 July 2019 (UTC)

June 2019[edit]

  • I saw a Dilbert strip today and it reminded me that a while back I heard that Scott Adams was saying Trump is some kind of genius(?) So I Googled "Scott Adams crazy" and this site was the 2nd result. koleslaw (talk) 19:32. 5 June 2019 (UTC)
  • Stumbled upon ( though I've heard of it before ) through an Atlantic article mentioned by Facebook; the article included a quote from William F. Buckley, and a Google search brought me to your article on him. Ghalbertmck (talk) 15:39, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
  • The Gospel of RationalWiki was revealed to me by the Lord Herself, everything you see here is the Word of the Lord, and She would not have it any other way. — Oxyaena Harass 16:55, 7 June 2019 (UTC)

May 2019[edit]

  • Genius site. Found RationalWiki while researching angel cards. This article caught my attention https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Doreen_Virtue The tone and humour of the articles I’ve read thus far are spot on. Being forced to study the charlton angel cards as my ex wife is very much a convert.My children report that almost every daily activity is not undertaken until the angel cards have been consulted. I shit thee nay. Keep up the good work one and all. — Unsigned, by: Coltrane251 / talk / contribs
Hello and welcome to RationalWiki! Do not forget to sign your post, use four tildes to automatically insert a sig with timestamp, name, talk, etc.ReaperDawn 15:25, 7 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I was looking through a YouTube comments section about gravity, and there was a dialogue between an eletectric universe subscriber claiming black holes and neutron stars don’t exist, and an individual defending proven scientific consensus. They gave two links, the pages on the electric universe theory and alternative cosmology. I clicked on alternative cosmology and knew I’d found the resource I’ve been looking for. ~ 7-hydroxymitragynine 10:15, 14 May 2019 (UTC)
  • About two years ago, I was one of those obnoxious anti SJWs you'd find on the internet complaining about "feminists" and "political correctness." I stumbled across your site to read your gamergate page, so I could cringe about it.
A month later, I decided to read a few more of your pages and I realized that you weren't the cesspit some of the people on the internet some of the reactionary ilk I was surrounded by said you were. Surprisingly for me at the time, I actually started to agree some of your points and question some of my previously held thoughts and ideals.
Over time, I started to really like your page, finding your articles funny and well sourced. And I appreciated how you tore apart wingnuts and extremists, as wikipedia usually stays neutral, even for the most abhorrent of people (your page ripping into Richard "totally not a nazi" Spencer is one of my favorite of your pages.
As of a few months ago, I've started really liking your site. While I do occasionally disagree with some of the things you say (as opinions on this site can differentiate between users on different pages), I appreciate how you try to bring attention to modern political issues and break down creationists/fundamentalist and MRA/anti-SJW rhetoric.
For this, I'd like to say thank you for helping me to break out of that destructive ideology and I hope this story could help fellow former anti-SJWs understand that just because someone is politically left leaning, they aren't some evil fucking communist hell bent on destroying the western world (as some cranks believe.)
— Unsigned, by: Aspieduck / talk / contribs
Hello and welcome to RationalWiki! Do not forget to sign your post, use four tildes to automatically insert a sig with timestamp, name, talk, etc.ReaperDawn 15:25, 7 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I've been referring people to this site, along with yourlogicalfallacyis.com, for some time in a quixotic effort to point out some of the more ridiculous claims on Twitter. I can't remember when I first found RationalWiki, but it may have been about 5 years ago, when I was the administrator for a now defunct forum for the use of DNA in genealogy, and the board was raided by "race realists" from human biodiversity forums. CogitoNotStirred (via telepathy) 12:57, 9 May 2019 (UTC)
  • I found this website between late 2016 and early 2017. I had been exploring Christianity as an agnostic, and I was researching a lot about what the Bible said. But then it occurred to me: how do I know the Bible is the word of God? One quick Google search later, I found a Christian website which claimed that the Bible contained numerous prophecies which later came true. I believe after that, I went to Wikipedia's page on bible prophecies, but I can't find the specific revision I feel that I saw. Perhaps it wasn't Wikipedia at all! Anyway, at one point, the page said something like, "Most biblical prophecies are not accurate," with a link to the RationalWiki page on biblical prophecies. Reading through the page, I felt certain that the Bible could not be trusted as an accurate source of information. A few months later, I came to realize that I was an agnostic atheist rather than a pure agnostic. Since finding RW, I've been referring back to it often to sharpen my arguments against things like racialism and global warming denial. JoePines (talk) 14:29, 29 May 2019 (UTC)

April 2019[edit]

  • I have been rule-obsessed for the longest time. I plan on becoming a lawyer, and joining the Bundesgerichtshof, the German version of the Supreme Court in America. I'm not aiming for the Supreme Court in America because I hate it here. I figured that I needed people who can think rationally to discuss stuff with, so I looked, and I found this place. You guys have zero tolerance for idiocy and I like that, so I'm here. Tyrian (talk) 18:30, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
  • Completely sick of Nazis everywhere, even on Wikipedia. I think Rationalwiki is the best encyclopedia which gives zero tolerance to Nazi ideas. GlamourSICKLE 17:14, 24 April 2019 (UTC)
  • I'm a long time lurker of this site and I decided to finally make an account and help make RationalWiki even better. I found RationalWiki through googling Nixon if memory serves.ThaZeus (talk) 03:45, 15 April 2019 (UTC)
  • If I remember correctly, I was arguing with a creationist on either Facebook or YouTube and I wanted to debunk their arguments. I searched and found this site. --Rationalzombie94 (talk) 23:31, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

March 2019[edit]

  • I first discovered this wiki on the Kiwifarms thread, I decided to check it out and (surprise surprise...) then realized how absolutely hypocritical they were. The site had devolved from laughing at stupid people on the internet, to them whining about how transwomen are "rat kings". RockfordRoe (talk) 01:04, 14 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I was a fundie cdesign proponentsist, but this site saved me from my foolish ways. I found this site a year ago by random chance when I was looking for reasons that Astrology was dumb to use against a friend of mine who bought into it. After that, I read around the site out of interest, and discovered refutations of most of the arguments that I used to hold on to my already fragile faith. Eventually, I gained an interest in contributing to RationalWiki, and made this account. Baphod (talk) 14:37, 26 March 2019 (UTC)
  • I was dangerously close to falling into the GamerGate brigade until I found the page on it at random. I started sinking into it and completely changed my stance, so I can thank the wiki for saving me from a potentially dark path in my life. I also started reading up about the various conspiracy theories and such, but I was on and off for a number of years until Trump was elected President. Seeing the rise of conspiracy theorists, I took more time into reading it and it was only until recently I decided to join, namely because I'm an extremely anxious person. --CommanderTruthSeeker (talk) 20:20, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
  • Found this wiki when I thought RationalWiki was alternative Wikipedia since probably around 2015. The reason I join this site, today, is that RRW (not telling you what it is) has sent me to do a mission for investigating this wiki. Mar9122 (talk) 12:00, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

February 2019[edit]

  • I never really cared for the edgy snark, militant antitheism, schadenfreude, and whatever else here that I associate with the white male libertarian physicist/logician crowd that I don't get along with…yet I keep finding myself in front of this darn site. The earliest evidence of visiting here I have is a link to Pascal's wager#Correctness of worship which I used in an ethics course assignment from January 2015 (it was the first thing I found resembling my argument that theists are not safe from infinite loss due to the possibility their "polarity" of good and evil being opposite of God's), but I had been visiting this site well before then. I finally created an account (because I reject artificial anonymity and must squat on my mononym on as many online services as possible) so that I could fix some spelling mistakes in 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Chrstphrchvz (talk) 13:38, 3 February 2019 (UTC)
  • I think I had the misfortune of encountering the Molymeme on twitter, and found my self addicted to looking up internet cranks and what makes them cranks so I found myself lurking around here. I also had a betting game for "race realists" which was how many days they could go without revealing they really just hated one race (most commonly black people). The average result, 1. The notion of white nationalism was one I found ridiculous as a European (the idea people act the same by skin colour). The whole "Identity this or that" groups spawning up annoyed me e.g. Identity Evropa (spelling u with a v, see!, they're essentially Romans and have every claim to their achievements) and to my horror they started appearing in Ireland in the form of twitter handles with names like "Aitheantas/Féiniúlacht Éire/Éireann". Basically I think people who think culture is linked to skin colour don't really have good grasp of what culture is. Looking up these groups brought me here too. Oh yeah I started getting involved in a talk page or two and thought I ought to make an account so people can know who they're answering. Féinléiriú (talk) 23:42, 25 February 2019 (UTC) Edited Féinléiriú (talk) 23:45, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

January 2019[edit]

  • I knew about the wiki for years but I wasn't really engaged in the "reading articles all night" loophole as I was in Wikipedia. But one day everything changed, that's when I noticed a weird phrase called "Lunar bukkake theory" in an youtube comment, right clicked 'Search it on Google' and bam! Here I was, in the nightly loophole of article reading, now on RationalWiki as well. Nikodemus (bully) 12:43, 15 January 2019 (UTC)
  • Conservapedia is one of my favorite websites and I was reading what other people have to say about it when I found RationalWiki. I like to read what the opposition has to say. I do wish that CP didn't act like everybody who isn't homeschooled is an infidel or something. :( Public School Girl (talk) 13:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
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