User talk:VermillionBird

Obligatory first posting

I noticed you were new, and wanted to share some links I thought useful:

Feel free to contact me personally with any questions you might have. Wikipedia:About, Wikipedia:Help desk, and Wikipedia:Village pump are also a place to go for answers to general questions. To read up on the latest wikinews, have a look at the Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost. You can sign your name by typing 4 tildes, like this: ~~~~.

(Sam Spade | talk | contributions) 21:59, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Thank you, Sam Spade, for your welcome and the links. I shall strive to do my best for Wikipedia. VermillionBird 00:17, 2005 Mar 6 (UTC)

Fashionable Nonsense

I like and appreciate what you are doing with respect to the Fashionable Nonsense nonsense. I haven't personally read the book, although I read part of Sokal's hoax. So unfortunately I can't offer specific criticism of the book yet. I think that not many people in critical theory take it seriously enough to criticize it, because's Sokal's version of "postmodernism" is such a strawman. And the people who think Sokal is a genius don't read critical theory. I'll keep an eye on what you are doing, and if I have something to contribute, I'll try to do so. COGDEN 23:45, Mar 7, 2005 (UTC)

Great. One of the primary motivations of this project was to provide an "authoritative" summary so people who haven't/won't read the book don't have to do so to be able to have an informed response when the subject comes up. VermillionBird 17:13, 2005 Mar 8 (UTC)

I also wanted to say hello -- I noticed your post on my talk page. My feeling is a little less strong than yours; I don't think FN should be removed, I just think the debate should be reported in detail. A lot of very interesting things have been said, and I think, in retrospect, that Sokal's gimmick has done some good for critical theory, by pusing theorists to keep working to get their ideas accross; at any rate, if it's becoming less popular these days, it isn't because of Alan Sokal, but because of more general trends in the humanities and social sciences, ones that long predated his hoax and his book.

I'll try to post some things when I get a chance, but I'm awfully busy these days so unfortunately I may not be able to help very much. Thanks for contacting me though. Solemnavalanche 09:52, 1 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

i also haven't read FN, but i am quite familiar with the Sokal Affair, and being an electrical engineer with some credentials and experience in academia, i really feel that the first premise of the book is quite valid. scientists should not use, say, theological concepts in their scientific publications, and if a scientist want's to venture into theology, they have to presume that there will be some real theologians that will be far better trained and tested in the field than they. the Social Text journal (and other authors publishing in it) was getting into stuff where they literally had no idea what they were talking about and Sokal noticed it. r b-j 17:19, 4 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

POV vs Accuracy

It's a fine line. Generally, when there are substantial variant points of view (That is, not the flat earth society or people who believe that the moon is made of green cheese), we do not strive for accuracy in terms of the subject matter. Rather, we strive for accuracy regarding representation of all the viewpoints regarding the topic. So, in this case, what would be important would be a fair and detailed representation of the view that Fashionable Nonsense is not scholarly, based on accounts of people in the field of critical theory who have criticized the book. And this would be coupled with accounts by people who praised the book. Snowspinner 16:42, Mar 8, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for removing my vandalism from Wu Hu. — JIP | Talk 15:13, 25 Mar 2005 (UTC)