I opened this blog as a place where both sides of the AGW debate could comment without moderation. After the initial influx of comments directed at Miriam and at me, few persons elected to discuss the content of the posts linked at WUWT and HotWhopper. Comments became even more rare as time progressed and many of those were rude and crude. Then one in particular disgusted me, so I introduced the moderation policy. Obviously, the blog was not progressing as intended.
After watching the number of visitors dwindle, Figure 1, even with links on the corresponding webpages at WattsUpWithThat, I was tempted to close this blog.
Figure 1
But two things today helped me make the decision.
First, Miriam O’Brien (Sou) elected to comment on Anthony Watts’s fund-raiser post. Anthony’s post is here, and Miriam O’Brien’s post is archived here. As I wrote in a comment on the corresponding thread on this blog (here):
I suspect this is my last post on this short-lived blog.
Miriam has published a 750+ word post about Anthony Watts request for financial assistance so that he can attend the AGU conference. What an absurd waste of her time. It’s time I stopped wasting mine.
Second, the last straw: I published two posts here and here at MoreOnMiriamO’Brien today, Saturday, December 6. And today, as an experiment, I did not leave comments on the related threads at WUWT, with links to those posts. Of the 100+ visitors here today, less than 2 dozen clicked on the links to the archived versions of Miriam’s posts at HotWhopper. Obviously, there was little interest in what Miriam O’Brien has to say.
Time to close it.
(Comments will close automatically in two days.)
PS: Many thanks to those who did visit and use the blog as it was intended. Unfortunately, there were too few of you to make it worthwhile for me to maintain it.
More On Miriam O'Brien's HotWhopper 
[Snip.]
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Well, Bob, I think it was an interesting experiment. But really, when one spouts stuff like:
”I know some of you are bored with reading the rubbish from WUWT. Sadly there haven’t been any OMG it’s insects or Russian steampipes for a while that would put a smile on your face or make you groan or otherwise entertain. Just a series of boring (and silly) denier protests and mind-numbingly wrong articles about how the greenhouse effect isn’t real, mixed in with a wacky conspiracy theory or two, and now some unfunny attempts to be “funny”.” https://archive.today/EwT5j#selection-959.1-969.1
One should expect reasonable people to tune you out. There have been several articles on WUWT explaining the greenhouse effect. Also, there are untold numbers of comments explaining the greenhouse effect by a diverse group of WUWT regulars including a Duke University physicist. I’ve commented several times on the GHE and often included a link on how it is accounted for in engineering radiant cooling calculations. To accuse WUWT of claiming the GHE isn’t real is an outright lie so obvious that most anyone should be able to detect it as such. Similarly, invoking the “conspiracy theory nutcase” dismissal protocol is completely without merit. Therefore, most reasonable people will quickly conclude Sou to be inconsequential, vile, vindictive, rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.
Anyway, thanks for the time and effort Bob. I appreciate it and hopefully we all learned something.
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“Therefore, most reasonable people will quickly conclude Sou to be inconsequential, vile, vindictive, rude, crude, and socially unacceptable.”
And that’s on one of her better days!
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I was quite enthusiastic about this in the beginning. I thought it would be useful to have a rejoinder to Miriam’s blog. But, to be honest, I just can’t bear to go over there and read the stuff she posts. It seems to be propelled by naked, raw invictive with a particular, myopic focus on WUWT. I can’t really see a clear way to comment on her material because the possibility of a reasoned or differing take is simply not present. You’re either with her in her crusade, which, incidentally, seems really to be one about misogyny that has, sort of, spawned under its own momentum; or you’re not.
Incidentally it seems Miriam is carefully curating comments on her topics. Allowing those through which meet a certain criteria I haven’t been able to discern; perhaps from known “allies”. It’s not a place to discuss, only to fall in line with and support Miriam’s vitriol. And as such it’s not worth discussing.
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