www.HowStuffWorks.com headed for the woo..good or bad?

[DavoMan]

Ya know, on HowStuffWorks.com, I assumed things actually had to WORK to get on that site.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/supernatural-channel.htm

Now there is some great refrences to skeptical information & people, but I really don't like the whole 'For and Against' attitude, like it is actually something real. Gah. I just don't know what to make of it. I haven't read every article, but I was hoping you guys might. ;)

'Coming soon - How tarrot cards work' :(

[richardm]

Well, I dunno. I only flicked through the Bigfoot article, and thought they did quite a good job in producing an even-handed article. After all, there are lots of people who are interested in this stuff, and sadly a lot of them are turned off by a purely negative approach. By discussing the pros and cons you are at least getting people to read the cons as well, which for some of 'em might be a first.

[richardm]

Originally posted by DavoMan
'Coming soon - How tarrot cards work' :(

See, there again I could see how you could make a good article about this. People drop in to see how Tarot cards work, because, well, for many people they do appear to work.

And they get a potentially interesting article about the history of the things, supposed and real, a description of the various woo explanations, and then a description of the real mechanisms at work.

I can imagine that woo types could point to it and say "See! It's on the HowStuffWorks website, so it must work" - but perhaps a few of the people who went to read it might get to the later pages and go "Hmmmmm".

Now, whether it's the sort of stuff that HowStuffWorks should be indulging in, I don't know. But since they appear to be set on writing these articles, I'm at least happy that they seem to be making sure their heads stay screwed on.

[DavoMan]

Yeah good point. I'm interested in how this tarrot cards article is gonna turn out. It might turn out to beanother good link for the JREF page.

[Zamzara]

They did an article on astrology a couple of months ago, and it was pretty woo with just a token skeptical paragraph. However, it seems to have disappeared/been deleted.

[Zamzara]

Found it:

http://people.howstuffworks.com/horoscope.htm

It does say sun-sign astrology is 'simplistic' but that gives the wrong impression about other kinds.

[Orangutan]

I am pleased with the way the "How Stuff Works" people deal with the paranormal.

They make no claims themselves they say "This group belives this and this group belives that." And often times the'll point out something like this:

The first thing you need to know about real-life ghost busters is that they don't like the term "ghost buster." To actually bust a ghost, you'd need two things:

* An actual, verifiable ghost
* A tested, proven method of getting rid of that ghost

The problem a real ghost buster runs into is simply this: Neither of those things has ever been conclusively proven to exist.

Which I think is responsible writing.

O.
:)

Edit for typos.

[Skepiroth]

Originally posted by DavoMan

'Coming soon - How tarrot cards work' :(

Anyone see that episode of Penn and Teller: BS where they get the same guy and have get 3 tarot readings? In first he is dressed up as an unemployed loser, in the second he is dressed up as a type-A personality businessman, and in the third he is dressed up as a family man. The first time the cards say that he needs to get a job and be more motivated, the second time the cards say that he works too much and needs to relax, and the third time the cards say that he is happily married (the subject was not married in real life). :D

[davefoc]

Perhaps, DavoMan, you would have felt better about an article something like this:

How Astrology works

It doesn't. It is total crap. There's not much point to this article since if you can read you're probably smart enough to know that.

But if somehow or another you are smart enough to be able to read and yet are so stupid that you think Astrology works you may find the rest of the article informative.

Astrology is unadulterated non-sense that only the common sense challenged could find remotely credible. There is not one iota of predictive value in the practice. What apparent validity there is to the astrology is totally explained by the barnum effect (known more formally as the Forer effect). But if you are so gullible as to believe in astrology there is not much point in looking up those terms as the information is beyond your ability to comprehend them.

[ma1ic3]

Originally posted by davefoc
Perhaps, DavoMan, you would have felt better about an article something like this:

Perfect!

You expressed my feelings about astrology but than I could myself.

[Jas]

Originally posted by Zamzara
Found it:

http://people.howstuffworks.com/horoscope.htm

It does say sun-sign astrology is 'simplistic' but that gives the wrong impression about other kinds.

'Simplistic' and 'Crap' are two different things;)

[DavoMan]

Originally posted by davefoc
[B]Perhaps, DavoMan, you would have felt better about an article something like this:

How Astrology works

It doesn't. It is total crap. There's not much point to this article since if you can read you're probably smart enough to know that.

But if somehow or another you are smart enough to be able to read and yet are so stupid that you think Astrology works you may find the rest of the article informative.


Damn right :D

[tracer]

I like www.HowStuffWorks.com's slide down into pseudoscience for one reason and one reason only:

During the week when they were doing "How ESP Works", they had a link to my Force Skeptics Page (www.rogermwilcox.name/force_skeptics.html). (Sure, it put me over my web bandwidth quota for the month, but it's kinda nice to be slashdotted every now and again!)

[Winterfrost]

How Lightsabers Work (http://www.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber.htm)

While the page is obviously meant for a laugh, I think it shows that something doesn't "actually" have to work for them to tell you how it "works."

I was quite disappointed that my search for "perpetual motion" didn't turn up any direct hits... ;)