Talk:Plasma cosmology

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_{Posted by Thatcher131 03:01, 3 December 2006 (UTC) for the Arbitration committee. See Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Pseudoscience.}[reply]

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Uniformity

I have changed "scientists who have examined..." to "the vast majority of scientists..." because it is more accurate. It is also significant information, as it distinguishes fringe models which originate within the scientific community from fringe models which are invented by nonspecialists- i.e. Velikovsian catastrophism. Since it's hardly a wordy change and is slightly more precise, there is no reason to reject it. I don't have an ulterior motive. I am not a defender of plasma cosmology as science. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.17.137.227 (talk) 17:44, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Please read WP:UNDUE and WP:FRINGE. On Wikipedia, we write about the mainstream viewpoint in a field as the default, accepted position. We only write about majority/minority disagreements when reliable sources treat the minority views as significant, and then we need to include reliably-sourced context about that majority/minority relationship. See our articles on, say, climate change and germ theory of disease and gravity. None of those are supported by all scientists, but we write about them as if they are because they are the mainstream views as supported by reliable sources. Woodroar (talk) 18:23, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Pseudoscience

Articles relating to Young Earth creationism have "pseudoscience" clearly in their lede.

Articles relating to Flat Earth have "pseudoscience" clearly in their lede.

Is there any reason why this article doesn't also have "pseudoscience" in its lede?

Feline Hymnic (talk) 18:33, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Do relevant reliable sources describe it as pseudoscience? AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:47, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

One problem is that it's so silly, there really isn't much mainstream commentary on it. The best you'd be able to find are probably blog posts or discussions on science bulletin boards, neither of which are RS for wikipedia. It absolutely is pseudoscience, but finding a cite for that might be hard because nobody except the cranks pays any attention to it. - Parejkoj (talk) 00:08, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I'd have to suggest that it is better that Wikipedia contributors don't decide for themselves whether to call something 'pseudoscience', if they can't find a source for it, but think it applies anyway. That seems to be the way policy works. What policy doesn't prevent, of course, is making it blindingly obvious to readers that this particular 'cosmology' doesn't accord with actual science. I'd say that was more of a priority than worrying about labels. AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:36, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Because plasma cosmology (as variously developed by Alfvén, Peratt, Lerner, et al.) whilst incomplete, non-mainstream and possibly even qualifies as a bit fringe is certainly not pseudoscience, in the same way as unscientific nonsense like flat earth or creationism certainly is. At no point does plasma cosmology ask you to believe in God, it is an attempt to use standard physics to describe the universe but starting from different assumptions based on the behaviours of plasma, rather than what gravity might do with a bunch of inert gas. Perhaps you are thinking of the Electric Universe folks? Now there's a popcorn show... Jon (talk) 02:36, 28 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]