MrRippedZilla
Retired
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2014
- Messages
- 1,706
- Reaction score
- 3,522
- Points
- 153
I'm sure if you've spent any reasonable amount of time on the boards you'll know that scientific debates can go from educational to childish nonsense in a flash so in order for us all to benefit from this place, here are a few ground rules...
Do:
- Share as much data as you wish. "Data" refers to published, peer-reviewed, scientific literature. Preferably in humans.
- Discuss the data as much as you wish. We're looking for the strengths/weaknesses as well as the take home points.
- Feel free to request papers that you may not be able to access freely and I, as well as others, will do our best to find them for you. I do suggest you save this for PMs though so that we don't clog up the forum unnecessarily.
Do not:
- Rely on strawman arguments to defend your opinion.
This is when someone "accidentally" or purposely misrepresents someone's argument and leads to counterpoints against assertions that weren't made in the first place. Pay attention to the points being discussed.
- Appeal to authority to support your view.
This is when someone defends there opinion because a local guru, or a doctor, or whoever, has the same view. A person might have all the credentials in the world but it does NOT mean that they are incapable of being wrong - doctors are a very good example of this.
- Appeal to popularity.
If everyone believes something to be true, that does not make it true - the earth is flat is a good example of how shitty an approach this is.
- Make black or white statements.
This usually involves folks assuming that there are only 2 extreme options on opposite ends of the scale with no middle ground - the debates around "clean eating" is a good example of this.
- Appeal to unscientific literature.
I don't want to see a bunch of blog posts & youtube videos instead of research from pubmed being used to support an opinion.
- Cherry-pick the research.
This is my biggest pet peeve and involves citing data that support your opinion while conveniently ignoring that which doesn't. It's bullshit so please cut it out.
- Appeal to aesthetics.
"I'm shredded therefore I know more about fat loss than you" or "He's an IFBB pro so he must know more about muscle hypertrophy than you" - classic desperate arguments made by people with no objective data to support them, no thanks.
- Appeal to experience.
The good old "it works for me" stuff isn't going to fly here. That's not to say anecdotal experiences are completely devoid of value, just that they are less valuable than scientific research and certainly won't do you much good in a scientific debate.
- Resort to ad hominem/personal attacks.
- Dismiss scientific research.
If your not interested in what the data has to say then by all means don't post in this forum. I often here people dismiss science because every study as an opposing study but this is down to your inability to critically review the data and spot the differences - something we are here to help with.
By following these rules, I'm sure this place can become an incredibly valuable educational resource for all of us and that's what this lifestyle is all about - learn, apply, progress
Do:
- Share as much data as you wish. "Data" refers to published, peer-reviewed, scientific literature. Preferably in humans.
- Discuss the data as much as you wish. We're looking for the strengths/weaknesses as well as the take home points.
- Feel free to request papers that you may not be able to access freely and I, as well as others, will do our best to find them for you. I do suggest you save this for PMs though so that we don't clog up the forum unnecessarily.
Do not:
- Rely on strawman arguments to defend your opinion.
This is when someone "accidentally" or purposely misrepresents someone's argument and leads to counterpoints against assertions that weren't made in the first place. Pay attention to the points being discussed.
- Appeal to authority to support your view.
This is when someone defends there opinion because a local guru, or a doctor, or whoever, has the same view. A person might have all the credentials in the world but it does NOT mean that they are incapable of being wrong - doctors are a very good example of this.
- Appeal to popularity.
If everyone believes something to be true, that does not make it true - the earth is flat is a good example of how shitty an approach this is.
- Make black or white statements.
This usually involves folks assuming that there are only 2 extreme options on opposite ends of the scale with no middle ground - the debates around "clean eating" is a good example of this.
- Appeal to unscientific literature.
I don't want to see a bunch of blog posts & youtube videos instead of research from pubmed being used to support an opinion.
- Cherry-pick the research.
This is my biggest pet peeve and involves citing data that support your opinion while conveniently ignoring that which doesn't. It's bullshit so please cut it out.
- Appeal to aesthetics.
"I'm shredded therefore I know more about fat loss than you" or "He's an IFBB pro so he must know more about muscle hypertrophy than you" - classic desperate arguments made by people with no objective data to support them, no thanks.
- Appeal to experience.
The good old "it works for me" stuff isn't going to fly here. That's not to say anecdotal experiences are completely devoid of value, just that they are less valuable than scientific research and certainly won't do you much good in a scientific debate.
- Resort to ad hominem/personal attacks.
- Dismiss scientific research.
If your not interested in what the data has to say then by all means don't post in this forum. I often here people dismiss science because every study as an opposing study but this is down to your inability to critically review the data and spot the differences - something we are here to help with.
By following these rules, I'm sure this place can become an incredibly valuable educational resource for all of us and that's what this lifestyle is all about - learn, apply, progress
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