Evidence for an Old Earth

To All:Discussion at EvC Forum should be conducted by composing arguments in your own words. You should note the following when writing messages:

1. Avoid long cut-n-pastes from other websites (like the plague). You should instead summarize the argument in your own words and provide a link to the correct page of the website. This isn't in the guidelines yet because it isn't something I thought would come up very often, but I'll probably add it soon.
2. Do not post bare links with no accompanying discussion.
3. When you post a link, post a link to the correct webpage of the site, not just a general link. For example, do not post the link Interactive Bible Home Page www.bible.ca when the information is actually at http://www.bible.ca/tracks/dating-radiometric.htm.

Thanks!------------------

--	Percy
	EvC Forum Administrator

Hi John,You are remarkably composed, considering. I, too, was very distressed at the way prophecyexclaimed replied to your responses of the issues raised in his cut-n-pastes. He ignored both your points and common courtesy when he replied as he did, not to mention violating the Forum Guidelines.It almost seems as if our more recent Creationist members have honed their debating skills in midnight bull sessions after Friday night beer bashes. They hold in common a fairly profound lack of understanding, even of their own side's perspectives, and combine it with an inability to maintain continuity in discussion.I know comments like the above must seem to Creationists like I am biased against them, but what I am actually biased against is members who enter discussions on topics with which they're unfamiliar or even completely ignorant, and who are temperamentally incapable of carrying on a reasoned discussion. I can't count the number of times Creationists have come here so unfamiliar with their own side's position that they completely bollix one common Creationist argument or another, leaving evolutionists with the task of first explaining to him what he was trying to say, and then explaining to him why it is wrong. Most people with a shred of any sense of shame would have slunk off or at least just lurked for a while, but these Creationists just march right on to garble another Creationist position. I find this behavior incredible.I remember being given "the speech" in one of my college freshman classes. It was a more complex variation of the speech that goes, "Look to your left, and look to your right. Those people won't be here in four years. And if they *are* still here, guess what?" This particular version instead addressed confidence. The professor expressed his amazement at the confidence of youth, and he said there are two types of confidence. There is confidence that stems from having never been tested, and which commonly manifests itself as braggadocio. And there is confidence that stems from having been tested and tested and tested again, thereby developing experience and knowledge through success and failure, and which usually manifests itself as calm assurance with an underlying reticence.It appears to me that our new Creationist members have yet to be tested. Because they are unprepared to engage in debate on this topic they are finding their experience here frustrating, and this is manifesting itself in unpredictable behavior and arrogance when faced with authority. And my fondest hope is that they prove me wrong. It would be wonderful to have a group of competent Creationists to debate with.Sorry for the digression. I didn't mean to run on like this. I mainly just wanted to request that you let board administration handle the problems with the recent members. Thanks!------------------

--	Percy
	EvC Forum Administrator

Hi Proph! This is a violation of the Forum Guidelines:

• Bare links with no supporting discussion should be avoided.

No one is trying to rush you. Other members, please note Proph's age and tread a bit more lightly. Proph, I ask you in turn to follow the forum guidelines, pay more attention to moderator requests, stick to topics you know something about, and just as I have requested of the other members to express yourself a bit less stridently.Thanks!------------------

--	Percy
	EvC Forum Administrator

Hi, Proph!Thank you for making a greater effort, but your posts are still problematic. There's no demarcation between your text and the text you're replying to. You don't say what message you're replying to, or even who.There is no requirement for good grammar or spelling or writing, though certainly those are valuable qualities in promoting a point of view, but I insist that you make it possible for people to tell which is your text and which is someone else's, and who the someone else is. This is not an anarchic chat room but a serious debate site. Contributors here should not only be able to maintain continuity and focus in a discussion, but also be able to maintain an acceptable level of intelligibility.------------------

--	Percy
	EvC Forum Administrator