1. The Need of New Approaches - Kritische Stimmen zur ...

Chapter 9: The Thought Experiment
(9) The number of call-ups registered for the forum sites, without closer analysis of the data by the provider,
itself makes no definitive statement as to the number of different visitors, because each visitor repeatedly logs into
the forum, these repeated log-ins increasing the longer the discussion lasts. The forum provider, however, is unable
to do more than give the number of different IP addresses used by the visitors, so that in cases in which the same
visitor uses different addresses, the provider will receive a report, with each such access to the Internet, of a new or
different IP address.
Apart from this the visitor to a forum with several topics on the same subject matter will also take a look at
several topics, which means that the same visitor with his or her call-up can trigger several call-ups - due to the
various topics offered - on a single visit. The parallel presentations of several topics on criticism of the theory on
the same forum must, therefore, also be allowed for by reducing the number of different visitors correspondingly.
All of the reports of visitor identities and visitor numbers are therefore very vague and, in view of this, it seems
to us only reasonable that actual call-up figures for visitors should be based on 10 percent of the call-up figures
registered; and in the case of very long-lasting discussion, possibly even only 5 percent. These considerations must
be taken into account in estimating the number of visitors to the forums. Should sociological investigations with
statistically relevant sampling ever be published, all of the assumptions on which the arguments presented here are
based must, of course, be re-examined.
From characteristics 1 - 9 one can, for the Internet, derive at least four intrinsic and methodical results: (1) that
there is a widespread interest in the theory of relativity, (2) that, on the one hand, the discussions are engaged in
more or less by the same small “scene”, (3) that, on the other hand, the number of call-ups for a theme are often of
the order of 5000 to 10000, and (4) that in the context of physics topics, the GOM project is seen as being
particularly interesting.
2012
The Selection of Internet Sites
The selection of the Internet forums for the following overview was made solely on the basis of an intensive
preoccupation with the statements made by the GOM project and its partners, fully regardless of any tendency in
evaluation of the GOM project. For this reason it of course goes without saying that forums that can be
characterized by rabble-rousing and vulgar remarks against the critics are also included: these are nothing more
than the uninhibited reflection of the well-known offline world and it would be highly surprising if the perpetrators
of the propaganda on the theory were not also active in the Internet. Here, though, they are active in a world in
which their bringing-into-line of the print media for perpetration of boycott and censorship strategy no longer
functions.
For this reason forums that merely mention the GOM project or only refer to it in link-lists are not included.
A few forums in languages for which we have no competence, such as Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and
all of the Near Eastern and Far Eastern languages, could only be identified by their URLs. Their study of the GOM
Project could only be identified on the basis of quotes of titles or text components taken from the documentation.
The true relevance of their topics for the above-mentioned selection criteria could not be judged.
Description of the Internet Forums
The descriptions are only intended to give an impression of the presence of the publications of the GOM project
on the Internet sites and the aim is to achieve this as quickly as possible. The length of the description is therefore
limited to giving the reader the information on how to find the named Internet sites. The reporting period is
September 2008.
The descriptions relate almost wholly to the details of the forum sites, which is why no use is made of inverted
commas. Editorial comments are set in square brackets or are made at the end of the description.
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G. O. Mueller: STR