Talk.origins

Talk.origins is a bot-moderated usenet group with a focus on the creation-evolution debate. Creators of articles do not necessarily have scientific credentials, nor is their work peer reviewed. It is used by promoters of the theory of evolution to give an understanding of life and history from an evolutionary view point.

Jargon

talk.origins is renowned for having its own jargon.^{[Citation Needed]} Examples include:

quote mining

Extracting and using quotes by someone to argue against his beliefs. The person alleging "quote mining" sometimes, but not always, claims the quote was taken out of context.^{[Citation Needed]}

fundy loon^{[Citation Needed]}

Short for the derogatory "fundamentalist lunatic."

goddidit

Also known as "god of the gaps". Derisive terms for appealing to God's involvement as an explanation for any unknown cause^{[Citation Needed]}

Gish Gallop

Term named after creationist Duane Gish. It refers to the debate tactic of introducing multiple unsourced statements during a debate. The opponent is then drawn into using up his own debate time refuting those statements rather than making his own case.

PRATT

Stands for "Previously Refuted a thousand times," and is often used as a way of avoiding an answer by claiming an answer has already been given by someone else.^{[Citation Needed]}

Talk Origins Archive

Many of the more popular contributors and their post have been archived at a separate site. This site contains the scientific responses to many of the most used and most known arguments from creationists. It is often cited in online debates when arguments that are viewed as all ready refuted are used.

Criticisms of Talk Origins Archive

Creationists have a number of criticisms of the Talk.origins archive and a number of them can be found at the True.Origin Archive. CreationWiki has a large amount of material asserting that the Talk.origins Archive material is errant.

See also

TalkOrigins Archive

External Links

• talk.origins via Google Groups
• TalkOrigins Archive website