The crackpot index

There are lots and lots of crackpots and weirdos out there on the Internet, just lurking in wait to attack ( A.K.A. "flame") innocent computer users such as yourself. Obviously you need to understand what sort of crackpot you're dealing with so that you can respond to them in a sensible and reasoned fashion. Well help is at hand, for this tiresome but vital task that lies ahead of you. Because quite a while ago Baez developed, a simple method for rating potentially revolutionary contributions to physics. Now in these day's of the Internet or "the intanet" as many of it's users call it, this index can be easily used to spot crackpots of all types, and there are surely enough of them out there. This may one day become a user friendly perl script if I can be bothered

  1. A -5 point starting credit.
  2. 1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false.
  3. 2 points for every statement that is logically inconsistent.
  4. 5 points for each such statement that is adhered to despite careful correction.
  5. 5 points for using a thought experiment that contradicts the results of a widely accepted real experiment.
  6. 5 points for each word in all capital letters (except for those with defective keyboards).
  7. 10 points for each claim that quantum mechanics is fundamentally misguided (without good evidence).
  8. 10 points for each favourable comparison of oneself to Einstein, or claim that special or general relativity are fundamentally misguided (without good evidence).
  9. 10 points for pointing out that one has gone to school, as if this was evidence of sanity.
  10. 20 points for suggesting that you deserve a Nobel prize.
  11. 20 points for each favourable comparison of oneself to Newton or claim that classical mechanics is fundamentally misguided (without evidence).
  12. 20 points for every use of science fiction works or myths as if they were fact.
  13. 20 points for defending yourself by bringing up (real or imagined) ridicule accorded to ones past theories.
  14. 30 points for each favourable comparison of oneself to Galileo, claims that the Inquisition is hard at work on ones case, etc..
  15. 30 points for claiming that the "scientific establishment" is engaged in a "conspiracy" to prevent ones work from gaining its well-deserved fame, or suchlike.
  16. 40 points for each paper that claims a revolutionary theory but gives no concrete testable predictions.

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