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Brian Dunning lawsuit

krelnik said:
It's human nature - people don't want to believe their close friends have done wrong. Add to that the fact that the technology surrounding this case is hard to understand, obfuscating the issue for many. Does that make those who want to support Dunning terrible skeptics or bad people who should be shunned?



No, it just means they are his friends and they are flawed humans like everyone else. They are suffering the ill effects of cognitive dissonance and biases like we all do from time to time.



Nobody is a "perfect" skeptic on every single topic. We should give people a chance to grow and get better.
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Well said. This bears repeating.
 
Dunning IS a bad reflection of whatever you want to call the skeptical community. Not only does he have this confession and conviction hanging over his head, he also comes off poorly when he's not in a skeptical setting.

I'm certainly a much bigger skeptic than I am a fan of the Joe Rogan podcast, but good lord, Dunning set the movement back at least 10 years with his awful appearance on there. Rogan is a kook and a woo, and yet Dunning is the one who came off looking terrible after going on his podcast.

Then there is his whole kickstarter campaign. Once his goal had been reached, he continued asking for money. I tweeted him and asked why he wouldn't let everyone know that the goal had been reached, and thanks for the donations. His response to me, "Reaching the funding goal means it will be produced, not sold out." Bear in mind his project was an ebook, meaning the overhead once produced is basically the same whether you sell 10 or a million...Sold out? It's DIGITAL.

Also bear in mind, he was creating a digital book of 50 of the best episodes of Skeptoid. "Creating a book is a huge amount of work, so I hope you will contribute to this project and directly reap the rewards for doing so." He was creating a book based off podcasts which were already in print form. Presumably the research was done, funded by skeptoid's weekly donations. The conversion to print form was already done as well. So what exactly were people donating for? A fancy cover?"
 
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Having had a weekend to think about it, I have clarified my position.

I can't in good conscience support Brian Dunning. However, I do still support Skeptoid Media and the Skeptoid Podcast, because I believe that it is still a valuable commodity to the skeptical community. I don't believe that Dunning's fraud has affected the veracity of his podcasts - those stand or fall on their own merits (and I grant that some individual episodes have been quite sketchy). Skeptoid is being taken over by other parties, and they will continue to produce episodes that I will continue to subscribe to until I'm given good reason not to. I started donating when Skeptoid Media became a nonprofit, and I don't believe that there has been any fraud related to that nonprofit. It will continue to exist while (and after) it's founder is in jail.
 
arthwollipot said:
Having had a weekend to think about it, I have clarified my position.

I can't in good conscience support Brian Dunning. However, I do still support Skeptoid Media and the Skeptoid Podcast, because I believe that it is still a valuable commodity to the skeptical community. I don't believe that Dunning's fraud has affected the veracity of his podcasts - those stand or fall on their own merits (and I grant that some individual episodes have been quite sketchy). Skeptoid is being taken over by other parties, and they will continue to produce episodes that I will continue to subscribe to until I'm given good reason not to. I started donating when Skeptoid Media became a nonprofit, and I don't believe that there has been any fraud related to that nonprofit. It will continue to exist while (and after) it's founder is in jail.
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I fully understand this viewpoint, and will admit that some of my trappings are wrapped up in ego and emotion. I can't, in good conscience, donate to skeptoid media when I feel it was created as another money making scheme by Mr. Dunning. By scheme, I do not mean illegal. But it's also, by his own admission, his "full time job" now. There are CEOs of nonprofit groups making hundreds of thousands of dollars (see Howard Stern's North Shore Animal League, for one.)

So yes, it's basically a personal grudge in which it irks me that people donate to him, when I feel there are myriad other skeptical outlets needing donations, this forum soon to be one of them. I think the guy should have to get a real job...
 
And remember, if you donate money, it means he can make another Science Rap video or another episode of The Skeptologists.


Please, please, please don't donate any more money.
 
arthwollipot said:
Having had a weekend to think about it, I have clarified my position.

I can't in good conscience support Brian Dunning. However, I do still support Skeptoid Media and the Skeptoid Podcast, because I believe that it is still a valuable commodity to the skeptical community. I don't believe that Dunning's fraud has affected the veracity of his podcasts - those stand or fall on their own merits (and I grant that some individual episodes have been quite sketchy). Skeptoid is being taken over by other parties, and they will continue to produce episodes that I will continue to subscribe to until I'm given good reason not to. I started donating when Skeptoid Media became a nonprofit, and I don't believe that there has been any fraud related to that nonprofit. It will continue to exist while (and after) it's founder is in jail.
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I actually like Brian Dunning. I consider myself a good person, but I could imagine myself getting caught up in that sort of thing.... even though it's wrong. But I haven't listened to his podcast since.... all I can think of is how much of a shyster he is.... I find it hard to concentrate on his material. He really is the last person... because he seems so gosh damn straight laced, to fall for something like that.
 
Dunning's BOP Register #

Though he is not yet in custody (Dunning is to surrender to the prison at 2:00 PM on September 2nd), he has been assigned a BOP Register #: 13412-111. Those interested can find out how to send him letters, packages, etc. by visiting this webpage.
 
I figure he's going to be short on reading material. I bet he'd enjoy a series of books about ancient aliens and others that support ufology. :)
 
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