For months, some ID-friendly Facebookers have been trying to draw my attention to fake-ID Facebook pages. But Facebook is one of those systems I use without fully understanding it, so resisted getting involved.
Well, yesterday, I got clear enough information to have a look:
… you are still listed as a member on the fraudulent group. Could you please post a Warning message to that wall stating “Official Page here is a FAKE ID group run by an atheist with a FAKE account. Please do not support his fraud”.
Possibly, even a short write-up about the profile in this OP, as we have been trying to get this fraud shut down for a year?
Okay. So far as I can see, these are legitimate ID-oriented Facebook pages:
The Official ID Facebook Page (over 7000 members).
I don’t know what makes that page official. The ID community has no governing body. But it is probably representative of a large section of lay interest.
I also commend to your interest (775 members) Natural Genetic Engineering, which is named in honour of well-known molecular biologist and Darwin critic James Shapiro.
And Intelligent Design – Consistent with the program Discovery Institute (790 members) I don’t think the Discovery Institute sponsors the page; more likely, the members feel they are more in line with its goals.
Readers may wish to suggest other such pages; these are only the ones I have been asked or permitted to post links to, to spur discussions.
Okay, now about fake pages, here is one: It has 2780 members, and the artwork looks like it could be from an official page. Indeed, as the founder of the “official” ID page put it, “That’s the other thing is that since they stole our name, and copy our cover photos, it causes some members to do a double take not sure just exactly which board they’re on.”
When I posted links yesterday from Uncommon Descent to the Official ID Facebook Page, those links were appearing a sidebar at the fake page (that, of course, may not continue hereafter). So it might at times look very much like the actual page.
It turned out I was even a member (no longer). How did that happen? I have been informed,
The purpose of his FAKE Behe and Meyer accounts is to collect creationist friends that he dumps into his fake group without permission (that’s how you ended up there) and the purpose of his FAKE group is to mock ID while booting everyone who defends ID, …
I have since left the group I never intentionally joined.
You wouldn’t even really notice what the page was unless you happened to read the intro copy written by Christopher Hartsil:
Irreducible complexity remains fallacious on a number of levels. Out of the gate it is a gap argument as not knowing how X developed is not evidence *for* anything. Secondly are the falsification criteria. They each are separate fallacies themselves.
So it obviously isn’t an ID page and one wonders how many of those some thousands of supposed members have any idea they have been enrolled.
There was a fake Mike Behe page quite recently, but it has been removed, I am told it will likely be replaced by another. Other ID theorists also have/have had/will have fake pages dedicated to detracting them as well. The Genesis Key was offered as another example, apparently from the same shop.
Some ID opponents defend the practice of fake pages. For example,
I would support ID if its claims were based on actual science. I am here because it is clearly not science, and I cannot allow ID to use MY cloak to fool its victims.
So instead of making clear that he does not support ID, he belongs to a fake ID page…
Two takehome points: People would not engage in these antics if they thought they could compete in an open forum.
Second, if they get a tighter hold on the whip hand, expect more than fake Facebook pages from them.
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