Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2006-01-13 famous-experiments

Request Information

 * Request made by: Zeamays 04:23, 13 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Where is the issue taking place?
 * ...Someone named Raoul or Raul654 is deleting additions I made to "List of Famous Experiments". The apparent reason is that he does not deem them experiments.  I and most scientists I have surveyed differ.  He should not be deleting my well-chosen words, and he has been insulting about it.


 * Who's involved?
 * ...Raul654 and myself


 * What's going on?
 * ..Several weeks ago I tried to add several experiments to this page. They were shortly deleted by a self-appointed expert, named Raoul, who apparently has a background in engineering and places specious restrictions on what he considers an experiment. Something done in a laboratory that requires observation, deduction and conclusions resulting in new hypotheses and further experiment apparently doesn't count for Mr. Raoul. For example, he would exclude Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin, although it is based on an observation (an inhibitory zone), a deduction (the zone is due to the secretion of an inhibitory substance by the fungus), and further experiments to prove this hypothesis. On similar grounds, he also exlcudes the development of the Sanger method of DNA sequencing and other additions of mine. How do we go about getting Mr. Raoul's priviledges revoked?


 * I presented my argument with Mr. Raoul to a group of chemists at my local meeting of the American Chemical Society this evening. Everyone agreed with me that Flemming's laboratory work that resulted in the isolation of penicillin should be considered experiments.


 * Strangely, Mr. Raoul allows the discovery of Buckeyballs and other discoveries to be included. Why and how the experiments that led to the discovery of penicillin are conceptually different, he won't say.  He does, however, insultingly state that I don't "comprehend" what an experiment is.


 * ''What would you like to change about that?
 * ...Prevent Mr. Raoul from deleting my additions to the list.


 * If you'd prefer we work discreetly, how can we reach you?