How are moderators allowed to lie?

[DavidAlfa]

Tesla didn't invent the electric motor, but the AC induction electric motor?
Which is waaay more complicated.

Interesting... why?

Isn't the concept of sliding fields more compicsted than a dc motor with conmutator and magnets?

[Haenk]

I consider the lockdown/last post a bit of a "went over the threshhold, enough of this", though a bit undiplomaticly shortcut in the wording.
And - to my knowledge (which is of course only "passive reading of books"), the aging Tesla was very short on money and success - and secured further funding by even more (ridiculous) claims, that he did not fulfil, nor was (technically/physically) able to fulfil, ever. This certainly qualifies him as charlatan, IMHO. You could also say he duped investors, commited fraud etc pp.
This is very much the reason why I believe Simon was rightfully naming him a charlatan.
However there are some inventions of him, that clearly showed his great talent at younger age.
Some say he suffered from mental problems, I could believe that.

[MK14]

I consider the lockdown/last post a bit of a "went over the threshhold, enough of this", though a bit undiplomaticly shortcut in the wording.
And - to my knowledge (which is of course only "passive reading of books"), the aging Tesla was very short on money and success - and secured further funding by even more (ridiculous) claims, that he did not fulfil, nor was (technically/physically) able to fulfil, ever. This certainly qualifies him as charlatan, IMHO. You could also say he duped investors, commited fraud etc pp.
This is very much the reason why I believe Simon was rightfully naming him a charlatan.
However there are some inventions of him, that clearly showed his great talent at younger age.
Some say he suffered from mental problems, I could believe that.

I can't speak for Simon.

But originally, I wondered if they had made that final post, to help the OP, handle their possibly obsessive ideas about Tesla, and see a more balanced view of him.

One good thing I can say about Tesla.  Most people from that long ago, are long forgotten.

Yet, they maintain, quite a presence in peoples minds, even if they may not know why.

As with Einstein, Edison, etc.

[hans]

I'm not sure why you decided that he didn't know what is Q-factor?
It looks strange that he designed large LC circuits and didn't know that.

Some time ago I was reading old archive magazines from the beginning of the last century and was surprised by the fairly good understanding of electromagnetic waves at that time. And regarding Q-factors, I remember article from 1920 magazine about Q-factor for radio-amateurs and it explained it very clear and well understand. Such clear and understandable articles are rare these days. So I doubt that Tesla didn't know that.

I am even inclined to believe that people were more educated in the past, although many things were not known then.

I suspect that such accusations against Tesla of not understanding physics are the same rumors and speculations.

Quite simply: because the Q factor was introduced by KS Johnson in 1910s and 1920s. It wasn't even first denoted by the letter Q. However this was all done some years after Tesla filled several of his LC oscillator and mechanical oscillator patents. But the Q factor is derived from general (P)DE solutions of some resonant circuits, which were quite well understood at the time. So I'm not saying Tesla wouldn't know his stuff; but for sure he didn't contribute to standardization on all fronts.

Instead you could say Tesla was an inventor/innovator, but what doesn't help is he surrounded some of his inventions in mystery. Claiming being able to take down a large building with a small oscillator sounds like bollocks. Maybe buildings from 100 years ago were poorly built, because intuitively a long stretched building will tend to have some resonances in them, however, skyscrapers include dampeners in one of the top floors to absorb standing waves, prevent reflections and thus stop oscillations.

I always get instant allergic reactions to mysterious/secretive inventions by cases like "Jan Sloot", that claimed to have a movie compression algorithm which compress a full movie onto a smartcard (8 or 128kB. It turned out not to be really compression algorithm, and >2 decades later it is still a bunch of bollocks.

This mystery effect is still used as a teaser by many "big names" of this current era. Just look at the attraction Apple has for their brand or how Musk is (in)famous for turning the "impossible" into late. But if you cut through all this funding/marketing BS,  the actual inventive steps are remarkably small.

[DejanC]

The outrage from multiple users about Simon's past behavior makes me think this is not a coincidence at all. An abuse of power, yet he is mercilessly defended by the owner of the site. Why?

If Tesla was defended as much as Simon this thread wouldn't exist. Imagine an all-time great inventor not getting the defense an electronics forum moderator gets! 

As far as the Casimir effect, just because someone has not been able to manipulate it now does not mean it will always be impossible! The important part about the Casimir effect is it shows WITHOUT DISPUTE, that the vacuum has energy and can perform REAL WORK on REAL SYSTEMS! This is not some thought experiment.

Remember when flying was impossible? Or wireless communication? Or room temperature superconductors?

[zapta]

>> How are moderators allowed to lie?

Because they are not being moderated.

The real issue is the intolerance to dissenting opinions.

[Kjelt]

I have been a moderator for another forum for years and tried as much to refrain from hot topics where groups were fighting eachother with words.
It is tough to stand on the side and remain objective, and being a moderator is not fun I can tell you because you can never do right for everyone.
One of the most underrated non paid assignments I can tell you and so needed esp. on a global forum where posting is going on 24/7.

[EEVblog]

The outrage from multiple users about Simon's past behavior makes me think this is not a coincidence at all. An abuse of power, yet he is mercilessly defended by the owner of the site. Why?

I just don't think it's a huge deal. And I don't really care that he seamingly insulted your idol.
Simon has been a tireless moderator on this site from the beginning.

As far as the Casimir effect, just because someone has not been able to manipulate it now does not mean it will always be impossible! The important part about the Casimir effect is it shows WITHOUT DISPUTE, that the vacuum has energy and can perform REAL WORK on REAL SYSTEMS!

It does not produce any net usable energy. Good luck magically thinking it might suddenly scale up to power your computer.

[EEVblog]

The real issue is the intolerance to dissenting opinions.

The OP was free to start another thread, as he has done here.
But given that this thread has basically devolved into attacking a moderator, and everyone has had their say after 5 pages, I'll now lock it. Please take your physics discussions to another thread.