Talk:Ralph Rene

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[edit] Is it appropriate to call him a 'physicist' when he holds no such degree?

I have no objection to calling him a 'self-taught expert on the Moon landing' but calling him a 'self-taught Physicist'is quite misleading. This is a guy who holds no degree and we have only is word that he has reached any degree of expertise in anything. He is not a scientist.

I would argue he should be referred to as

'a self-taught inventor who has a side-career as a NASA critic'

I would add further:

"He has been interviewed frequently for television programs that explore his conspiracy theory. He has appeared in shows produced by The History Channel, National Geographic and Showtime."

(Lisa Pollison)

I cleaned up the article and removed the innapropriate use of the label 'physicist', which I changed to "inventor and Small press publisher." I feel that described him better without compromising NPOV. I also added a brief summary of his main 'evidence' of a hoax as ell as the fact of his frequent appearances on shows covering the alleged hoax. I chose not to include any explanations to his assertions at this time. I'm not that experienced here as an editor. Maybe another time.Lisapollison 18:18, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Link to Gallup poll should be added

I did some searching and found the link to the 1999 Gallup poll on the subject and I feel it should be considered for inclusion since it speaks to the general issue.

It concluded that only 6 % of americans believe NASA faked the moon landings as opposed to the 20% that Ralph Rene and others like him often claim.

199 Gallup Poll - Did Man Really Walk On the Moon? 'In the July 1999 poll, the overwhelming majority of Americans (89%) do not believe the U.S. government staged or faked the Apollo moon landing. Only 6% of the public believes the landing was faked and another 5% have no opinion.' http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=1993&pg=1

please discuss this or comment on the appropriateness of including such a link. (Lisa Pollison 1/17/06)

[edit] Be careful about NPOV when referencing his TV Appearances

I made a mnior edit to a recent revision that said "He was mocked by Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" because it seems to advocate a POV that it is not neutral. Yes, Penn & Teller mocked him most mercilessly, choosing to air footage of him swigging from a huge Vodka bottle with a masking tape label that said "Water", but unless you can write that up NPOV, it doesn't belong in the article.

I invite others to edit this article by adding some links to the NASA pages that dispute Rene's main assertions point for point. That would be more helpful.Lisapollison 20:56, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Describing his appearance on Bullshit as being mocked is not POV. That Penn & Teller made fun of him on premium cable is not a matter of opinion. A POV statement would say something more like "he was deservedly mocked." Stating the POV of other, notable people is not in itself POV... but it may not be encyclopedic. Which is why I'm not changing it back. Penn & Teller are not really encyclopedic sources on space travel. Bgruber 21:41, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Bgruber, thank you for considering my edit and my reasons for it. I disagree with you on the word 'mocked' but I do see your point. I felt that in the absence of greater discussion of his media appearances, that one comment would have tilted the article towards one particular POV. If we can expand the discussion of his media coverage a bit, your original edit might be worth reverting to. I would very much like to expand this article to include some more of Rene's specific assertions that indicate the alleged hoax while also building in links to the matters he refers to such as I did with the Van Allen Belt. And finally, I'd like to list some of his TV Appearances that people are likely to catch in re-runs on Cable. Any help you can give me with this article would be greatly appreciated. I am still a Wikipedia Noob, but not new to editing in general. I'm still learning how to format things properly. Thank you again for your comments and help with this article.Lisapollison 07:36, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I have gone over the main article on the Moon Landing Hoax/Conspiracy Apollo moon landing hoax accusations, and I can see now that I need to be careful not to duplicate work that has already been done over there. I'm going to try to keep this mostly about rene himself and his TV Appearances. I added the title of his 9/11 Conspiracy book today and added Fox Tv to the list of his Tv Appearances. Lisapollison 02:49, 23 April 2006 (UTC)