Q: What does it take to become an "aa twit"?

A: More than you think.

alt.atheism is one of the most popular newsgroups on Usenet. Average traffic is between 400 and 500 messages a day, and frequently more. The purpose of alt.atheism is to discuss issues from the "atheist perspective" (this isn't always easy because there are, in general n+3 perspectives, where n is the number of atheists in any given conversation).

However, life being what it is, a good deal of time is taken up refuting theist challenges because, for some reason, perhaps to do with insecurity, alt.atheism attracts theists and the religious like nectar attracts bees. Sometimes the, ah, "full, free and frank" exchanges of views that result are interesting, informative and teach everyone concerned something. Unfortunately this isn't always so, and hence the need for the twit list...

How Does Someone Get on The aa Twit List?

What's "invincibly ignorant"?

Well, let's say that you decide to confront alt.atheism with the opinion that evolution can't have happened because it contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. This is to say that the second law states that all systems, if left to themselves, tend to towards disorder and become less complex. Your point is that evolution supposes that life-forms become more inevitably complex over time and this contradicts the second law, which is one of the fundamental laws of physics.

This old favourite, is of course, based on a complete misunderstanding of the principles involved. It is explained to you in alt.atheism that the second law of thermodynamics states that entropy always increases in a closed system, but that the earth biosphere is not such a closed system. It is suggested that perhaps the sun may possibly be supplying energy to the earth, and so the energy to do work, in this case the energy for life-forms to breed and evolve is readily available.

It may also be suggested to you that evolution does not have an "aim" (in this case complexity) but is simply what we call the history of the survival, development and extinction of various species.

Now, dear reader, take it from me, this view is incontestable.

You, however, choose to argue the point, and try to redefine thermodynamics from the zeroth law up, to bolster your case. No matter what references are cited, no matter what arguments are deployed, you refuse to acknowledge that you're wrong. The facts of the matter become servants of your worldview.

At this point you are in sever danger of becoming an aa Twit. The penultimate step is to sufficiently annoy an aa regular with your deliberate refusal to see an incontestable truth that you get nominated for twitlist membership. But even that isn't enough. You'll only be elected to the office of twit if five regular members of alt.atheism second the nomination.

It's worth noting that theists don't have a monopoly on twitness. There is at least one atheist on the list (see entry 93).

And there you have it. In short, if you're on the list, you're not worth arguing with because you have nothing to argue with in terms of subject matter or ability, and it is as well to let newcomers know who's who, so they do not waste their time. On the bright side, being awarded a twit list number is probably sufficient to get you a job at the Institute for Scientific Creationism, or similar.

It should be noted that there is a category beyond that of "twit," and that's "kook". You can view the aa kook list here.

Administrative Note:

No	Twit Identity	Date of Election (Vigra Permitting).	Notes and / or Representative Quotation
1	Brice Wellington
2	John McCoy aka: nameless, He Whose Name Shall Ne'er Be Uttered, Mcy		A Creationist of considerable stamina but little intellectual ability. Believes (amongst other things) that artifacts such as Noah's Ark and so forth have been discovered, but for various reasons, no evidence can be produced. McCoy is so annoying that alt.atheism regulars refuse to dignify him with a name: hence the title "nameless," etc.. Appears to frequently change the "from" field when posting to avoid killfiles. Does not know that "The Red Sea" is not the same as "The Sea of Reeds". Nameless also has the status of aa kook.
3	Gladys		Not only a twit, bit an aa kook as well.
4	Riley Sinder		Allegedly a computer construct along the lines of Eliza built to study interactions on the internet. Sole interest appears to be the separation of Church and State in the United States of America (and this favors the hypothesis - constructs perform much better if their repertoire is severely limited).
5	Richard Michael Schiller aka: Jehovahwhatever, Forerunner John, etc
6	Todd Benzer, aka: Zoner Saved Soul
7	Fred Cherry
8	J Jamal		A Moslem who denies quantum mechanics. [D]
9	Jahnu (Jesper)		A rarity on alt.atheism; a non-Christian theist of the Hare-Krishna persuasion. Rabid vegetarian with some reasonable arguments for vegetarianism, which he spoils through grossly overstating his case. Known as "the Smurf" for obvious theological reasons... Has aa kook status.
10	Publius		Has a newsgroup all of his own. <alt.fan.publius>. Really, little more need be said.
11	George Lindauer
12	karl Karl Crawford		Young Earth Creationist who collects and plagiarizes creationist pamphlets (which he frequently doesn't understand himself). Lies through his teeth when answering countering responses; very, very dishonest. He reposts his posts ("regurgi-post") a few months later, without any changes. [D]
13	Timothy Sutter		There is little doubt that Tim desperately need either a life or extremely competent mental health assistance. There is little prospect of either eventuality. Has been know to take bothsides of an argument when others refuse to play.
14	Gerald Caldwell
15	Neill Laney
16	The Messenger
17	Sam Lopez		Sam is convinced that atheists suffer from severe emotional problems that they blame God for. Professing atheism is, according to Sam, a way for atheists to take revenge on God, and nothing to do with the lack of evidence for any kind of Deity. Has occasional moments of rationality, but is I feel, propounding arguments picked up elsewhere that he doesn't fully understand. Has the attention span of a mayfly. Also has the honour to be an aa kook.
18	Bill Bonde
19	Rebecca Ross
20	Tracy Bell
21	James
22	Kirk Frazer
23	Father John Morris		A genuine Priest of the Greek Orthodox persuasion who does not take kindly to having his authority questioned, perhaps confusing himself and his God, which one understands is an occupational hazard. His wife Cheryl Morris apparently suffers from depression.
24	Gareth
25	Jill E Deel (Jellied Eel)
26	John Boatwright		An absolute classic. John is convinced that the book of Genesis, if interpreted correctly, reveals more or less what modern astrophysics has discovered about the origin and state of the universe. This is apparently because "God made it all" and "Jesus died for our sins". Does not know what "revisionism" or "anachronistic interpretation" mean. Favorite "in-depth" reference works are apparently Microsoft Encarta and Time magazine. Also an aa kook. The Boatwright Files, compiled by Daneel, may be inspected at: http://www.cs.elte.hu/~ustokos/www/boatwright/
27	Samaritan
28	Jim Nichols (our inspiration)		Jim's major claim to fame is that he's the one who indirectly instigated the numbering of aa atheists by claiming there were only half a dozen, or so. The current count is in excess of 1,500 (as of Jan 2000).
29	Jack D Papin
30	FDR
31	Peter Harrington		Peter appears to be a 15-16 year old Seventh-Day Adventist - favourite tactic is to cite atrocities carried out by other faiths and by atheists as Proof of the Truth of Christianity. Consequently overuses the 'no true Scotsman', except against Biblical atrocities where his position is that God is Right by definition. Peter can't see the contradiction in this. Seems very intelligent, but thoroughly brainwashed. Very quick to take offense and throw insults, but can be induced to apologise and retract by calmly and politely explaining to him that his behaviour is unChristian. (Contributed By Shaun Denney Alt.Atheist#MIA)
32	Tom of Spotwood
33	Grandma		Very easily offended. Takes herself very seriously, and lightweights should never do that, particularly when dealing with matters of religion and ethics.
34	Jim Jarnell
35	USAM
36	Ron Schwartz
37	AEgo
38	Jesse Lee
39	David Rutledge
40	James Green, aka:
41	Ann Ferguson		Troll.
42	John Fok		Quotes the Bible, a lot; rarely responds to any points raised.
43	apatriot
44	Dan Scaertel
45	Laura Lagenback
46	Private Ice
47	Radford Tam
48	Edward Jerome Gordon (the Veridican)
49	henry273
50	mannije
51	Abacus Cafe
52	James Ignatuk
53	Robin King
54	Shawn Robert Lee Gilbreath
55	p elliott		I very much resent the fact this guy stole my famous (in some circles) pseudonym. Who remembers ORCRO Magazine?
56	Victoria Lee
57	Jonah the Demonburner
58	Vehemence		Totally twisted. Invents an "atheistic religion" as he goes along and then proceeds to criticise it. Breaks into discussions with complete non-sequitors; appears to enjoy self-contradiction, which is, after all, one of the milder forms of self-abuse. [D]
59	Claude Lowy
60	Robert Gray
61	Continuum
62	Mary Weldrick		apparently a troll by alt.atheism's own (G.M.B. a # 557). "Confession" in msg id: <388dddec.11503956@News.idirect.com>.
63	Buddy Beaudoin
64	L Kuhelj
65	luos
66	SINISTAR, aka: ANTICHRIST DAVID VISNU Bluebeard Blackcat Zyprexa (and many others).		A French Canadian with a none too good grasp of religion, english, or the internet. Keeps changing his "from" designation, but until recently didn't know how to fake or change his nntp posting host. Easily recognisable by the strange grammatical style.
67	Truth & Beauty
68	Man of God
69	Frank the Fundy Frank A.S. (Frank Schierenberg)		In the context of alt.atheism, the chosen name is rather like calling yourself "Nigel the Nazi" in soc.culture.jewish and thus betrays a certain subtlety of mind and character.
70	Michael aka aka Sardonicus aka mdolg@concentric.net		The gentleman himself provides this I know you have created shockwave software crap that can be download at these sites: File Library at Channel 1: WWW The Simtel.Net Windows 95 Collection Network Bookcase GSD-CO.Com FreeBiez Software I wrote to each of them telling them what cappy software you have that doesn't work. And I will keep telling them about your crap software as long as you keep the twit list, or keeping my name on it. I don't believe an idiot like you really made that software, so I know it's alright for me to tell them about what junk it is as long as your name is connected to it. Michael D.
71	Ryan Abellero
72	Jeffrey P Roberts
73	Watson II, aka: Huzon Furst Yomama Sophat Inspector Clueless Questioner of the Questionable Napolean Bonaparte		Harmless troll, designed purely to annoy using short inflammatory remarks. [D]
74	Tom Goodman
75	fbcorg, now identified as Twit #73		Harmless troll, designed purely to annoy using short inflammatory remarks. [D]
76	David B Greene		A rec.org.mensa regular with superiority complex and dislike of atheist definitions of atheism; sides with theistic claims even if they're contrary to his own, ah, enlightened deism. [D]
77	proctors		As all Cambridge students know, "proctors should be doctored".
78	Charles Cagle		Extremely insulting creationist; claims knowledge of "neutron-generating magnetic pole inversions" which caused the Flood and will cause Doomsday shortly. [D]
79	vic (Earthquake Girl)
80	Ross Williams
81	Joe Long		rec.org.mensa regular, deist; claims that the IPU and Santa Claus are strawmen because God is believed in by many people and the IPU isn't; also claims his definition of atheism is the dictionary definition, despite being shown otherwise. [D]
82	Raymond
83	Mark Harpt
84	Paul
85	Young Jin Kim		Thought to be a South Korean. Apparently irredeemably stupid, but this impression may be partly the result of the language problem.
86	David Sears
87	Edward Stevenson (Klondyke_Pete)		An UFOlogist creationist (!). [D]
88	Robert E. Nordlander		An Atheist. For Shame.
89	G Mark Stewart		rec.org.mensa regular with superiority complex; makes short irrelevant remarks he considers witty. Can't cope if you mimick his style. [D]
90	teen-wankers, aka luh2314		dimbulbatheist, etc. Minor irritant (and troller under several names) who seemed to have a fixation with Mother Teresa and her critic Hitchens. Also kept going on about atheists forming clubs, "Satan Rulz", teenagers and sex. (Provided by Keith Brannen).
91	Rick Carroll
92	Peter Harding
93	The Sage		An atheist on the twit list! For Shame!!! Elected to this high office because "The Sage" (secret identity: Andrew D. Robinson) will never, ever, ever, ever admit when he is wrong on any matter what-so-ever. Jeff Candy has several pages devoted to the Sage, and they can be viewed here. Andrew is also regarded as an aa kook.
94	William Wallace		a rabid atheist neo-Nazi. [D]
95	Greg Hartman
96	Derek Potter		Removed from the TwitList by popular demand some two years ago (as of Jan 2001). Apologies for the tardy response.
97	mpacell
98	Jabriol		Jehovah's Witness from talk.origins, with exceptionally bad spelling and a custom of x-posting to every group he thinks even tangentially relevant. Likes to accuse evolutionists of racism. [D]
99	Robin Griffin
100	James W Aubuchon
101	Michael D
102	Ekaterina A Koltunova		"Koltunova" = "Kult-a-nova?" ="New Cult"? Possibly a clue to trolldom as well as idiocy? She claims it is her real name. Appears to be posting from Russia, and probably the first of many who find an ideological gap in their lives and who seek to fill it with religion of one kind or another.
103	Dark Fader		Generally argumentative and silly.
104	Vince Burt Burt Vincent Bellows		Claims the universe was created 6000 years ago, and that the scientific method is flawed because it assumes uniformity -- that is, it assumes that his god dod not make the universe 6000 years ago. His posting tactics are dishonest and evasive, and he ironically accuses others, repeatedly and without justification, of employing circular reasoning. Particularly fond of "ghosting" (i.e., killfiling) people who he finds intimidating, he also manages to add that he works on the "fastest supercomputers in the world" as often and inappropriately as possible. (Contributed By Jeff Candy). additional Info: Claimed a degree in theology in Message-ID: [6isuti$6bb@newsops.execpc.com]
105	Wndryears6		Wndryears6@aol.com purports to be a high school student, although no one really is sure. He is known for "hit and run trollings," where he posts something inflamatory and proceeds to refuse to answer atheist queries. Wndryears6 has claimed to be interested in philosophical debates, yet has never engaged in a meaningful debate on his xian beliefs. Of late, his posts have become somewhat more bitter and angry towards atheists, accusing athiests of not being able to distinguish morality or right from wrong. Wndryear6's biggest claim to fame on alt.atheism was posting the work of another xian's web page here without citing the author (that is, he plagiarized the work.) Even more amusing, wndryears claimed to know the author and that the author had placed the web page in the public domain for anyone to use. Turns out Justin Taylor (the original author) had never heard of wndryears6. Not only did wndryears6 steal someone elses's work, but he lied to cover it up. He broke 2 of the 10 commandments. Quite an positive example of xianity in action. (contributed by Dan Chaney #1144.
106	ED (Oldguyteck)		Has yet to produce anything beyond the "my assertions should be regarded as fact" argument. Claims to be well past retirement age. The following supplied by Tyler Parsons #957: The majority of Ed's (OLDGUYTECH) posts are (one-liners) which he believes to be clever, often interspersed in the middle of a quote so that it is difficult to discern who and what he is referring. His specialty is expressing his disgust at "obscene" language - he seems to go looking for it. He claims "vile language" is against the law, but ignores queries about which laws he is talking about.
107	Rev S. Paul D.D. beeop1@javanet.com		The "Rev" is a man of many parts. He has claimed to be: a student of Harvard a student of Cambridge (USA, not UK) a PhD student working on his "Discertation" (his spelling) in history a scholar in "Shakespear" (again, his spelling) Owner of a "major" business with the headquarter in Johannesburg a Vietnam vet runs a parish a baptist minister an ULC minister (which is cheap, since half the members of aa were ordained under the authority of the ULC) a owner an interfaith church the webmaster of 6 internet churchs selling computers at cost to third world countries One of the Rev's websites is listed below. http://www.webalias.com/Church
At this point the Twit List went on holiday, for, ah, technical reasons. The missing twits will be added as I find them in dejanews, and so some renumbering will be going on for a little while yet.
108	Vincent Allah		Has the dubious distinction of being twitted for pure evil; he was nominated and elected for actively encouraging a severely depressed aa regular to commit suicide. (Contributed by Raven1).
109	wsen@twcny.rr.com
110	Duplicate Removed		Opps.
112	Iron
113	Scotty Higginbotham
114	frankh1@gte.net
115	Richard E Reboulet
116	Lim CK Aka: Lim(p Di)CK, "The 99 names of Lim CK" (it is generaly thought he has as many aliases than Allah has names).		Religion: Muslim Favorite fallacies: Argument from personal incredulity, ad hominem, Pascal's Wager, wishful thinking, argument from authority, belief that length lends credibility Quirks: Considers his personal fear of death and desire for vengeance as reason to believe in God. Annoying habits: Changes alias constantly to avoid killfiles. Reposts same message multiple times under several titles. Positive points: Highly amusing; has argued that the founder of his religion (Islam) was too stupid to have done so without God's help (cf. below). Possibility of rationality: epsilon at best. Description: LimCK is a Malaysian Muslim, who seems to consider that atheists are responsible for all the evils on the earth; in 1999 he has in particular blamed the (largely Christian-committed) Kosovo atrocities on atheism. Has a nearly pathological fear of death. Construes objections to his breaches of netiquette as vindication of his view of atheists as evil. His argument for the existence of God basically boils down to "Mohammed was an ignorant goat-herd and couldn't have achieved what he did without direct divine intervention; therefore, the Qur'an is the word of God". Likes to quote Western 'authorities' (from early 19th century historians to George Bernard Shaw) in support of Mohammed's status as a 'great man'; seems to think that such status somehow automatically proves God's existence as well. Has occasionally engaged in conversation (apart from hit-and-run trolls); in them his tactic is to flood his opponent out. (Contributed by Raven1).
117	P.A.A.		No notable things, apart from posessing the same initials as my very first girlfriend with whom I was very much in love, and remember, from time to time, still. But that's another story....
118	Arvin Slather (pseudonym) aka Dr Sinister Aka : Sinny. ? Dr. Sinister	Notes: The question of Dr. Sinister's identity has been a matter of some speculation in alt.atheism for quite a while. 45 minutes of serious investigation revels that 45 minutes may not have been enough! For the full story of how the identity of wasn't determined, check back in a couple of days (Sunday, probably)! See apologies, inferential chains, weak links, grounds for suspiction and lots of other stuff!!	Religion: claims to worship his toaster. (Therion: I think this is a ploy to try and get atheists to define God, for obvious reasons). Synopsis: A troll of the highest order, Sinsiter is essentially a Usenet Sociopath. While very intelligent, his main joy in life appears to be antagonizing others and playing pointless semantic games. Immature, anti-social, apparently enjoys being regarded with disdain. Would probably be shooting up a McDonalds if he lost internet access for any length of time. Favorite Fallacies: Ad Hominem, Red Herring. Enjoys playing games with multiple word definitions, shifting from one to another as the need suits him. Brain trouble: Egomania, Sociopathic Disorder. Positive Points: makes theism look idiotic. Possibility of Rationality: High; unfortunately intelligence is no guarantee of social maturity or empathy with one's fellow humans. Sinister chooses to make himself a pariah by attempting to offend as many people as possible, and deserves every resulting insult. Other Notes: has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Buddhism accompanied by a considerable understanding of same. (Contributed by Raven1; updated by Therion Ware ).
119	Food-for-Thought
120	ggrp2@fgi.net
121	Tiglath
122	Radlester
123	Alan Wostenberg		Alan may not have been twitted. A recount is in progress (24/1/00).
124	Blury Shadow
125	TC
126	Electro
127	Teresita
128	AmericanMuslim
129	Brian Pickrell
130	iamyhwh
131	Chapel Student
132	Mr GoodSalt aka Michael R. Anderson		Being twitted under two seperate identities is something of an achievement. The following biography is contributed by Raven1. Religion: Fundamentalist Christian, sect unknown Aka: Godslug, Salty, Mikey, "mendacious hypocritical fuckwit" (attrib. raven1) Synopsis: Enjoys posting loaded "questions" for atheists, and ignoring the answers he receives. Cowardly and intellectually dishonest, invariably snips arguments that he can't answer. Consistently tries to rationalize away Biblical genocides and other assorted atrocities. Severely homophobic; can become obsessive on the topic. Brain Trouble: Obsessive-compulsive disorder with a healthy streak of masochism thrown in; doggedly persists in posting despite being shredded on a regular basis. Severe self-esteem problems; regularly refers to himself in the third person, and makes extreme self-deprecating comments. These would be enough in and of themselves, but he compounds the problem by simply not being very bright. Unusual features: Has been twitted twice, once under his real name, once under this alias. Consistent TQOTM nominee. Favorite fallacies: Invalid appeal to authority, Argument by assertion, Argumentum ad nauseam. Positive points: generally remains upbeat despite constant flamage. Has helped at least two people decide to deconvert to atheism. Useful for target practice. Possibility of rationality: couldn't recognize it if you spotted him "L_GIC" and let him buy a vowel
133	Mark Bassett
134	Oronoco
135	Taichi
136	Jimmy
137	LoveOneAnother		This is in fact one Brian Kelly, 27 Stanwix St Albany , NY. His "home", email address is brian63@superior.net. He's also been know as, amongst others, "peacemaker" and "loplts@aol.com" (LOPLTS) and presumably others. Brian is little more than an enthusiastic troll, who played both Christian and atheist and who gave himeself away with the following outburst, but forgot to change his headers. [include call to suicide]
138	Francois Tremblay		Religion: None. Another atheist on the Twit List! For shame! Synopsis: A self-described objectivist, Franc has the dubious distinction of being one of the few atheists elected to the Twit List. A recent arrival on alt.atheism, Franc gave early indications of his twitdom by being killfiled almost immediately by several regulars for personal obnoxiousness and general arrogance. Rarely mixes it up with theists; tends to argue with and killfile atheists instead. Thought to be a troll by many. Brain trouble: Egomania typical of a young objectivist. Has no regard for others; refuses to acknowledge other POVs as possibly valid. Entirely irrational hero-worship of Ayn Rand, has referred to "Atlas Shrugged" as the second most influential book in history (!) . Favorite Fallacy: Ad Hominem. Characterizes anyone who disagrees with him as a "bigot" or "fembot". Positive points: Seems quite intelligent, despite personal abraisiveness. Possibility of rationality: High, if he'd get his head out of his ass and realize that his approach alienates those who would normally agree with him on most issues.
139			Coming soon.... a story of trolling, switched premises, motorbike accidents, psychological problems and so forth. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode.
140	Skypher.		An uninteresting girl who apparently feels that ... well, who cares?
141

If you are a regular on alt.atheism, please feel free to submit shortish
descriptions of any twitlist member to Therion Ware. Thanks.