I see that u/bear-in-exile has posted to this sub. He would seem to have been treated fairly by the mods, so I'll try posting here. r / Areology is an alleged planetology group, run by somebody who claims to be a PhD student in that subject. There are good reasons to doubt that he is what he claims to be, not the least of which is he didn't know what a fossil was. He thought that they were living organisms trapped in rock. [Somebody asked the possibility finding fossils on Mars could be ruled out](https://www.reddit.com/r/Areology/comments/l4qi2m/gullies_and_icerich_material/gkr9cgc/). Bear gave [the only honest answer](https://www.reddit.com/r/Areology/comments/l4qi2m/gullies_and_icerich_material/gktsckp/) that could be given to such a question: that it was too early to rule that out, because there have been no digs on Mars, yet. Everything seen, so far, has either been on the surface within a few centimeters of it. The mod then [exposed his ignorance](https://www.reddit.com/r/Areology/comments/l4qi2m/gullies_and_icerich_material/gku1nbi/), sharing these words of wisdom about "fossils" ​ ​ ​ >Further, the radiation on Mars will essentially sanitize the top few meters of Martian soil so finding microbes preserved in rock near the surface is nigh impossible. ​ ​ ​ Fossils are dead, already. One doesn't have to worry about them dying from radiation poisoning. If you take a rock, and leave it next to a nuclear reactor core, it's going to go on being a rock, because what else would it be? By posting what he did, the mod revealed a level of scientific literacy that would considered low by the standards of a grade school science fair. Even a little kid with a rock collection knows what a fossil is. Yet, somebody claims to be a PhD student in Planetology did not. Somebody then replied to [the mod's strange comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Areology/comments/l4qi2m/gullies_and_icerich_material/gku1nbi/). I could only guess who, because the mod removed the comment while leaving [his rebuttal to the reply](https://www.reddit.com/r/Areology/comments/l4qi2m/gullies_and_icerich_material/gkujydl/) visible. In it, I saw something that made me laugh. The mod had written ​ ​ ​ >You will not find bone on Mars. Without bone, you do not get mineral replacement which is what you're talking about re: fossils being rock. ​ ​ ​ Nine days ago, I saw that and [replied](https://www.reddit.com/r/Areology/comments/l4qi2m/gullies_and_icerich_material/gpchg8j/), writing ​ ​ ​ >Really? Ferns have bones in them? > >[https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/collections-and-research/paleobotany/noteworthy-specimens/metamorphosed-fern-fossil/](https://samnoblemuseum.ou.edu/collections-and-research/paleobotany/noteworthy-specimens/metamorphosed-fern-fossil/) > >As do jellyfish? > >[https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/fossil-jellyfish](https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/fossil-jellyfish) > >And insects? > >[https://fossilinsects.colorado.edu/blog/whats-so-neat-about-fossil-insects/](https://fossilinsects.colorado.edu/blog/whats-so-neat-about-fossil-insects/) > >I learn something new every day. ​ ​ ​ Follow the links. They go to some very straightforward pages on legitimate academic sites. On them, you can find mentions of fossils of ferns, jellyfish and insects. I think that we all know that none of these organisms have bones. Once again, the mod (who claimed to be a PhD student) didn't know what he was talking about. I guess that he wasn't too happy to have that fact exposed, because less than an hour later, my comment got its one and only downvote. I could reasonably guess who cast it and, much impressed by the childishness of such an act, gave r / Areology no more thought, until about 12 hours ago when I got this message: ​ ​ ​ >You have been permanently banned from participating in r / Areology. You can still view and subscribe to r / Areology, but you won't be able to post or comment. > >Note from the moderators: > >"Be smarter next time 🤡" > >If you have a question regarding your ban, you can contact the moderator team for r / Areology by replying to this message. ​ ​ ​ I had only posted to r / Areology once, so I knew what this was about. This was payback for posting some links to pages about fossils from non-vertebrate organisms, and a mild expression of amusement. Three hours ago, I wrote back to tell the mod exactly what I thought of him and his sub. I've stuck spaces in between the letters in his usename, because a friend tells me that Reddit will get mad at me if I don't. I wrote ​ ​ ​ >Hello, O m i c r o n C e t i. Be smarter, next time? Why would there be a next time? You were presented with a perfectly valid, documented point, and responded to it as a small child would. Asking around, I find that you have a history of doing this. > >If you really are a PhD student, as you claim, you must either be at a very bad school. or one with an easily bribed admissions committee. Enjoy your 15 minutes of not quite fame as a "power mod," I really don't care. ​ ​ ​ About an hour ago, OC replied. I think he was trying to bully me into silence. He falsely accused me of block evasion, and then told me that this was a violation of the TOS. In other words, he was threatening to trump up a charge and try to get me thrown off the site because I fact checked an incorrect claim of his, and was open about being mildly amused by his mistake. OC then went on to show what a big man he was by muting me, after which I laughed at him some more. End of story. ​ ​ ​ If this group is like anti-censorship groups on other sites, you're maybe thinking that I'm going to ask you to persuade OC to let me back into his group. If so, thank you, but no. I'm very happy to be out of that group. I couldn't be paid enough to post there, again. I do, however, feel that this is worth talking about. When a fake scientist like OC speaks up, people who have really been to graduate school in the sciences can usually see through him fairly quickly, but most of the world hasn't even been to college, much less grad school. When somebody lies, claims to be a PhD (or PhD student), and sets himself up as a source of information on what he claims to be his field, if he acts confident enough, he can get a lot of laymen to take him at his word. For this reason, the social media sites have been turning into fountains of misinformation. Reddit would not seem to be an exception. People who are genuinely curious about a legitimate, wholesome subject and are willing to put in the time and effort to learn something about it should find their efforts rewarded. Somebody with my background can see a phony for what he is, fairly quickly, and walk away with no harm done, but the sincere amateur can put in time and work and in the end, find that a mockery has been made of his passion, because what he has learned is nonsense, taught by a charlatan. All of his time and work has gone for nothing. He's been robbed, and maybe made to feel foolish, because he trusted the wrong fake teacher. That stinks. The dedicated layman deserves better, so when I see an academic phony, I'm going to speak up. There are going to be people like OC who use censorship as a weapon, in order to silence those who would expose them. I refuse to be silenced, because some things are just simply wrong.