The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. AfD is not a merry-go-round. This is essentially some "special" type of oxyhydrogen (whatever that means); go put the information there until reliable sources can be found. May I also warn that repeated recreation of this article without heeding policy (let alone badgering commenters whose opinions you don't agree with) can and will be construed as disruption, and blocks may and will be meted out to stop said disruption. —Kurykh 02:44, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

HHO gas (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)

Neither this article or Brown's gas survived multiple AfD's before, but people keep recreating it. Trying to keep an open mind I waited and gave the articles a chance to grow, this unfortunately did not happen. Since the recurring problems have not been solved I want some community input as to whether the article should be deleted again!! or can be allowed to stay. Included in this AfD is Brown's gas for the same reasons.

Brown's gas (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Among the violations of policy:

In short, if we take out what is not supported by independent non-promotional sources the articles would contain two sentences (hyperbole). Please comment on the need to keep such articles. Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 07:24, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • This caveat -by someone who is the main contributor, has followed commentators suggesting they change their position and then unilaterally undid the deletion of this article- is highly inappropriate and incorrect. In short, the editor has NOT retracted his comment!Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 09:55, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This is a quote from an essay with little or no consensus. It barely addresses the point you are responding to, which is quoted from a guideline with a strong consensus. It also doesn't apply; it is about science articles, whereas this is specifically an article about the psuedoscientific claims of a company that has achieved widespread media attention for those claims. JulesH 08:24, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Be that as it may, you keep ignoring the fact there is no reputable source to debunk or substantiate HHO gas. Please advise as to why we should allow that violation of WP:RS.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 08:46, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
"repeated disruptive nominations" rather misses the point that this has been deleted numerous times, always for the same concern: lack of verifiable independent evidence. Guy (Help!) 07:11, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment - I've been asked by Omegatron to elaborate further on my reasoning. I will but I first want to make sure I understand his comments correctly. Omegatron claims this article is regarding a hoax, yet this is not at all mentioned in the article. In addition please do not quote WP:Abuse of deletion process like it's chips, I don't see how it fits in here. --Javit 14:28, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I wish more people would try to get that:
1, an article about rubbish is not a rubbish article
2. Wikipedia is the first place that many people will look for honest information about this kind of thing.

And I wish Nescio would make an honest attempt to understand this. Gnothi seauton. Man with two legs 17:58, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly. See my user page and Replies to common objections for similar sentiment. — Omegatron 18:07, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Nescio understands the meaning of WP:SCI, WP:RS, WP:NOR, WP:SPAM, WP:NPOV. Those suffice to make this article incompatible with policy.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 18:20, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I am certain that you do not. The two tags that you added to Brown's gas were objectively wrong which is why I removed them. Try looking again at what Omegatron says about it. Have you understood that Omegatron is opposed to belief in the special properties of HHO gas? Man with two legs 18:34, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The difficulty is that when something is very obviously scientifically rubbish, scientists don't bother to write peer-reviewed articles saying so. So there is not much out there explicitly debunking it. For example, if you look up Apollo_moon_landing_hoax_accusations you will find many sites debunking them, but those sites are not from reputable scientific journals. Man with two legs 18:38, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Comment The new version from Omegatron has repaired the problem with the 'fact' tags that I noted in my above comment. EdJohnston 00:35, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fnagaton 00:02, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment to all Apparently this has become an argument as to my motives (which sounds like a violation of WP:AGF) and "everybody should know this is a hoax." Please let me remind you what this is about. I am the first to point out hoaxes. However, that does not negate the need for WP:RS (please provide a reputable scientific source debunking this, this is policy!!) or explain why it is impossible to amend the article to clearly show it is a hoax without editors removing those caveats.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 08:46, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Also there may be very specific WP:COI concerns, AFAIK User:Nescio is in the business of selling this stuff. --Pjacobi 09:19, 6 June 2007 (UTC) Sorry, I had another contributor in mind. --Pjacobi 09:57, 6 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Sources should be appropriate to the claims made: exceptional claims require exceptional sources." If the source is not correctly cited, it is not verified. If it is a local news report masquerading as a national news report (especially if it does NOT verify the truth of the claims made but primarily notes that funding is being gotten for the promoting organization... triply especially if it flies in the face of established science or claims to be 'extrascientific' or some such, a national news source -not local- would be 'exceptional.') it fails having been verified. While it is used in the context of Burden of Proof, the long quote from Jimbo about citations being necessary seems to apply, especially if the report is incorrectly attributed. And, while it may not be part of the policy itself, the quote came from a post with an enlightening title, "Zero information is preferred to misleading or false information." Omitting an essential part of a reference is almost equivalent to lying about the source. If the sources are lied about, why should I trust any of the other information in the article? LaughingVulcan 03:30, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    Notability of a science topic is met just by meeting ONE of the criteria on WP:SCIENCE. This easily meets criteria number 5, being covered by more than ten news organizations, and meets criteria number 7; popular belief. — Omegatron 04:41, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • And it doesn't answer my first question: Why does this article not qualify as WP:CSD G4?
    • "provided that the copy is substantially identical to the deleted version"
    • Deletion policy: "Repeated re-creation of an article by previously unassociated editors may be evidence of a need for an article, but repeated nominations for deletion are not necessarily evidence that an article should be deleted, and in some cases, repeated attempts to have an article deleted may even be considered disruptive." — Omegatron 04:41, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Yep. And I asked what's different, as there isn't any history going back past the other AfDs. I'm not saying it isn't different, just that if the same result is coming up, and I'm wondering how the article has changed to reflect the prior AfDs. LaughingVulcan 04:50, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • And looking through the Article talk pages shows that it has gone through several permutations of editing, so G4 doesn't apply. LaughingVulcan 05:23, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Reply The fact you are the main contributor but refuse the article to reflect that the "gas" is nonsense[8] is troubling. This inability to have a neutral and sourced article on the topic is the reason it was deleted time an time again.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 07:57, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Huntja2 08:03, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to Wikipedia, Huntja2! Thanks for commenting here, but note that AfD is not a vote. (first and only edit)--Pjacobi 08:19, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Interesting? So it's alright to have hoaxes presented as normal as long as it's interesting? --Javit 09:55, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Huh? Sourced? Name one non-promotional reference. BTW, have just made the article less of an advertisement.[9] Unfortunately explicitely refuting this as non-science is consistently denied by some contributors.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 12:39, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As re-creation of deleted content, and promotional. Tom Harrison Talk 14:21, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not going to restore the articles. Take it to deletion review if you want. Tom Harrison Talk 14:31, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Then please close this AfD.
Your call, but can you close this AfD? It's already in DRV with multiple opinions. LaughingVulcan 23:29, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
BTW - I do approve of this. I do not see that the previous content needed to be used directly under CSD:G4, but rather if the article was of similar content then CSD:G4 should apply. As for CSD:G11, the article was crafted to note that doubts exist but still was very definite about the claims of HHO gas. Overall, I think that the case made to permit recreation of this article back on March 14 was at best deceptive given the product that resulted. The article very much should have remained salted. --EMS | Talk 15:59, 7 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What do you think of this version?Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 07:56, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
What should I be thinking of it? It's clear that you've been trying to polish the article into a form that you find acceptable. So is Omegatron.
As I read the article as it is now, I glean that there are problems with the theory as advocated by those with commercial interests. It doesn't have to scream "This is a hoax!" in 48 point sans serif. From what I make of the situation, you and Omegatron are in an edit war over the best way to elaborate on the controversy (or hoaxy aspects) of the topic. I don't think AfD is the place to resolve an edit war, if the article can otherwise be salvaged. And I think it can be from what I've seen of yours and Omegatron's work.
The article has moved from being a pure commercial promotional puff-piece of psuedoscience into something with far less POV (on either side of advocacy/pure hoax,) far better sourcing and description, and presenting both sides in a way that a rational person can make their conclusions about the factual validity of documented claims. (Which is the point of my diff above.) So, I think it's passed beyond the point of something deletable.
It would be far better if those of you involved in active editing would engage in dispute resolution to polish the article into a final form, than blow it away only to see the promotional puff-piece come back in a few months. But that's just my humble opinion. You're both working to make as good an article as you can, even though you might have significant differences over how it should be articulated. The article is evolving, so I don't understand the delete call at this point as originally proposed, in my humble opinion. LaughingVulcan 19:53, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The fact some people keep removing every suggestion this is a scam is the reason the article can't be kept.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 07:56, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
That is definatley a problem, however deletion would not be the way to solve it! Sethie 16:10, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It's an imaginary problem. I'm adding attributed, verifiable criticisms with reliable sources, while Nescio persists in adding unsourced weasel word criticisms, despite being reverted by at least three other editors and being asked to stop. — Omegatron 23:47, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I t5hink Mro should now consider this my last warning regarding his WP:CIVIL, WP:AGF and WP:NPA violations. Discuss the topic and not the other editors. Also, the fact criticism can't be sourced is the principal reason the article needs to be deleted as we are left with just the view of proponents. Better known as advertisement.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 09:44, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • And an article in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
  • I see only one patent in the references section.
  • The "smattering of local stories" consists of at least eight news organizations covering at least six different states. And that's just the ones we've bothered to write down.
  • Even local news coverage doesn't count as self-promotion; they're all secondary sources with editorial oversight. See Wikipedia:Verifiability#Sources. The idea that third-party news sources are "promotional" when they clearly criticize the topic is ludicrous. Have you even read the articles you're criticizing?
  • I've never heard of WorldNetDaily, either, but it's apparently notable enough to have a Wikipedia article. That you personally haven't heard of something doesn't make it non-notable.
Several people have changed their votes from delete to keep. I think that counts for a lot. — Omegatron 00:06, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • It says that you and the other HHO folks have figured out which buttons to push on this issue, and this response is an example of that. I have some real problems with it, such as
    1. your saying that "local news coverage doesn't count as self-promotion". If you look at my reason for dismissing it, it is not for being promotional but rather for not qualifying as "significant coverage".
    2. You claim coverage from "eight news organizations covering at least six different states" but four of the eight news citations are for Wave3 in Louisville, KY, and another is for a YouTube video of a "Fox26" broadcast whose location is unidentified and for which there is no other evidence of its having covered HHO. So I only count four organizations and five states (since Louisville is in Kentucky and next to Ohio).
    3. You claim that these are "just the ones we've bothered to write down". I find it hard to believe that you all would have stopped at those if there was more to document.
I think this speaks of the kind of case that you all are making here. --EMS | Talk 00:57, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ten news organizations in six different states:
  • All notable enough to have Wikipedia articles, not even counting online news sources like WorldNetDaily.
  • Why the hell does the exact number even matter? Why should we not stop at this many? In any other article, this many news references would be considered unreasonable overkill. Just one or two of these is sufficient to demonstrate notability.
  • You're still ignoring the journal article. — Omegatron 16:22, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • A single journal article does not "cut the mustard" under WP:SCIENCE, and a series of local news stories in so "significant coverage" under WP:N IMO. You are obviously a principal in this HHO business, seeking to give in the widest exposure possible. You are doing a good job making this seem notable, but every time I sanity test your claims, they come out as just another scam to me. --EMS | Talk 00:20, 10 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Of course it's a scam! It is a notable scam! That is the point of having an article about it. Omegatron has contributed to several articles on related scams and his POV is clear (and spelled out on his talk page): have articles that show these scams for what they are. This discussion is about deleting it completely, which would also remove the bit that tells people it is a scam. Omegatron himself drew this article to my attention and to user:SteveBaker's attention in full knowledge that we are both total non-believers in this kind of nonsense. There is no doubt that he is not a promoter of it. Man with two legs 21:51, 10 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
OK, to whomever may read this 70k+ mess of an AfD discussion: Yes, I also know Omegatron as a whistleblower and eliminator of desinformation, e.g. at the Ionocraft/Biefeld–Brown effect pages. Just check history and block log there. I'm the more paranoid of us and prefer deletion and he's generally for keeping and telling the plain story. But:
  • With the recent extremist interpretation of WP:CITE, you cannot debunk anything yourself anymore.
  • The HHO-scam would need a healthy dose of investigative journalism, but Wikipedia is not in the business of investigative journalism. And until someone does this task, we are simply without first class secondary sources on this topic.
  • And note: The International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and T. Nejat Veziroglu are partially in the same boat as Ruggero Maria Santilli and his Hadronic Journal. This would be a nice topic for investigative journalism too, but as the audience who is interested in it is so small, it wouldn't feed a journalist, I fear.
--Pjacobi 22:17, 10 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]


You are obviously a principal in this HHO business, seeking to give in the widest exposure possible. --EMS
You obviously have an intimate knowledge of this article and its history, and your deductive reasoning abilities are unmatched. — Omegatron 02:11, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]


  1. You are right that this article is in danger of evolving into an advert, but if it does, then you, or anyone else, can simply revert it to a legitimate version.
  2. One reason I feel strongly that articles like this should remain in Wikipedia is that if you Google something like this, Wikipedia is often the only hit you get that contains any critical material at all. So deleting it is to the advantage of fraudsters.
  3. Omegatron has the right to persuade anyone who will listen, as have you. It can happen that people don't 'get' the reason for keeping (or deleting) an article on first look.
  4. The reasons for keeping the articles are by no means limited to ad hominems.
Man with two legs 10:33, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia is not the Better Business Bureau, and so is under no obligation to report on every scam around. What may be useful and notable is an article on technology scams, which of course can include mention of these and other other hydrogen technology scams. --EMS | Talk 15:02, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Wikipedia, is, however, an encyclopedia, the sum of all human knowledge, and it is our job to cover everything notable in a neutral, verifiable way. This includes Category:Fraud, Category:Hoaxes, Category:Confidence_tricks, Category:Pseudoscience, Category:Protoscience, Category:Fringe science, List of pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts, List of minority-opinion scientific theories, ... — Omegatron 15:24, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
On Wikipedia:Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, it is stated that "An encyclopedia is a written compendium aiming to convey information on all branches of knowledge". That is not the same the same thing as documenting all human knowledge, and WP:NOT explicity states that "Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collector of information". I will happily call for a notable scam to be kept. IMO, this scam is not notable. --EMS | Talk 15:37, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
There are a number of reasons for disagreeing with that:
  1. a deletion review voted for re-creation so the deletions are not reliable evidence
  2. there was not a consensus for deletion, only a majority which is not at all the same thing
  3. it is absurd to delete an article for procedural reasons. An article should stay or go on its merits only. Procedures are there to assist the maintenance of articles, not the other way round
  4. if you look at Omegatron's user page and edit history, you will see he is keen on reliable, accurate articles and not disruptive. The same goes for me.
Man with two legs 12:01, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
It does make it clear that this is a hoax; that is rather the point of Omegatron's version. The word "hoax" appears in the intro to HHO gas. Man with two legs 12:01, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Correction Omegatron made sure it was not clear this is a scam. See the diffs I provided above. Only after fresh blood has forced him to let the caveatrs stand can we say the article is more or less acceptable. Nevertheless, as has been noted above, an article documenting scams and then using this as example sounds much better. It is less prone to removing criticism as Mr O has been doing.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 15:13, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I have answered this point on your talk page. Man with two legs 19:13, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Your <redacted NPA> addition of weasel word criticisms has been reverted by me and at least three other people. Meanwhile, I've been adding verifiable, notable criticisms with reliable sources. — Omegatron 15:27, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Again you call me disruptive and I order you to stop your WP:NPA. The next one I will report. Second, feel free to provide an adequate source for criticism. No, Randi cannot be used to debunk scientific claims. Although notable no physician accepts him to dismiss the silly conspiracy stories regarding HIV and AIDS.Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 15:57, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Then I'll say it again: Your edits are disruptive.
  • Is tendentious: continues editing an article or group of articles in pursuit of a certain point for an extended time despite opposition from one or more other editors.
  • Cannot satisfy Wikipedia:Verifiability; fails to cite sources, cites unencyclopedic sources, misrepresents reliable sources, or manufactures original research.
Go ahead and report me. — Omegatron 16:29, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm. And how would you call an editor that against consensus insists the recreation of four times deleted articles is mandatory, to the point he even abuses admin tools in edit conflicts?Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 20:21, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Stop behavior discussion! Let's discuss the article, please, not people. If you want to dispute Omegatron's behaivor, open an RfC. Eveything must be kept in order if we want to make reasonable contributions. --Neigel von Teighen 16:35, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hold the phone! Are you suggesting I am discussing behaviour while simply trying to ask Omegatron to stop his harrasment of my person? Should you not ask him to refrain fromn WP:NP":NPA?Nomen NescioGnothi seauton 18:04, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. Please file an RfC if you think I'm not editing the articles in a neutral manner. This isn't the place for personal attacks. — Omegatron 18:32, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You're the one making personal attacks Omegatron. Fnagaton 18:55, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Personal attacks, eh? Such as what? Cite some examples.
The examples above where you try to call into question the person's motives and falsely accuse them of being disruptive, that's just for starters. It's not the first time you've been warned for doing such things. Questionable behavior False disruption accusations Report me taunt 1 Report me taunt 2 Warning Fnagaton 19:50, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Well, that's certainly a water-tight case. You've definitely got me there. Those links show very clear examples of me making personal attacks against other users, and are all very relevant to this deletion discussion. — Omegatron 02:22, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
When was the last time you edited or showed any interest in either of these articles, by the way? — Omegatron 19:39, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Yet another example of ad hominem. Fnagaton 19:50, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see any edits made to either article where the sources could be correctly described as proper "reliable sources". Fnagaton 17:45, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.