There's more in this thread to learn than just arguments about the truth of the moon landing: How do you detect baloney in general? Let's say the holocaust denial as an extreme example. Are you going to read all the original documents? Are you able to respond to all questions raised? Most of you aren't and that is wrongly taken by the proponents of an outrageous theory as a confirmation of their ideas.

Can you be quite confident about an idea being baloney even if you have read less than the proponents? I think yes and that's how: Apply common sense and ask some simple questions.

- ask yourself or others about the potential motives (mousethief) - ask whether a conspiracy could have remained undetected (Catspaw, Naemanson,...) - ask what is conspiciously missing under the assumption of the idea being true (in this case e.g., the Russians crying foul; Big Daddy) - do not pretend you can answer each question (you're bound to lose this game in most cases); either there are answers you just do not know at this moment (Catspaw) or some answers will remain unanswered forever without the big picture being wrong

Yes, conspiration theories are fun, independent of content. But most if not all of them should be sold in the 'fiction' section of each bookstore.

Wolfgang