I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to experts in such situations. While I too thought of the Law of Conservation of Mass and wondered why the author didn't think of it I also know this means that most likely it is I who is lacking knowledge in this case. It is highly unlikely that I know something about mass that an expert doesn't know. Rather than linking to Wikipedia the question ought to have been asked, "what does he mean when he writes this?" Instead amelius says he should read Wikipedia.
Let's not pretend that our superficial understanding matches the expert's understanding or that we can teach him something new by citing Wikipedia. If we can think of a point that the author seemingly misses it is almost surely because we are the ones not understanding something.
We actually don't disagree here; at least not on the points you listed. It appears you are misunderstanding what I'm trying to say.
While we both agree it is reasonable to give the benefit of the doubt to experts, and it wasn't good to be a bit presumptiois either, the issue is that we should still never answer by just pointing to the epaulettes of the expert--especially in this case where there is an obvious confusion.
I don't believe this physicist would be offended by Amelius' post, and if an authority was offended by such a minor transgression and first unwilling to provide an explanation--as was the case here--and sought to assert authority instead of through explanation and through epaulettes, we should further question that authority, always.
We could next time just say: 'here is why you are confused, and you should have wondered why if you happened to notice the writer's accomplishment.'
The poster never said they were confused. They implied the author was confused. You seem really keen on berating others about 'epaulettes' while taking it on faith the poster was actually asking a question, rather than being a butthead.
There is no evidence of that whatsoever. How on earth is anyone supposed to figure out what question is being asked in the in the intricate disguise of being a butthead?
Judging by language used, no one is berating anyone but you.
We agree the poster was presumptious, but you ignore the other point where we disagree (other than that the poster should be scolded) and keep focusing on a point we already agree on.
Where we disagree: I just dont think one should point and say 'they're the expert, not you' when you can say 'you are misunderstanding for this reason.'
I think it's a very valid criticism.
Your method has the ingredients necessary for why people followed mystics and religious leaders before The Enlightenment and Age of Reason.
When Feynman defined science, he famously said: "it doesn't matter what you're name is."
Let's not pretend that our superficial understanding matches the expert's understanding or that we can teach him something new by citing Wikipedia. If we can think of a point that the author seemingly misses it is almost surely because we are the ones not understanding something.