From: steve.crabtree@synapse.org (Steve Crabtree) 
Newsgroups: alt.paranormal
Subject: Request for information.
Date: 16 Dec 92 20:00:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: SYNAPSE BBS - GATINEAU, QUEBEC - 819-561-4321
Reply-To: steve.crabtree@synapse.org (Steve Crabtree) 

To: alt.paranormal
From: steve.crabtree@synapse.org

tonyz@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com writes:

TZ> Does anyone know how to subscribe to something called
TZ> the Skeptical Inquirer?

Skeptical Inquirer, Box 229, Buffalo, NY 14215-0229. I called them by
phone at (716) 834-3222 and ordered by credit card.

Before you order a subscription, can I offer an opinion on the magazine?
I originally subscribed to it to offer some balance to the views I
expected to encounter in a subscription to the Journal of the American
Society for Psychical Research and the Journal of the Society for
Psychical Research.

To my dismay, it did not provide this balance. It seems to exist solely
to promote the secular humanist disbelief in all things supernatural, in
keeping with its close association with CODESH, the Council for
Democratic and Secular Humanism.

The magazine is not peer reviewed and I have never seen pro-paranormal
viewpoints given space, even to rebut a criticism. CSICOP, the
sponsoring organization, is not open to the public for membership but is
run by a self-appointed committee. According to George Hansen, only
one member of the policy board is a scientist (Alcock), and most of the
eminent scientists who lend their names and credibility to the
organization play virtually no role in directing the activities of the
organization.

Put simply, it seems to me that the only purpose of the magazine is to
discredit pro-psi or pro-paranormal claims and that they will use any
tactics necessary to achieve that goal.

On the other hand, I have found that the other two journals provide
space for all viewpoints on the subject of psi, are peer reviewed and
offer those criticised space to respond and, in my opinion, offer a
much more rounded view of the subject as well as fulfilling CSICOP's
ostensible raison d'etre, that is to scientifically investigate claims
of the paranormal.

Needless to say, I stopped subscribing to SI after the first year's
subscription ran out.

If you're interested,

the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research can be
contacted at 5 West 7rd Street, New York, NY 10023
             Cost $35 per year for membership and 4 issues

the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research at 49 Marloes Road,
London, W8 6LA, United Kingdom
             Cost: $36 for membership, which includes four issues.

One other peer reviewed journal is worth mentioning, Journal of
Scientific Exploration who deal with a broader range of phenomena and
who can be contacted at Society for Scientific Exploration, ERL 306,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4055 Internet: haisch@flare.stanford.ed

             Cost: $40 per year for 4 issues.
                                                                                                          
From: tonyz@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com (Tony Zugates)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:37:40 GMT
Subject: info request
Organization: the HP Mtn.View Resp. Cntr.