When they reject our papers, they don't even bother to review them. Special relativity is Einstein's 1905 theory that revolutionized notions of space and time. The theory says that the speed of light is constant, but that space and time are relative. The dissidents, by and large, champion a theory of light popular before Einstein, which has its roots in Newtonian mechanics. In a Newtonian paradigm, the speed of light can vary, depending on the motion of the observer relative to the light.
Many dissidents also argue for a steady-state universe as opposed to an expanding one.
For as long as there has been a special theory, there have been detractors. He points to the San Francisco meeting a year ago as an important first step in winning respectability for the dissidents and forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to them. But because the San Francisco meeting consisted of contributed papers of uniform 20-minute length, with little discussion time, Chappell expects the Norman meeting to be more productive. For one, the dissidents are a featured part of the program, sponsoring six of the 10 symposia. The symposium format allows more flexibility in paper lengths and more time for discussion.