Talk:Gravitation/Scalar theories

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Poth's "theory"???[edit source]

I believe this section is a blatant piece of self-promotion, written by the author, and using only self-published/vanity published references. As such, the section is inappropriate for Wikiversity and should be deleted. Vttoth (discusscontribs) 22:41, 11 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Vttoth: I tagged it with the {{fringe}} template and left a note on the contributor's talk page. If there is no response, or if you are absolutely convinced that it should be removed, feel free to delete it. Keep in mind that "deleting" something does not erase it, but moves it to a history page where it can be retrieved at a later date.--Guy vandegrift (discusscontribs) 05:29, 12 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Is the rest of the article accepted science? If so, the Poth's Theory section may be pulled out as a subpage or moved to user space for further development. -- Dave Braunschweig (discusscontribs) 12:12, 13 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The rest of the article is indeed accepted science. Vttoth (discusscontribs) 22:15, 13 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

from Wikipedia?[edit source]

Looking at the resource, I saw signs that this was a Wikipedia article in origin. Poth's theory was covered on Wikipedia for a short time, see [1]. Yes, some of the text of the page here was taken from Wikipedia, see the lede here, as created:


Scalar theories of gravitation are field theories of gravitation in which the gravitational field is described using a scalar field, which is required to satisfy some field equation.

Note: This article focuses on relativistic classical field theories of gravitation. The best known relativistic classical field theory of gravitation, general relativity, is a tensor theory, in which the gravitational interaction is described using a tensor field.


and on Wikipedia as of 13 March, 2014.


Scalar theories of gravitation are field theories of gravitation in which the gravitational field is described using a scalar field, which is required to satisfy some field equation.

Note: This article focuses on relativistic classical field theories of gravitation. The best known relativistic classical field theory of gravitation, general relativity, is a tensor theory, in which the gravitational interaction is described using a tensor field.


A red flag was the word "article," which refers to what Wikipedia presents: articles. We create resources here, which are learning resources. They are possibly interactive, or studies by which users explore a topic, or expand on it or discuss it.

I intend to edit the resource to reflect

  • Not repeating Wikipedia content, except briefly and with attribution and link.
  • Allowing a different point of view or focus to be presented.

--Abd (discusscontribs) 18:57, 13 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I intend to take the article down to sections linked to the Wikipedia article sections. Several things can then be done here. Someone with the knowledge and inclination may then create possibly more understandable explanations of the article sections, or may point to various other resources or articles. Questions may be asked. So this will become a kind of seminar on the Wikipedia article. It may not start with much. We'll see. The Wikipedia article may change, so I'll be linking to specific versions, but this may then be revised. It looks like Poth's purpose here was to showcase his theory, which is fine, if we do it properly. --Abd (discusscontribs) 00:39, 14 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I can certainly help with turning this page into an educational resource, but in a few weeks, not right now as I have some other obligations with hard deadlines. Showcasing one's theory is fine, but if the theory is unpublished and contradicts existing science, at the very least I recommend that it be done on a user page; it should not be allowed to masquerade as a legit educational resource. Vttoth (discusscontribs) 03:11, 14 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]