Originally Posted by Jerry

I was speaking specifically of weakly interactive dark matter - WIMPS; the constraints virtually eliminate this candidate; just as warm dark matter and baryonic hot or cold matter have been systematically eliminated from the dark matter search.

That does not leave many dark matter options - almost exactly none; but something unexplicable is happening. Is alternative gravity on the front burner now or not? How does a theory move from mainstream to background status? Since WIMPS are unlikely to exist is talking about WIMPS an ATM theory now?

What about 'dirty iceballs'? Are they still a mainstream concept, or is it now more kosher to discuss 'icy dirtballs'.

These are the sematical difficulties encountered by canonical concepts, not scientific ones. An opinion.

If the only result of the thirty day turkey timer were the elimination of gas bag diatribes, that would have been useful, but it is not - rational alternative discussions have died out rather completely. An observation.