It's my view that a clear distinction can be made between ATM ideas which present potentially viable mechanisms for interaction and causation between planets and the earth or other solar system bodies, and ATM ideas which present correlative linkages of a statistical nature between the planets and human activity.

I would hope that the forum administrators are also able to see this distinction so that ideas falling within the former category are not subject to any blanket treatment of ideas falling in the latter category.

As an example, one idea might be that the planet with the magnetosphere bigger than the sun might have some effect on the geomagnetic index of the earth. Another might take this further and say that Jupiter position affects peoples predisposition to gamble or procreate or whatever. If the first idea has some solid statistical support and a potentially viable mechanism which could in theory be tested, it has falsifiable content which can at least potentially be dealt with via empirical observation. The second idea will probably only be amenable to statistical analysis, and the causative mechanism, although potentially explainable by the electro chemical biology of the brain, is not as accessile to empirical observation.

I would also hope that threads such as this one whose thrust is to treat scientifically data which may be subject to a-priori dismissal by those with a predisposition to skepticism in relation to the subject matter will be allowed. After all, they should be confident that a scientific appraisal of such data will always prove the thesis wrong, so what's the harm if it serves to reinforce their view and lends support to their contention?

If such a study were to find that some of the correlations being analysed have some validity, this should energise people on one side of the debate to seek viable causative mechanisms, and those on the other to prove that the statistical methods employed are in error.

Either way, learning is stimulated, lessons are learned, and progress is made, which is what it should be all about.