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Paleohacks is a place to discuss small "hacks" we can apply to our lives to make them better: "A "hack" is a shortcut, rule-of-thumb, or simply a good way to get something done quickly." I don't think anyone would argue that sexual orientation, gender roles, family structure, or other major life topics are things we can easily "hack." These are not hack questions, these are questions of science that are hotly debated even among seasoned researchers. Such questions also violate the rule here that things not be subjective, argumentative, or require extensive discussion outside the paleo paradigm. Please see the FAQ.

People are interested on information about these topics, but so far questions based on these interests have led to low-quality answers and divisive behavior. I would suggest you go to an anthropology or evolutionary psych forum to discuss these interests. What are your favorite of such forums or lists?

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also cholesterol, lipids, optimal exercise etc are "hotly debated among researchers" – Philosopher Mar 17 2011 at 18:28
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 please read the rest of the paragraph. These are things you can hack. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 17 2011 at 18:44
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 Melissa I read everything, and your family structure is also something that you can hack: perhaps not simple, but may not be that difficult either. However I understand that if the majority do not want to discuss these topics, that is it... – Philosopher Mar 17 2011 at 19:29

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The list-servs:

  • Evol-psych
  • Anthro-L
  • TAXACOM

Paleoanthropology Yahoo group

Evolvify relationship forum

Evolvify Anthropology, biology, etc. science forum

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4 
 THANKS MELISSA! – Patrik♦ Mar 17 2011 at 17:53
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 Melissa, what is the troll factor at these sites? I love discussing evolution, but only on rare occasions do I enjoy engaging with Creationists. Heady splodey! – Rock_Paper_Shirley Mar 17 2011 at 18:01
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 LOL, creationists are crushed/deleted/made fun of at these sites. Andrew at Evolvify is the opposite of a Creationist and will presumably delete or mock them. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 17 2011 at 18:02
Good to know - thanks! – Rock_Paper_Shirley Mar 17 2011 at 19:00
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There are some excellent forums and blog. The one problem I have with some of them is that, if you are not part of the group (anthropology, psychology, philosophy, etc) you often do not follow the specifics of each discussion, often loaded with academic references, etc. The interesting thing about broad discussions at a place like paleo-hack is that there is not a majority of people coming from a small number of schools, or who took the same courses, etc. I understand several people do not want these discussions to take place at Paleohacks, though. But the forums or blogs that you mentioned have that little problem of shared references, perhaps shared schools, etc.

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2 
 Ignacio, I think she has a problem with people just bringing in wild speculation with zero links or sources to substantiate them. I saw on another thread that you mentioned 2012 and the end of the world. Is there any scientific evidence of this? I have seen a number of articles that have stated that the Mayans killed themselves off from ignorance and over farming. How can they not even predict their own destruction but be able to predict ours? I think its these random ideas that Melissa is speaking of. Im trying to learn myself but I have notices a big increase in people just saying... – Geoff Mar 17 2011 at 18:33
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 ...random things on Paleohacks. Such as "hunter-gathers must have done x." Ill always ask "where did you see this? Book, magazine, online article, etc..?" and no source is even provided. Pure speculation can lead everyone astray. – Geoff Mar 17 2011 at 18:34
BTW, Mayans killed themselves off. They did not know anything we dont know today. science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/… – Geoff Mar 17 2011 at 18:37
It's not just me who doesn't want these discussions to take place and I take great offense you would call me out specifically. Your posts have been flagged by MANY users and discussed heavily among the moderators. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 17 2011 at 18:43
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 Why did this answer get downvoted? It's a cogent and polite response. The problem with specialized forums is that they attract specialists; paleo-hacks is attractive because it is generalist in nature, and since the death of Panu's forum there doesn't seem to really be a generalist paleo "forum" out there. There probably is a desire out there for an actual discussion forum, since paleohacks has decided not to address that market. – pfw Mar 17 2011 at 19:33
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Nephropal blogspot and Evolutionary Psychology blogspot. Links are easy to find.

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I was going to mention these two specifically – Todd Mar 17 2011 at 18:31
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Facebook page for evolutionary psych (whats interesting is a bunch of these guys dont eat Paleo even though it sounds like a sound idea to them.)

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52551573343

Reddit is an awesome website that you can customize your own subreaddits so it in effect becomes custom news. You can comment on all of the articles, submit your own questions and the best ideas get upvoted or downvoted. The website is growing very very fast and goes down ever so often (as it is now) but comes back online within 30 or so minutes.

http://www.reddit.com/r/evopsych/

http://www.reddit.com/r/evolution

http://www.reddit.com/r/science/

http://www.reddit.com/r/Anthropology/

http://www.reddit.com/r/Health/

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Thats funny, I was about to say: hey, Geoff, this reminds me of a question I asked here, "Do Anthropologists Eat Paleo?" paleohacks.com/questions/11903/… and then I realized that you were the one who left the very comment on that thread I was thinking of. Still very interesting and amusing to me ... – Paul Mar 17 2011 at 18:48
Haha, I do the same thing all of the time. – Geoff Mar 17 2011 at 19:02
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 don't forget reddit.com/r/paleo – Wozza Mar 17 2011 at 20:56
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Just do it here. The "powers-that-be" just need to relax and stop being such control freaks. Let this evolve. If you don't like a question, you down vote it. Simple. Just trust the process and see what comes out the other end.

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what comes out the other end is the same thing that comes out the other end of animals...sh*t – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 17 2011 at 21:06
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 And sh*t makes for good manure. – RG73 Mar 17 2011 at 21:15
Wozza I share you concept, the problem is that I love paleohacks, even if restricted only to diet and fitness (which, I understand is the prevailing view lately) so perhaps if other people were more vocal about having broader discussions, I would really support it! – Philosopher Mar 17 2011 at 21:18
The way Stackexchange works is users with enough points can vote to close questions. Lots of users voted to close Ignacio's questions. If you don't like the way it works, post on another type of forum. We are not control freaks, we do not want to see threads that go down the toliet. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Mar 17 2011 at 21:29
2 
 Ignacio --- STFU! Please. Your hysteria is not appreciated. I can substantiate everything Melissa has said about your questions. Either play by my rules or get out. – Patrik♦ Mar 17 2011 at 22:07
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I can't vouch for the quality of the discussion because I only glance at it once in a while, but the Continuum Concept user group (easy to find with online search) seems to go there frequently. The focus there is family and child-rearing, which may or may not be of interest to lots of folks here.

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go to rewild.info

its grassroot. im sure you will find aswers there as well.

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I'd say do it on your own blog if you really want a place. Plenty of free ones. The other social media outlets like Twitter are good megaphones also. I too love this site but it gets pretty closeminded pretty quick on esoteric things. This just isn't the place for it.

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I don't know if "bumps" are allowed around here, but I was going to ask this very question, more specifically, where to read up online about paleoanthropology and paleo nutrition.

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