Someone points this out in the email chain, as well, linking to Schneier's famous list of 9 warning signs: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/archives/1999/0215.html...

I'd add the following three generic warning signs of crackpots, all of which are on display here.

1. Person doesn't know mailing list etiquette, for example top-posting and failing to send hard-wrapped plain text messages. Also not understanding the purpose of a mailing list intended for something else.

2. Person claims that others are rejecting basic principles of open-mindedness and making trivial errors in reasoning, or that they don't understand foundational elements of their field. Accusations of rudeness and threats to professional reputation.

3. Person uses just enough technical jargon to give the impression that they have some fluency in the relevant field. When corrected, they often seem to just barely misunderstand the correction, in order to give correspondents the false hope that they are open to being shown their errors.

Thanks for the Trisector link, it's been a couple years since I've read that one.

Thanks for the link, a very entertaining morning read!

that was a great article, quite funny too. thank you!