"...you may or may not be aware that on the Newsgroup sci.geo.earthquakes there is a fairly literate poster, with at least a couple of followers, who, apparently quite seriously, advances the 'Earth Expansion Theory.'"

If you are talking about who I think you are talking about, I'd hardly call him literate, except in the meaning that he is capable of reading and writing. He can be quite capable of some vitriolic ad hominem when the going gets tough. Kind of reminds me of another person who causes problems that's been mentioned very recently.

There is a quote I learned not too long ago that I feel DF is a definitive example of,

"You cannot reason a person out of a position he did not reason himself into in the first place" - Jonathan Swift.

Brian