Crank (or kook, crackpot, or quack) is a pejorative term for a person who writes or speaks in an authoritative fashion about a particular subject, often in science, but is alleged to have false or even ludicrous beliefs. Usage of the label is often subjective, with proponents of competing theories labeling their opponents cranks, but typically is used to describe someone who is well out of mainstream opinion on a matter. In most cases the people labeled as crackpots turn out to be wrong.
A number of topics have attracted the interest of large numbers of cranks, including:
Physics/Mathematical Cranks
Medical Cranks
Political Cranks
Paranormal/Spritual Cranks
Kook is a somewhat similar term that is usually used pejoratively to describe a person whose areas of interest are perceived to be eccentric, fantastic, or insane. A person may be said to be a "kook" if they are seen to hold socially unacceptable beliefs, or perceptions that outrageously conflict with known scientific results, and appear to base their entire world views upon them. The term was coined in 1960 and originates from the word cuckoo, which is also the name of a bird.
The main distinguishing factor between kooks and quacks, frauds or hoaxers is that kooks genuinely believe that their perception, hypothesis or experiences constitute a valid model of reality. Predictably, "kooks" tend to draw criticism and generate controversy; it has been speculated that some kooks are motivated by a desire for such attention. However the same material can be both hoax and kookery in different hands, for example if a crank theory, sincerely believed by its originator and some of its supporters, is used as the basis of a hoax promoted by others who do not sincerely believe it.
Science fiction author and critic Bruce Sterling noted in his essay in CATSCAN 13 [1]:
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There's supposed to be a lot of difference between the hurtful online statement "You're a moron," and the tastefully facetious statement "You're a moron :-)". I question whether this is really the case, emoticon or no. And even the emoticon doesn't help much in one's halting interaction with the occasional online stranger who is, in fact, gravely sociopathic. Online communication can wonderfully liberate the tender soul of some well-meaning personage who, for whatever reason, is physically uncharismatic. Unfortunately, online communication also fertilizes the eccentricities of hopeless cranks, who at last find themselves in firm possession of a wondrous soapbox that the Trilateral Commission and the Men In Black had previously denied them.
In other words, the Internet is a magnet for kooks and cranks. If you use the Internet much at all, particularly Usenet, you will see kooks.
Kook trademarks are paranoia and grandiosity. Kooks will often build up elaborate imaginary support structures, fake corporations and the like, and continue to act as if those things are real even after their falsity has been documented in public. Kooks also tend to be utterly humorless and fail to grasp that their behavior is causing people to laugh at them; they do not seem to be very capable of introspection, and do not seem to understand how their behavior looks to others.
While they may appear harmless, and are usually filtered out by the other regular participants in a newsgroup or mailing list, they can still cause problems because the necessity for these measures is not immediately apparent to newcomers; there are several instances on record, for example, of journalists accepting kook claims as valid.
Some people find kooks entertaining and take amusement from heckling them, or from prodding and provoking them to ever more kooky online behavior. Some people consider this to be cruel.
At least some kooks are mentally ill or suffer from one or more personality disorders, so this should be done with caution. See: schizophrenia, Narcissistic personality disorder
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