Talk:Moving the goalposts

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Move page

This article needs to be moved to "moving the goalposts" as that is the expression, not "move the goalpost". (See online and paper dictionaries.) — Paul G (talk) 12:45, 4 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Done boldly. HiLo48 (talk) 12:49, 4 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Absurd names

Uh, "Sybil Antwhisper"? I recognize that we'll eventually be a multi-planet civilization, but we haven't gotten there yet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.58.240.20 (talk) 06:44, 24 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(This comment seems to be referring to a quote from the source "Humbug", which was included in the article at the time.) — W.andrea (talk) 15:36, 14 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

destabilisation/setting up to fail technique

It is also a destabilisation/setting up to fail technique where for example workplace instructions keep changing, maybe in a contradictory way, often even without being informed. --Penbat (talk) 18:58, 18 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Cite support questioned

A good sentence was removed because the cited source does not support it:

"This attempts to leave the impression that an argument had a fair hearing while actually reaching a preordained conclusion." → not verified by Jef Clark et al. (2005). Humbug! The Skeptic’s Field Guide to Spotting Fallacies in Thinking, p. 92?

With better cite support, it could be restored. --Ansei (talk) 17:53, 19 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The first attested use..?

Seems unlikely the first attested use is as recent as 1987. This one is from 1984... http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dZUEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wjADAAAAIBAJ&dq=moving%20the%20goalposts&pg=2294%2C1285167 - Format (talk) 07:00, 10 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Checklist investigation

It should not be confused with checklist investigative where a number of questions need to be answered and substantiated first, before drawing a conclusion. --105.0.5.157 (talk) 10:05, 22 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

§ Use

@Graywalls, I added back "Bully in Sight" in a form that I think we'll both be happy with, along with clarifying that the Royal College source is talking about the same exact thing – not harassment, not sports. That's related to what I meant when I said "the paragraph could be written better".

Regarding Karl Popper's "conventionalist twist", I'm agreed about leaving off, since it seems to be original research. I mean, the term "goalpost" or "goal post" doesn't even occur in the source.^[1]

Cheers — W.andrea (talk) 15:19, 14 June 2025 (UTC) edited 15:26[reply]

References

^ Popper, Karl (1967). Conjectures and Refutations. Basic Books. p. 37. Retrieved 2025-06-14 – via Internet Archive.

[1] Popper, Karl (1967). Conjectures and Refutations. Basic Books. p. 37. Retrieved 2025-06-14 – via Internet Archive.

[1]