Skepticism: Taking a look at the available evidence and following it to the result.
Denial: Taking a look at the available evidence and then arguing against the it ad nauseam because you don't like what you see.
If you've never heard anything about global warming before (no idea how that should have happened, but let's give you the benefit of the doubt here) you can be skeptical. Then you look at the available evidence and well, that's that. The conclusion is clear. From then on it's denial to run around "sorry, I haven't reached the conclusion yet, please convince me".
Hi, sorry I've got an effect on some folks. I'm not a climate change denier, and that climate change is real and that we've caused it are things I consider uncontroversial. I've not seen people like that in this thread nor on HN. They were likely flagged in this thread before I've seen it, and I can't see them.
I had the skeptics of imminent climate catastrophes in mind, or in general, folks who don't straight up deny climate change but still question some of the literature. It bothers me that these are lumped in with fringe deniers, and what's with the "deluded optimism" jab anyway? I don't agree with them either but cmon, that I'm sure have rubbed some the wrong way.
Denial: Taking a look at the available evidence and then arguing against the it ad nauseam because you don't like what you see.
If you've never heard anything about global warming before (no idea how that should have happened, but let's give you the benefit of the doubt here) you can be skeptical. Then you look at the available evidence and well, that's that. The conclusion is clear. From then on it's denial to run around "sorry, I haven't reached the conclusion yet, please convince me".