Toto

This is remarkably uninformed speculation. Acharya S has virtually no following in the self-identified freethought community, while Price has a large following.

Acharya S seems to have more of a following in the New Age/Conspiracy community.

The idea that Robert Price might be so intimidated by a few rabid fans of Acharya S that he would change his opinion on a matter is laughable.

ApostateAbe

The atheist community and the New Age/conspiracist communities each use the term, "freethought" (Acharya S puts it in the title of her own forum), but I will grant you that Acharya S's fanbase is more New Age/conspiracist than atheist/anti-religious. That doesn't change the politics much. One way or the other, Robert M. Price has a strong interest in maintaining positive relations with Acharya S, and their fan bases do overlap to a sufficient extent.

Toto

Their fan bases do not overlap much. Besides, Price has 2 PhD's, speaks at national conventions, and does not have to self publish his own books or articles.

ApostateAbe

They speak at the same time on the same topic on an Internet radio show, Robert Price has reviewed all of the recent books by Acharya S, Acharya S quotes Price for authority, Robert M. Price has written the forward to one of Acharya S's books, and of course each of them often write on the same subject with closely analogous positions.

I went to each of their Amazon.com profile pages, and I noticed a sidebar box that contained listings of "Customers Also Bought Items By."

For the author Robert M. Price, customers also bought items by:

• Bart D. Ehrman
• Christopher Hit...
• Dan Barker
• Darrel W. Ray
• Edward T. Babinski
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Hector Avalos
• Israel Finkelstein
• James Robert Smith
• John W. Loftus
• Randel Helms
• Richard Carrier
• Richard Dawkins
• S. T. Joshi
• Sam Harris
• Victor J. Stenger

For the author Acharya S, customers also bought items by:

• Bart D. Ehrman
• Christopher Hit...
• CJ Werleman
• Craig A. James
• Dan Barker
• Darrel W. Ray
• Edward T. Babinski
• G. M. Jackson
• John W. Loftus
• Kenneth W Daniels
• Peter Gandy
• Richard Carrier
• Richard Dawkins
• Sam Harris
• Timothy Freke
• Victor J. Stenger

Toto

What's this supposed to prove? They were booked to speak on a topic one time on one internet radio show, several years ago.

Did you notice that people who bought books by Robert M. Price apparently did not tend to buy books by Acharya S and vice versa?

ApostateAbe

Toto, your claim was, "Their fan bases do not overlap much." I just gave you data that their Amazon.com buyers have buying tendencies that overlap about 62.5% of the time (10 out of 16). Here is a list of those ten "Customers Also Bought Items By" authors that Acharya S and Price have in common:

• Bart D. Ehrman
• Christopher Hit...
• Dan Barker
• Darrel W. Ray
• Edward T. Babinski
• John W. Loftus
• Richard Carrier
• Richard Dawkins
• Sam Harris
• Victor J. Stenger

This list is made of the best sellers of this one particular subject (anti-Christianity polemics), meaning that the people who buy books from either Acharya S or Robert M. Price are also likely to buy books of the authors of the above list, at least more than other authors. Acharya S and Robert M. Price both write for an audience desiring anti-Christianity polemics, but they each remain relatively obscure authors, not best sellers, and therefore it is not mathematically expected that they would show up in each other's "Customers Also Bought Items By."

Toto

The group of people who buy books by an author is one thing. You are claiming that Acharya S has a significantly bigger fan base than Price, and that this fan base, while overlapping his, would take revenge on him for trashing Acharya S... I can't go on. This is just another conspiracy theory with no basis in reality.