Again, you're addressing a straw man -- not my actual arguments. I do not claim that the government was responsible for 9/11; I believe the evidence, if properly examined, would probably show this -- but my interest is in showing that the existing explanations are not just inadequate but clearly wrong.

So, okay, how would you tell the difference between an argument that "sounds convincing" and one which should actually be considered rationally persuasive?

My use of the "applause light" was an attempt to use emotion to get through emotional barriers preventing rational examination. Was it inappropriate?

"There are simply too many conceivable explanations for any given phenomenon for it to be worthwhile to consider more than a very small proportion of them."

I agree. Many of the conclusions reached by the 9/11 Commission are, however, not among that small proportion. Many questions to which we need answers were not even addressed by the Commission. (Your statement here strikes me as a "curiosity stopper".)

Under the models of most folks here, 9/11 conspiracy theories simply aren't going to get any time of day.

This is the problem, yes. What's your point?

I'd be curious to know what kind of ideas with substantial numbers of adherents you would feel safe in dismissing without bothering to research.

None that I can think of. Again, what's your point? I am not "dismissing" the dominant conclusion, I am questioning it. I have, in fact, done substantial amounts of research (probably more than anyone reading this). If anyone is actually dismissing an idea with substantial numbers of adherents, it is those who dismiss "truthers" without actually listening to their arguments.

Are you arguing that "people are irrational, so you might as well give up"?