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posted by n1 on Thursday August 21 2014, @06:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the always-consult-your-legal-team dept.

PeerPub (the post-publication peer review forum in which users can anonymously point out alleged flaws in the published scientific literature) has been threatened with legal action and have disabled some topics focused on some specific groups of people.

The news came as a reply explaining to an anonymous academic user of the site why his or her discussion topics had been disabled. The moderators—who themselves remain anonymous—said they had recently disabled topics focused on specific groups of people.

“Although [the threat] is unrelated to your posts, we have decided that ‘personal’ topics are quite likely to attract further legal activity,” the moderators wrote. “As a matter of strategy and out of respect for those helping us with legal issues, we think it would be prudent to work through the issues of our first legal case without having to fight on several fronts at once.”

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday August 21 2014, @07:07AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday August 21 2014, @07:07AM (#83850) Journal

    Most likely those crazy Russian dudes who keep wanting to show that Einstein was wrong, and that there is a massive conspiracy keeping the truth from us (and, big holes in Siberia! Relativity is wrong!). But, wait, did I remember to click "post anonymously"? Of course, if I did not, since I could __as I was composing__, that can only mean one thing: they have already gotten to me. So I will have to sue. Because, well, because people not taking my crackpot pseudo-scientific theories seriously harms me, and would harm me academically, if I had an academic position.

    OK, people, peer review is not what you think it is. Science does not work by majority of votes, because it excludes that vast majority of humans who are too stupid to do science. So get used to it.

    • (Score: 2) by Geezer on Thursday August 21 2014, @09:25AM

      by Geezer (511) on Thursday August 21 2014, @09:25AM (#83865)

      Sad but humorously true. I'd add energy-company climate denier shills and creationists to the crazy Russians.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by kaszz on Thursday August 21 2014, @12:57PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Thursday August 21 2014, @12:57PM (#83908) Journal

    The site in question:
    https://pubpeer.com/ [pubpeer.com]

    Here's a link about the suing drama that actually seems to work:
    retractionwatch.com: Scientists, do you feel bullied by critics? These chemists do [retractionwatch.com]

    Moral: Don't discuss flaws in scientific papers unless you solidly protect your anonymity?
    Perhaps being a scientist sucks. At least if this is the environment to work in.