Reply #203: I never said that they shouldn't have to field questions [View All]

[sudopod]

from people who don't agree with them. If that were the case, most of them wouldn't make it out of undergrad classes. :p

(Thinks of a particularly fighty Russian professor and shivers)

I'm just saying that their response is understandable in a human way. If, out of the blue, someone outside of my field questioned my professional ethics and skill, then continued on to make demands of me, any demands, well, I'd have to say it'd rightly put my back up, whether they were entitled to what they were asking for or not. Multiply that anger by five if their compatriots stole and published my personal correspondence after making the request.

Like we discussed above, the great thing about the scientific process is that we don't have to take anyone's word for anything. Right now, fairly or unfairly, the burden of proof is on them. However, it is also too early to say there was a cover-up, because as we agreed, there is a very clear path they can take to clear the matter up.

If they can prove that they didn't destroy the originals by reproducing their papers' results with the stored NASA data, then they are only guilty of being touchy assholes and poor record keepers. That's not a crime, though maybe it ought to be.