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I've wanted to put together a website that highlights bad science and resulting journalism (both when journalism exposes bad science, and when journalism furthe

I've wanted to put together a website that highlights bad science and resulting journalism (both when journalism exposes bad science, and when journalism furthers bad science). Would anyone be interested in seeing something like that?

johnchristopher 11y ago
I would :).
tokenadult 11y ago
I've wanted to put together a website that highlights bad science Have you taken a look at PubPeer?[1] I guess I don't have the right touch in submitting articles to Hacker News. I've submitted a few that mention this problem of checking and exposing bad science publications, linking to PubPeer, but the articles I submit[2] don't usually enjoy as much discussion from you and other Hacker News participants as I would expect, based on the frequent statements I see here that people would like to help clean up scientific research. There is already a site for that, and it's called PubPeer. [1] https://pubpeer.com/ https://pubpeer.com/ http://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/31/pubpeer-founders-reveal-themselves-create-foundation/ http://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/31/pubpeer-founders-revea... http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/pubpeer-s-secret-out-founder-controversial-website-reveals-himself http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/pubpeer-s-secret-out-... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=tokenadult https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=tokenadult
- striking 11y ago
  PubPeer looks like it's very focused towards professionals who want to engage in peer review. I'm curious to see if it's possible to leverage a wider group of users. I like PubPeer because it can help fix science. But what's also broken is journalism/popular media, and how it encourages "pop science" attitudes. It sensationalizes unproven and dubious content, actually making the public dumber. Would you agree that there's room for a site that wants to fix science journalism and how the public interacts with science? Heck, it could even link to PubPeer, without directly replacing it.
  - tokenadult 11y ago
    Would you agree that there's room for a site that wants to fix science journalism and how the public interacts with science? Problematic publications about science are certainly a big problem, worthy of your attention and mine, and my posting history over 2624 days here on Hacker News may suggest that it is one of my pet issues. How much interest this issue gains here on Hacker News is one thing I look at as I ponder what to do about the problem--it will take a lot of work with a lot of collaborators (some of whose work is cited in my various submissions and comments here) to tackle that problem. As far as I know about who can participate on PubPeer, absolutely anyone can participate, as long as they have something to say about a particular scientific paper.
NN88 11y ago
so...snopes?
seivan 11y ago
I would suggest to follow and/or talk to Amir Sariaslan https://twitter.com/search?f=images&vertical=default&q=amirsariaslan%20peer-reviewed&src=typd https://twitter.com/search?f=images&vertical=default&q=amirs... He could help you get started :)
- striking 11y ago
  Very helpful! Thanks for the link!
tim333 11y ago
http://www.badscience.net/ http://www.badscience.net/ does ok
inefficient 11y ago
I've actually been working on doing just that. But it's a hobby and always seems to get pushed to the side. Certainly interested.

johnchristopher 11y ago

I would :).

tokenadult 11y ago

I've wanted to put together a website that highlights bad science Have you taken a look at PubPeer?[1] I guess I don't have the right touch in submitting articles to Hacker News. I've submitted a few that mention this problem of checking and exposing bad science publications, linking to PubPeer, but the articles I submit[2] don't usually enjoy as much discussion from you and other Hacker News participants as I would expect, based on the frequent statements I see here that people would like to help clean up scientific research. There is already a site for that, and it's called PubPeer. [1] https://pubpeer.com/ https://pubpeer.com/ http://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/31/pubpeer-founders-reveal-themselves-create-foundation/ http://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/31/pubpeer-founders-revea... http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/pubpeer-s-secret-out-founder-controversial-website-reveals-himself http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/08/pubpeer-s-secret-out-... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=tokenadult https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=tokenadult

striking 11y ago
PubPeer looks like it's very focused towards professionals who want to engage in peer review. I'm curious to see if it's possible to leverage a wider group of users. I like PubPeer because it can help fix science. But what's also broken is journalism/popular media, and how it encourages "pop science" attitudes. It sensationalizes unproven and dubious content, actually making the public dumber. Would you agree that there's room for a site that wants to fix science journalism and how the public interacts with science? Heck, it could even link to PubPeer, without directly replacing it.
- tokenadult 11y ago
  Would you agree that there's room for a site that wants to fix science journalism and how the public interacts with science? Problematic publications about science are certainly a big problem, worthy of your attention and mine, and my posting history over 2624 days here on Hacker News may suggest that it is one of my pet issues. How much interest this issue gains here on Hacker News is one thing I look at as I ponder what to do about the problem--it will take a lot of work with a lot of collaborators (some of whose work is cited in my various submissions and comments here) to tackle that problem. As far as I know about who can participate on PubPeer, absolutely anyone can participate, as long as they have something to say about a particular scientific paper.

NN88 11y ago

so...snopes?

seivan 11y ago

I would suggest to follow and/or talk to Amir Sariaslan https://twitter.com/search?f=images&vertical=default&q=amirsariaslan%20peer-reviewed&src=typd https://twitter.com/search?f=images&vertical=default&q=amirs... He could help you get started :)

striking 11y ago
Very helpful! Thanks for the link!

tim333 11y ago

http://www.badscience.net/ http://www.badscience.net/ does ok

inefficient 11y ago

I've actually been working on doing just that. But it's a hobby and always seems to get pushed to the side. Certainly interested.