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I like the idea, I think eventually peer review should be done on a site like this. It might be helpful to think about why currently, this site would not be sui

I like the idea, I think eventually peer review should be done on a site like this. It might be helpful to think about why currently, this site would not be suitable for peer review, and work towards that it might be in the future. Peer review as it currently works is not perfect, but it is the status quo, so needs to be taken into account. Obviously many things can be considered to be changed, for example I would enforce that anyone who comments is displayed with his/her real name.

kiliantics 9y ago
Why do you think the real name is important? I think that there are so many people in academia whose position is precarious and subject to the whims of people in powerful positions - many of whom have ego issues. It would be great to have an anonymous forum that the community used to discuss the current state of their field where people could be more open about their (potentially controversial) opinions. This could work out better for science. A statement about scientific research should stand on its own merit, regardless of who it came from.
- auggierose 9y ago
  I think for an open discussion it is important to know who is part of the discussion. As an author you are putting a paper out there, and you do your best to make sure the paper is original, relevant and correct. As a commenter, you should also try to do your best, and the best way to assure that in my opinion is to attache prestige not only to papers, but also to comments. This includes negative prestige for making bad comments. That's why I would say a real name policy is important.
- achileas 9y ago
  Who it comes from is part of that merit - there's a big difference between some untrained person shouting "correlation isn't causation" when it was never implied in the first place (ie every thread on reddit that references any sort of scientific article) and someone who has a deep background in the specific niche that the paper addresses. Peer review is to be done by one's peers, not some random anonymous commenter.

kiliantics 9y ago

Why do you think the real name is important? I think that there are so many people in academia whose position is precarious and subject to the whims of people in powerful positions - many of whom have ego issues. It would be great to have an anonymous forum that the community used to discuss the current state of their field where people could be more open about their (potentially controversial) opinions. This could work out better for science. A statement about scientific research should stand on its own merit, regardless of who it came from.

auggierose 9y ago
I think for an open discussion it is important to know who is part of the discussion. As an author you are putting a paper out there, and you do your best to make sure the paper is original, relevant and correct. As a commenter, you should also try to do your best, and the best way to assure that in my opinion is to attache prestige not only to papers, but also to comments. This includes negative prestige for making bad comments. That's why I would say a real name policy is important.
achileas 9y ago
Who it comes from is part of that merit - there's a big difference between some untrained person shouting "correlation isn't causation" when it was never implied in the first place (ie every thread on reddit that references any sort of scientific article) and someone who has a deep background in the specific niche that the paper addresses. Peer review is to be done by one's peers, not some random anonymous commenter.