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> We're discussing his criticism of how a ton of "real psychiatrists" got some major things wrong No, you replied to me. My comment was it is strange that this

> We're discussing his criticism of how a ton of "real psychiatrists" got some major things wrong No, you replied to me. My comment was it is strange that this Atlantic article cites him as "the psychiatrist Scott Alexander" because that is a pen name, and it isn't verifiable that he is a psychiatrist due to his anonymity. Your refutation of my point is "it doesn't matter that it isn't verifiable", but that was part of my point. You can't just toss it out, that's being intellectually dishonest. Any piece of journalism that cites a person should do so only if they can verify the source. Journalists who skip this step means at least a portion of their article is fake news. > You shouldn't blindly trust a blog post about this topic just because the author is verifiably a psychiatrist, but you shouldn't blindly distrust one just because they are not This has nothing to do with my point, which is all about how The Atlantic journalist cites him, and has little to do with whatever his blog says.

DataWorker 7y ago
Perhaps publish or parish applies to journalism as well. Factchecking costs money and not everyone has ssc’s budget.
- unityByFreedom 7y ago
  > Factchecking costs money Authors who do not fact-check are writing fiction. That is not journalism. > not everyone has ssc’s budget What budget? It's one or a handful of people writing a blog. I'm sure the budget of The Atlantic, founded in the 1800s, dwarfs that of SSC.
skybrian 7y ago
You're assuming without evidence that Ed Yong didn't verify his credentials. How do you know? Maybe ask?
- unityByFreedom 7y ago
  Again, the author cited him as "the psychiatrist Scott Alexander". If he did verify credentials, he ought to have mentioned the name is an alias.
  - skybrian 7y ago
    He could have mentioned it, but I don't understand why you think it's important? The authors of the actual scientific study are Richard Border and his co-authors. Scott Alexander is just a well-known blogger who gets credit for writing about it in a vivid way that got people's attention. He's not a primary source, so for the purposes of this article, it doesn't really matter whether he's using an alias or even whether he's a psychiatrist. (It's not a credential in the relevant field anyway.) You can verify the quotes by following the link. Calling up other scientists in the field and asking questions about a scientific paper is how science writers verify a science article, and Ed Yong did that.
    - unityByFreedom 7y ago
      > I don't understand why you think it's important? Scott Alexander is a pseudoynm. Journalists referencing that name should note this, along with the fact that his credentials as a psychiatrist are not publicly verifiable.

DataWorker 7y ago

Perhaps publish or parish applies to journalism as well. Factchecking costs money and not everyone has ssc’s budget.

unityByFreedom 7y ago
> Factchecking costs money Authors who do not fact-check are writing fiction. That is not journalism. > not everyone has ssc’s budget What budget? It's one or a handful of people writing a blog. I'm sure the budget of The Atlantic, founded in the 1800s, dwarfs that of SSC.

skybrian 7y ago

You're assuming without evidence that Ed Yong didn't verify his credentials. How do you know? Maybe ask?

unityByFreedom 7y ago
Again, the author cited him as "the psychiatrist Scott Alexander". If he did verify credentials, he ought to have mentioned the name is an alias.
- skybrian 7y ago
  He could have mentioned it, but I don't understand why you think it's important? The authors of the actual scientific study are Richard Border and his co-authors. Scott Alexander is just a well-known blogger who gets credit for writing about it in a vivid way that got people's attention. He's not a primary source, so for the purposes of this article, it doesn't really matter whether he's using an alias or even whether he's a psychiatrist. (It's not a credential in the relevant field anyway.) You can verify the quotes by following the link. Calling up other scientists in the field and asking questions about a scientific paper is how science writers verify a science article, and Ed Yong did that.
  - unityByFreedom 7y ago
    > I don't understand why you think it's important? Scott Alexander is a pseudoynm. Journalists referencing that name should note this, along with the fact that his credentials as a psychiatrist are not publicly verifiable.