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to the folks picking this apart word-by-word: all evidence suggests that two of the signatures are natives of china, and the third of india. it is reasonable to

to the folks picking this apart word-by-word: all evidence suggests that two of the signatures are natives of china, and the third of india. it is reasonable to credit them with not being native english speakers.

lasagnaphil 6y ago
You can write a good apology even with simple English. And since the researchers clearly have the ability to write papers in major English conferences this doesn’t seem to be a problem. It’s just that the apology doesn't do enough in what harm they have caused and what they are going to do in the future to prevent this harm.
- sigstoat 6y ago
  > It’s just that the apology doesn't do enough in what harm they have caused and what they are going to do in the future to prevent this harm. and that's fair! (also completely unrelated to what i said.) and has nothing to do with individual word choices that they're being picked apart on, which would be subtle to even non-college educated english speakers. > And since the researchers clearly have the ability to write papers in major English conferences this doesn’t seem to be a problem. you're reading different conference papers than i, native-level english is not generally a requirement.
davidgerard 6y ago
there's no way this didn't go through multiple layers of review
- sigstoat 6y ago
  sure there is. this is less important to the university than it is to HN. probably it's been mentioned to the dean of engineering, but i doubt anyone above that knows or would care without half an hour of explanation. and even the letter was heavily reviewed, the moral thing to do is to give a professor and two grad students leeway in interpretation of their english. (i'll grant that their past leeway in interpretation of their actions, but those aren't the same.) that doesn't mean it can't be a bad apology, it doesn't mean you have to accept or like it. just, come on, find more substantial issues than their adjectival choices.

lasagnaphil 6y ago

You can write a good apology even with simple English. And since the researchers clearly have the ability to write papers in major English conferences this doesn’t seem to be a problem. It’s just that the apology doesn't do enough in what harm they have caused and what they are going to do in the future to prevent this harm.

sigstoat 6y ago
> It’s just that the apology doesn't do enough in what harm they have caused and what they are going to do in the future to prevent this harm. and that's fair! (also completely unrelated to what i said.) and has nothing to do with individual word choices that they're being picked apart on, which would be subtle to even non-college educated english speakers. > And since the researchers clearly have the ability to write papers in major English conferences this doesn’t seem to be a problem. you're reading different conference papers than i, native-level english is not generally a requirement.

davidgerard 6y ago

there's no way this didn't go through multiple layers of review

sigstoat 6y ago
sure there is. this is less important to the university than it is to HN. probably it's been mentioned to the dean of engineering, but i doubt anyone above that knows or would care without half an hour of explanation. and even the letter was heavily reviewed, the moral thing to do is to give a professor and two grad students leeway in interpretation of their english. (i'll grant that their past leeway in interpretation of their actions, but those aren't the same.) that doesn't mean it can't be a bad apology, it doesn't mean you have to accept or like it. just, come on, find more substantial issues than their adjectival choices.