"Rather, they rarely land in front of the people who disagree with the contention held within." You are likely right as those involved will probably dismiss an

"Rather, they rarely land in front of the people who disagree with the contention held within." You are likely right as those involved will probably dismiss any criticism. However, I believe the authors of this open letter probably want their position put on the record for posteriorly. However, such is the outrage against Scientific American and Associate Professor McLemore that this open letter may have a life of its own. The outrage was palpable 14 days ago with the HN story The Demise of Scientific American and many of those who posted shared the same discust. The public release of this open letter signed by many prominent people will probably reinforce this view and give the matter a continued existence in the public domain. I've posted a link to the earlier HN story below.