On the futility of journals' 'comments' facilities

[Beatrice]

This is from nnhav, but he posted it in an old thread so I wanted to make sure people saw it because it's brilliant.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/18773744/How- ... Easy-Steps

I've never actually tried to Comment on a peer-reviewed article but I am hoping this was just an aberration.

[hedge]

I made one Comment once, pointing out a flaw in the article. To their credit the editors did allow the comment through post moderation but I was disappointed that no-one replied - not even the author I was criticising. You'd think at the very least they would want to defend themselves. (Although to be fair, I think they could see that my comment couldn't really be defended away.)

I think apathy is the name of the game.

[challenge]

I actually had a comment on one of my articles. It was fine since the the authors were saying "the authors should have looked at this and mentioned it in their results". We had looked at the things they commented but it was not significant and we therefore mentioned it briefly in the M&M section (as "we did this kit testing for 20 of ligands but only show the three that are significantly different in the result section since the other ones aren¨t".) The comment was good in that it gave us more fodder (can you say that?) for our view that the situation is a complex one. And I didn't feel threatened about it.... but I guess it could be bad? I was actually more happy that I got proof that someone read my article.

This comment was published in the same publication as our paper originated in, and in the next number if I remember correctly. In hindsight I wonder if they were part of the reviewers since they could publish the comment that fast after our original article?

[Editor]

Certainly sounds suspicious. But I guess I'd be happy to let referees post stuff with their name on it, if it were a fair comment.

[nnyhav]

thx for bringing it up again, reminded me of what might happen should comments proliferate more freely:
http://home.comcast.net/%7Ebcleere/texts/draper.html
(cited by Scott McLemee: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee4
upon which I commented: http://nnyhav.blogspot.com/2009/01/thro ... nchor.html )

[Dr Mike]

When I was reading that PLoS article about Peter Lawrence cited here in LabLit, I was trying to select some text so I could email it to a friend. But then the article threw up a dialogue box saying I couldn't comment on that selection without logging in. From this I glean that PLoS lets you comment on individual sentences, just like you can in Word.

God, imaging the bitchiness if people could actually be arsed to use this function!

"You've mis-used the subjunctive in this sentence, mate. Sort it out."

[tideliar]

old schoolers, line-by-line "too active." "too active". "too active"

new schoolers, line-by-line "too passive.". "too passive"...

[The Prof]

Tiddles - where on earth have you been? We have missed you greatly.

I was thinking just the other day, talking of passive voice, that it's still really difficult to use active voice in materials and methods. Do any of you people attempt it? I guess because it sounds odd to say "we" pipetted or resuspended or what have you - one-person tasks in the first person plural.

[Mad Dan Eccles]

Tiddles - where on earth have you been? We have missed you greatly.

You can talk.

[challenge]

I was thinking just the other day, talking of passive voice, that it's still really difficult to use active voice in materials and methods. Do any of you people attempt it? I guess because it sounds odd to say "we" pipetted or resuspended or what have you - one-person tasks in the first person plural.

I love the passive voice in materials and methods. I guess it's because I don't like the "we then did" which imho would be another repeat thing to write... and there are plenty of those in M&M anyway.

but, I am a fan of passive voice in general in scientific articles... something about a feeling of security?

[hedge]

There's no easier way to do them than passively, I think. Nobody's reading the Methods for style, anyway!

[tideliar]

Tiddles - where on earth have you been? We have missed you greatly...

Busier than a very busy bee during bee season.

Hoping things calm down now our major institutional grant is in...but I signed up for some classes and biostats is taking more out of me than I feared...

[Editor]

Biostats...my sympathies.

Glad to hear from you and I hope you're not too stressed.

love and kisses

-hotpants

[The Prof]

A colleague of mine just got attacked via Comments in a journal. She is not pleased, because the criticisms are very misleading. She is preparing a rebuttal as we speak but is worried people might read the criticism without checking back later to see the erratum as it were.

That's a bit of a concern, isn't it? Anyone can say anything and it could 'stick'.

[tideliar]

i think if you have a careful "Information Architect" *ahem ahem* who can ensure clarity of linkage then idle curiosity, if nothing else, will motivate people to find out what all the fuss is about. but if the age is cluttered, the links hidden/unclear, or locked behind paywalls, then there is information control/censorship certainly.