If you really want to stop discussing your misbehavior...

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Posted by Gerry Binczik on September 21, 2002 at 10:37:10:

In Reply to: Re: Ok, let\'s go ahead and make this a topic of discussion... posted by K.E. on September 21, 2002 at 09:13:07:

... then why do you keep indulging in it, K.E.? From what I can see, mostly what you've done in this discussion is go from making totally unfounded accusations against unnamed people in the sciences to instead repeatedly making totally unfounded and patently untrue accusations against me personally. In fact, your accusations against me seem to increase with each post you write. Why might that be, do you suppose? Maybe you think the best defense of your misbehavior is a good offense? Whatever, your expressed hope that this antagonistic exchange will end seems rather hypocritical, given that you continue adding fuel to the fire. To wit:

> ... you feel that I am a coward...

You don't know what I feel about you beyond what I've written, and I've never said you're a coward. Indeed, throughout the great majority of this thread I've endeavored to restrict my comments to your behavior rather than you as a person, though I'm being less and less careful about that as you continue to indulge in making false accusations about me.

> ... You are on the rat snake forum and you will not discuss rat snakes. Instead you talk about people's behavior. You continue to complain about my behavior and have yet to talk about rat snakes...

Another false accusation. It's not very often, to be sure, but I have posted about ratsnakes in the past (check the archives sometime, if you like) and will continue to do so in the future when I have the time and inclination. More often I lurk on this particular forum because I don't usually feel I have a qualified opinion to offer, and am instead content simply to read along and learn. As I've pointed out a couple of times now, that was the case in this particular subject, too, though when you specifically asked me to I did indeed offer my opinion for whatever it's worth in my last post.

> ... You appear to just click on forums and complain about people's conduct...

Not only another false accusation about me, but a downright ridiculous one at that. Search the archives, like I said, or even take a look at some of the other current message boards. I am a regular contributor on all kinds of subjects on the Field Collecting Forum, the Kingsnake Forum and the Milksnake Forum; I have also occasionally contributed to others including especially the Herp Health Forum and the Feeder Forum. One post in particular that I wrote for the Milksnake Forum about getting newly wildcaught milksnakes to eat in captivity was so liked by another regular on that forum that for awhile she was re-posting it in response to subsequent questions that appeared on that board on that topic. I freely offer my opinions, my experiences and my help wherever they might further a discussion, when I have the time. But your accusations aren't really about what I have or haven't done, are they? They're about you not having to face what YOU'VE done.

> ... You previously said you were done with this topic...

Also not true. I said I saw no reason to continue our discussion, but then you went on cranking out false accusations about me, giving me further reason to continue. Will you do so again? I wouldn't be surprised, at this point.

> ... It is as if you are on a crusade to save science. Science does not need you in this capacity...

You least of all should be speaking on behalf of science at this point. Whether I'm correct in believing that your tales of serious scientific misconduct are mistaken impressions you got or even outright fabrications you came up with for some reason known only to you, or you're correct that the misconduct actually occurred just as you described, your only visible action was to monger malicious rumors about the profession as a whole. First you acted as if you were too discrete to share the details of your purported experiences - though none too discrete to share your serious accusations and imply the misconduct you supposedly witnessed is widespread - as if you were kindly sparing folks here from it. Now when pressed on the point that you should take more positive action you say you won't pursue a proper remedy to your complaints because you "have faith in the scientific process", as if you believe peer review or any other aspect of the scientific process is likely to catch instances where data have been altered as you claim. Pretty transparent.

In any event, I'll reserve to myself the right to decide when, where and how to apply my efforts. And I can assure you, I will ALWAYS choose to defend the scientific professions against the kind of malicious nonsense you were disseminating. You want to go back to just talking about ratsnakes? Fine with me. I'm not the one who took the discussion away from that to begin with, after all, nor the one who keeps leading it further away with continued misbehavior.

Gerry
gbin@zoo.ufl.edu

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