> It sure seemed more about turf than about tests.

I would disagree - I think it was made clear that
it was all about statistical significance.

Here's what was said about the science aspects of
the apparent "pre-publication" of partial data
from a larger study:

"It should be stressed that the
total results from the test so
far appears to have a rather
different conclusion than Johnsen's.

It is important for the Norwegian
Beekeepers Association to point out
that the test is not finished, that
the results in the mentioned articles
is taken out of a larger context..."

> It seems the article only described the workings
> of the authors bees.

Well, if one is participating in an organized
research effort, it is generally assumed that
one will follow a specific protocol, contribute
one's data, and let all the data be analyzed
before making any possibly rash statements about
what is seen in a mere subset of the data.

It is a shame that the actual paper may be blocked
from being published in a peer-reviewed journal due
to this "pre-publication" of partial data by one
"loose cannon" among the large number of people who
participated in the effort.  Peer-reviewed science
journals most often flatly refuse to publish research
that has been already reported on by the popular
(layman's) press or another journal before being
published in their journal.

The net result may be to take hard work by many
people resulting in good hard data, and make it
all seem "questionable" or "unpublishable" simply
due to this error in judgment by one participant.

That's a shame when the goal seems to have been to
do a large-scale study and have the results be
accepted as "Science" with a capital "S".

So, it is not about "freedom of speech", its not
about "turf", its not about "ego", and its
certainly not about what any one participant
THINKS he might be able to conclude from his
hives alone.

It is about doing science, working as a member
of a team, and refraining from grandstanding
to get one's 15 minutes of fame.  This is
expected in any multi-researcher effort.
Violate these basic rules, and no one will
ever want work with you again in this lifetime.

That didn't happen.  Two magazines got conned,
and so did an entire national beekeeping group.

That's sad.


                jim

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