> I don't believe that for a minute. > Real scientists expect to be challenged at every turn Sure, but the minimum price of admission is an advanced degree in an appropriate field, and the appropriate place for such challenges is in the refereed journals, or in quiet face-to-face conversation. So, Christina's absolutely right. Many institutions, both schools and companies, have policies that prohibit R&D employees from posting on internet forums. This started almost the moment that AOL provided access to USENET to the general public back in Sept 1993. (That date is still called "the Endless September" or "the September that never ended". You can read about it... on the internet.) Back then, the fastest link speed anyone had at home was 14.4kbps, but the exodus from public online discussions started, and people started cultivating informal lists of addresses and even reviving the old BBS system software of the early 1980s. These days, small groups use Google Groups circles, and long "cc" and "bcc" lists. Invitation only. I am a member of two different physics "pre-print discussion lists", and those messages are signed with PGP keys and encrypted with PGP encryption. Often, preprints can have big-money implications. But even if no money is at issue, if you think it through, any internet forum can be a hazard to one's career. First, there are PR people who want to review ever word, and do not like anyone except them acting as a "voice" for the institution. Everyone else is effectively muzzled. Second, online forums set up the employee for the sort of no-win situation I see here on a regular basis - arguments and statements that evince a lack of comprehension of wide swaths of various sciences, but are difficult to address without taking significant time to educate. Then there is the problem of trying to educate someone who is arguing without seeming condescending. Difficult. There is even the occasional personal taunts from a few beekeepers who apparently feel that "discussion" is a scored event. We even recently had a first-time use of the word "asinine". In all the years Bee-L has been around, no one ever needed to resort to such language before. Not exactly the sort of environment where people who want to keep a career intact would want to be seen. So, when someone in an R&D position posts here, it is to announce something that has been pre-approved, or it is to correct only the most egregious misstatements with a carefully worded correction. Most recently, we had a missive from Baton Rouge of this sort. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html