> This is an interesting stance to take on HN, of all places.
I am not talking about internet forum discussions in which the default assumption is that all participants are having the discussion in good faith. I am talking about what the response should be to a scientist who wilfully violates the norms that are required of all science if science is to be reliable and trustworthy.
The closest analogy in the context of an internet forum would be how a forum moderator should deal with a participant who wilfully violates the norms that are required to have a useful, good faith discussion. We normally call these people "trolls", and for ordinary participants the best thing to do is usually to ignore them, but a moderator has to maintain the forum's signal to noise ratio, which at some point is going to mean shutting the troll down, and doing it visibly and publicly, so that the norms of the forum can be seen to be enforced. Kindness would not be appropriate in that situation either (although since the situation is not as serious as a scientist wilfully violating the norms of science, one would not expect the response to be as vehement either).
> Of course there should be consequences. But there's no need to be a jerk about administering them
Publicly enforcing norms that are required for an institution to function, and making it explicit that that is what you are doing, in language that reflects the seriousness of the violation, is not "being a jerk". Granted, it's also not being kind. But "kind" and "jerk" are not the only available options.
I am not talking about internet forum discussions in which the default assumption is that all participants are having the discussion in good faith. I am talking about what the response should be to a scientist who wilfully violates the norms that are required of all science if science is to be reliable and trustworthy.
The closest analogy in the context of an internet forum would be how a forum moderator should deal with a participant who wilfully violates the norms that are required to have a useful, good faith discussion. We normally call these people "trolls", and for ordinary participants the best thing to do is usually to ignore them, but a moderator has to maintain the forum's signal to noise ratio, which at some point is going to mean shutting the troll down, and doing it visibly and publicly, so that the norms of the forum can be seen to be enforced. Kindness would not be appropriate in that situation either (although since the situation is not as serious as a scientist wilfully violating the norms of science, one would not expect the response to be as vehement either).
> Of course there should be consequences. But there's no need to be a jerk about administering them
Publicly enforcing norms that are required for an institution to function, and making it explicit that that is what you are doing, in language that reflects the seriousness of the violation, is not "being a jerk". Granted, it's also not being kind. But "kind" and "jerk" are not the only available options.