In light of yesterday’s praise for the WSJ, it seems odd to praise another denier stalwart again today. But credit where credit’s due, and this time Watts Up With That deserves a thumbs up. There’s a post up that points to a Retraction Watch article about a study that’s been withdrawn, apparently because the authors used fake names for submitting.
More accurately, they used their own names spelled backwards. Every indication is that USDA researchers Ned Nikolov and Karl Zeller apparently felt it appropriate to submit their latest “nonsense” under the names Den Volokin and Lark ReLlez. Why they chose this route is unclear, though the fact that WUWT’s Anthony Watts agrees with NASA’s Gavin Schmidt about the paper being “nonsense” and Anthony’s refusal to post their views on WUWT suggests a reason.
Their climate denial theory (arguing that air pressure is a major determinate of planetary temperatures, not the greenhouse effect) is so outlandish and their behavior so bad, their names are tarnished to the point that even they are ashamed of themselves.
Moving on, some folks who should be ashamed of themselves but probably aren’t are the pro-pipeline PR forces behind some Twitter handles that by every indication are as real as Den Volokin and Lark ReLlez. DeSmog reports on a series of similar accounts making similar pro-pipeline statements about the Dakota Access pipeline that’s heavily contested by Native Americans. The evidence for who’s behind these sock puppets points to pro-tobacco, pro-fossil-fuels PR group DCI, hired by the pipeline company, and known for ginning up astroturf campaigns and other shady lobbying techniques. This group doesn’t get much direct attention, though it is one of the companies caught up in the #ExxonKnew subpoenas, so that should give you a sense of their behind-the-scenes connections. (For more on them, check out all the great info in the DeSmog story!)
On the one hand then, we have a pair of scientists hoping to avoid the added scrutiny that might result from using their real names. On the other hand, we have what appears to be a professional lobbying operation reliant on sock puppets to disguise their activities.
Whether in peer review or on social media, it’s the same. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but if you think you can fool all the people all the time... you’re only fooling yourself.
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