Trouble in the Blogosphere: The Brouhaha at ScienceBlogs
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Because I was traveling for the past couple of weeks, I missed an article entitled “Unnatural Science” by Virginia Heffernan that originally appeared in the July 31 edition of the New York Times Magazine. After returning home this past Sunday, I had the opportunity to read it and what a read it was!
It was an apt and brilliantly written piece about the often venomous and offensive blogging that has gone on for several years at ScienceBlogs: a science blogging collective overseen by the Seed Media Group. Interestingly, BioJobBlog was approached about a year ago by the Seed Media Group to consider blogging under the ScienceBlogs umbrella. For those of you who may not know, the bloggers who write for ScienceBlogs get paid based on the amount of site traffic that their blogs generate. While the sums of money that are paid are nominal, graduate students and postdocs, and even Assistant Professors can blog to their hearts content and make a couple of hundred dollars each month while waiting for the results from experiments that may be incubating. However, after reviewing the content and quality of some of the so-called blogs at ScienceBlogs, I respectfully declined Seed Media’s offer to come aboard.
Unbeknownst to me, a couple of months ago a group of 20 or more bloggers “angrily parted ways with ScienceBlogs because is started running Food Frontiers a nutrition blog that PepsiCo paid to have on the site” wrote Ms Heffernan. Also, she noted, “In farewell posts the bloggers charged that the advertorial was deceptive and undermined the purpose of the collective.” According to the article, Seed Media Group quickly removed the “tainted blog.” Unfortunately, the damage had been done and the action wasn’t sufficient to prevent other bloggers from leaving.
Unfortunately, my past experiences and “run ins” with several ScienceBlogs bloggers (“On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess” and GrrlScientist, on Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) were extremely unpleasant, humiliating and unprofessional. After reading Ms Heffernan’s piece on the often caustic, offensive and inappropriate remarks made by many of the bloggers who write for ScienceBlogs I felt vindicated in my assessment of the quality and veracity of the writing at the collective. To that end, she wrote “And while I found interesting stuff here and there, I also discovered that ScienceBlogs has become preoccupied with trivia, name-calling and saber rattling. Maybe that’s why the ScienceBlogs ship started to sink.”
While I think ScienceBlogs is a great idea and has merit, the people who run the site have failed to realize that they cannot allow scientists to say and publish whatever they want. Unfortunately, many of these well-educated and supposedly erudite scientists have inadequate social skills, over-sized egos and the notion that the freedom of speech gives them permission to say whatever they like no matter how offensive or odious it may be.
However, what I think is even more egregious than the offensive comments and slurs against people was the holier-than-thou attitude adopted by many of the bloggers who left Science Blogs because the Food Frontier Blog was sponsored by PepsiCo. After all, how could ScienceBlogs management allow a corporate entity to sponsor a blog and possibly denigrate and call into question the science discussed by other bloggers? To that end, I bet many of the defecting bloggers wouldn’t scoff at the opportunity to get research grant monies from a company interested in their research. In fact, it would be interesting to see how many of the bloggers at ScienceBlogs have research contracts and agreements with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices companies.
I actually feel bad for the Seed Media Group because the company is run by a bunch of good guys who are trying to do the right thing. That is, discussing and promoting science in the blogosphere with the hope of improving the public understanding of science and technology. Maybe it was time for the bloggers who left to go. There will be other bloggers to take their places. For the foreseeable future, BioJobBlog will remain independent. However, if ScienceBlogs wants to make me an offer I can’t refuse; than I am all ears!
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Blogging!!!!!!!!!
