A plea to vote in the Weblog Awards poll

... despite the fact that I'm deeply suspicious of claims that getting the most votes is truly indicative of being the best.

Anyhow, the category in which your vote might make a real difference (here at the last minute) is Best Science Blog:

I'm a big fan of In the Pipeline, Bootstrap Analysis and Invasive Species Weblog (and I hear that "Pharyngula" guy is a good read), in terms of the maximization of quality and "electability", I urge you to vote for Bad Astronomy.

Cast your vote now, before it's too late!

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Janet,

I like your blog, but yet I am also an avid reader of Climate Audit. I know that you would never dare approving of what is said to be a denialist blog. However, if you have some guts, you'll go over there and give it a look. My opinion is that Steve McIntyre tries to enforce the four Mertonian norms: Communalism, Universalism, Disinterestedness, and Skepticism. That you may be able to achieve that on a blog versus peer reviewed papers is a very interesting fact. It raises all sorts of questions about the future of scientific publications and the scientific institution. For example, can good science be made outside of the institution of peer-reviewed publications? What are the pros and cons of it? Can the Climate Audit experiment be used to improve the publication system? Steve McIntyre, despite what some say, has gained a lot of respect from a lot of people in the AGW debate. It's not for nothing that he's had so many votes.

Of course, you can retreat behind political correctness and accuse him of being an industry shill, and that a zillion IPCC scientists can't go wrong. That would, in my opinion, be the easy way. A more audacious position would be to look at it objectively, and forget about what your readership will think of you. PZ Myers obviously can't do that. Can you?

By Francois Ouellette (not verified) on 09 Nov 2007 #permalink

Janet -- I agree strongly with Francois; I find ClimateAudit engaging both in content and form. I would be interested in hearing more about the reasoning behind your decision to post this plea.

By Neuro-conservative (not verified) on 09 Nov 2007 #permalink