[Coral-List] Coral mortality in a warmer and acidified, reply to Mike Risk

[Pedro H. Rodríguez]

Hi Mike,
Point well taken, and (generally) agreed with. However, another cause of alarm that I see is when a senior figure does not differentiate explicitly if his/her main intention is to be cute or to cause us to think. This list is read by specialists and non, old timers and those new to the field, people with time to weigh claims and others with none, and I suspect that in many instances what is suggested by a senior scientist is taken at face value. The problem is that there is no warning about taking things more "lightly" when the intention is more to prod than to inform. As you know, some great teachers use this to motivate students, but they are always clear about their intentions. So maybe spending a sentence or two explaining the different sides of a debated issue (including mentioning the parties) would be a solution?
Best,Pedro
Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2017 18:05:47 +0000
From: "Risk, Michael" <riskmj at mcmaster.ca>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral mortality in a warmer and acidified
    ocean
To: Pedro H. Rodr?guez <phernanrod at yahoo.com>
Cc: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Message-ID: <C3405B7C-94BF-48AD-A271-43FE802F954C at mcmaster.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"


  Hi Pedro (Doug, Gene).

  These are perilous times, with science seemingly under threat from all sides
  and societies increasingly polarized. This is especially true of the US.

  It is increasingly important to all of us on this list that we stick to the
  science. Gene's scientific credentials should need no repeating to anyone on
  this list. He also performs a valuable although sometimes annoying service
  by posting items that cause us to think, or cause our hair to catch on fire......