Last week, a paper came out that received a lot of very harsh criticism from the scientific community. First things first: I 100% agree with a lot of that criticism.

Criticizing a paper (or agreeing with others' criticisms of a paper) is okay. That's how science works.

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HOWEVER, after seeing the paper, I shot off a careless tweet. It was meant to be lighthearted, but it missed the mark!!!! It came across as a personal attack on the authors.

It was a mistake to have posted it, and I have since deleted it.

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After I posted it, a lot of people came to my defense and said that my tweet was fine, in light of the issues with the paper in question. I appreciate the support.

But the fact remains: while scientific criticism is fine, an attack on the authors is not. I was in the wrong.

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Here's the bottom line:

As scientists, we try to get things right, but sometimes we goof. It's important to acknowledge our mistakes when we make them (and we do make them!!!!).

This applies not just to research but to twitter. I will try to be more careful in the future!

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