Manufacturing a Turning Point
When US-RTK filed the public records request on the #science14, they didn't realize they were creating a turning point in public perception. The public is sick and tired of those that waste limited public funds to abuse important transparency mechanisms, or even hacking, to silence or harass scientists. The public sentiment sees this as slimy, expensive, and an undue attack on their public scientists, just like ClimateGate. For instance, two days ago there was a post on GMOInside.com's facebook page that claimed that I was "afraid" of the public records request and gave the impression that I was somehow refusing to cooperate. I posted that I have always been 100% in compliance, and to their credit, they let my post stand. Within a day, that post had 1000 "likes" and over 1000 supportive comments. I have obtained screen caps of all of it from Philip Crews and others, and will immortalize that thread on this blog in the coming days.