ScienceBlogs

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ScienceBlogs™ is an invitation-only blog network/community focusing on, yes, you guessed it, science. The site is run by Seed Media Group, former publishers of science magazine Seed.

They launched in 2006 with 15 blogs and as of March 2010, boasted 79. A streak of problems culminated in early July 2010 with a Pepsi advertorial blog, which led many regulars to decide they were sick of the place and were leaving.

PepsiGate[edit]

Pepsi joined ScienceBlogs on 6 July 2010, under the guise of "Food Frontiers," a blog intended to discuss food- and health-related topics that were relevant to Pepsico's business. This created a great deal of concern amongst many of the other bloggers, who were angry that a company could just buy a place at the table and present "advertorial" content on an equal footing with the other blogs on the site.[1] Many ScienceBlogs authors announced a "hiatus" in their contributions[2] and quite a few simply up and left over the controversy. The owners (the Seed Media Group) produced an unconvincing "announcement" to counter this "rebellion", but stayed silent for a long while.[3]

PepsiCo's Food Frontiers blog didn't last long[4] but everyone else's other concerns came to light: the utter technical neglect of ScienceBlogs[5], Seed Media and Adam Bly's habit of not paying freelancers[6] (the worst crime an editor can perpetrate, as far as freelancers in general are concerned) and, significantly, Bly's past complete lack of comprehension of the wall between editorial and advertising. Seed articles had been pulled because they could potentially offend an advertiser[7] and writers had been asked to blatantly shill for advertisers in editorial copy.[8]

On 19 July 2010, Bora left the site.[5] This was arguably the most significant departure to date as he had always presented the professional face of ScienceBlogs. On top of that, RW's own PalMD left.[9]

On 20 July, PZ Myers announced that he was "going on strike" until the website cleaned up its act,[3] though he came back two days later saying progress was being made[10] and is stayed with ScienceBlogs for the time being.

A number of the exSciblings resurfaced at Scientopia, including our own PalMD.

In April 2011, ScienceBlogs was taken over by National Geographic. While Seed would still maintain ownership of the site, National Geographic would acquire editorial control and responsibility for advertising sales on the site.

July 2010[edit]

Scientific American has begun its own blogsite. Several Scibloggers seem to be jumping or ready to jump.[11] Even PZ sees the end in view.[12]

PZ and a handful of others have started Freethought Blogs.[13]

Channels[edit]

Notable blogs[edit]

  • Deltoid, Tim Lambert's blog, general skepticism with a strong focus on environmental issues and especially global warming denial.
  • Denialism blog, run by the Hoofnagle brothers and PalMD. Has a lot of good material, like the Denialist Deck of Cards.
  • Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton's blog focusing on pseudoscience in politics (esp. creationism), politics in general, and law.
  • Neurophilosophy, a blog on neuroscience, psychology, and skepticism about pseudo-psychology and neuro-woo.
  • Pharyngula, PZ Myers' blog, focusing on biology and secularism.
  • Respectful Insolence, Orac's blog on general skepticism with a focus on medical quackery.
  • The White Coat Underground written by RationalWiki founder member and occasional visitor PalMD. The blog has a medical focus.

See also[edit]

External Links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Guardian article.
  2. ↑ Go to the site and Google pepsi
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/pharyngula_on_strike.php
  4. ↑ We have removed Food Frontiers from SB
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 [1]
  6. ↑ http://wanderinggaia.com/2010/07/10/why-i-exposed-seed/
  7. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jul/09/seed-editorial-independence-scienceblogs
  8. ↑ http://twitter.com/EmilyAnthes/status/18131707104
  9. ↑ http://scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/2010/07/ethics_always_a_challenge.php
  10. ↑ http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/still_alive.php
  11. ↑ Deltoid; Thoughtful Animal
  12. ↑ PZ on Sciblogs
  13. ↑ PZ's "Welcome" post.
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