Ignoring the overly dramatic tone, I do think it's odd that he didn't get better feedback. Would be interested in what the FF librarian posse thinks. - Bill Hooker from Bookmarklet

Wah! I am not subscribed to you -- how'd that happen? I'm sure I was... must have been collateral damage in one of my noise purges. I've just asked for a new sub. - Bill Hooker

Thanks! (I confess I skim most of your techy stuff, it's the librarianship/oa stuff I read you for. That, and the snark.) - Bill Hooker

Yes, she's quite good at that. - Mr. Gunn

fwiw I don't think Phil defended yet. the worst part of this is figuring out who you would send a request like that to. It takes me 10 e-mails and 3 phone calls to find the right person at my mothership main library. Almost seems that he's taking confusion for malicious intent - Christina Pikas

@Christina: that's an excellent point. Who's going to comment on the blog entry, asking Davis why his methodology isn't open? - Bill Hooker

I don't think he did, quite. He calls Davis out (gently) for the presumption of malice, but not the possible flaws in his methodology, or the fact that we can't look for those flaws since we don't know how he did the work. Since I don't mind being That Asshole and no one else seems inclined, I've left a comment on the OP. - Bill Hooker

I said this: "JQJ’s comments and questions do not seem to me to skirt the issue at all, but rather to speak directly to alternative explanations for the lack of response. Methodological concerns are not trivial here. Whom did you contact? Did you say explicitly that you were sensitive to confidentiality issues and happy with various forms of anonymized data? Did you phone anyone, or simply email? How do you know your emails didn’t just end up in the spam bin? Did you follow up (an unanswered question from Amanda, above)? And so on. You have asked good questions, and have shown that routine reporting could be improved for such programs (already a useful outcome). But you need a good deal more evidence — including a more transparent methodology — before you go claiming there are “dark secrets” at work." - Bill Hooker

Bill++ - Peter Murray

+1 Bill. People are busy. If I send a postcard to the Queen asking her what her favourite colour is, I shouldn't get offended if I don't get a reply by return post. - Matthew Todd

So if I wait two weeks and my comment still hasn't shown up, am I free to assume that someone is hiding dark secrets, etc? - Bill Hooker

I did wonder about that when I didn't see your comment... - Cameron Neylon

I think so too. His original point was about non-responsiveness to his queries, after all. - Peter Murray