What do you do when you come across a hub with incorrect science?

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   QuoteAmberposted 10 years ago

   So I have Bachelor's in Chemistry and a Master's in Engineering. When it comes to science I know what I am talking about. I just came across a hub with really bad science. This is not the first time this has happened here. It was a hub about how something worked, but the description on how this technology worked was vague, incomplete and partly right, but mostly wrong. This was only a small part of the hub, though. Even though the summary said this is How So and So works, the hub only barely touched on the topic. I wasn't hopping hubs, so I couldn't grade it. And I'm not a confrontational person, and I don't want to sound mean, so I don't like leaving comments saying your science is really bad and that's not how it works at all.
   
   I find this is kind of a big problem on this site. There are a few people on here that really know what they are talking about when it comes to various biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and other science related topics, but there are more people here who post on these topics and have no clue what they are talking about at all. And I'm not even talking about the debate about evolution vs creationism or the debate on whether or not global warming is anthropogenic, but just people who obviously don't know what they are talking about and clearly did not do the necessary research. If you are going to write a hub about how something works and then you either don't explain it or your explanation is wrong, or if you are trying to explain science and your explanation is wrong, it bothers me. Do I report it? Because there's not category that says 'bad or incorrect science' or do I just leave a nice comment saying that you really need to work on your science because it it bad?

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      Stacie Lposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I would suggest that you write your own hub on the subject and include your credentials as well.
      Maybe pointing out to the writer some of their flaws in the comment box or send an email....

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         QuoteAmberposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the advice. The last three hubs with bad science that I have read, I actually do have a hub published on the topic.

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   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   there is a red flag and report at top right of hub.  Click on that, a drop down box appears.  There is a other if nothing fits the reason you are reporting with a box to add your comment to it.

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      Dressage Husbandposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree with Linda. If however you think the person meant well, but was misinformed you may want to click on Fan Mail and send them a polite, but firm EMail pointing out their errors and your credentials.
      
      Check back after a week or two and if the Hub has not been corrected report it. That way you gave the offender a fair chance. It may be ignorance of what they do not know, or that they were taught wrongly. That way you have not only been fair the offender had a chance to prove it was accidental.

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         QuoteAmberposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         It was apparently that they never actually learned the subject. It is a very complicated topic and I've taken at least 4 different college courses on the subject and I still don't know everything about it.
         
         I did leave them a comment because I believe no one actually sees the comment unless the author approves. But I didn't think to check back to see if they actually took my advice, so I will try that. Thanks.

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   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   I read a hub the other day about sites where you can earn from writing.  They wrote about squidoo.  This was a new hub.

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   1. 81

      QuoteAmberposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds to me like that might be plagiarism and the reason Squidoo is on the list because they copied and pasted their article from someplace else.

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