[bla3]

Sounds like you learned a valuable lesson about believing things you read on the internet today :)

Taking it down means others won't be able to learn this lesson.

[Quekid5]

I agree that it's important to learn these lessons, but if recent history has taught us anything it's that reach and amplification will drown out most voices of reason.

I think Vimes might have had an aphorism about this...

EDIT: aphorism, not proverb

[BizarroLand]

True, but at the same time, it is difficult to overlook the weight of Yale, the fact that this was published there, had I not found it so intriguing that I wanted to see what others were saying about it I would not have fact checked it.

"A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.”—Mark Twain

This is a glorious example of that.

[skullgrid]

Sure, it is generally wise to keep your guard up when reading things on the internet (or any source). That's fair enough. But at the same time, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect HN posts to adhere to a higher standard. IMO HN is not the appropriate forum for pseudo-intellectual gotchas.