[ryandrake]

I don't think there's a lack of skepticism on HN of all places. Every article that gets posted that discusses even a mild scientific result brings at least one HN commenter out of the woodwork to dunk on it. You can bank on it--there is always That Guy who has to argue against it, whether he's right or not.

Also, the comment you reference was probably downvoted because of the tone, not because of some HN bias against naysayers. Starting out your comment with "It's nonsense." is about as conducive to a productive conversation as starting it out with "You're wrong."

[twothreeone]

I'd agree if it was just another arxiv draft. But, honestly I appreciate the clarity and brevity of the comment in this case. And I think that tone is warranted given the paper was published in a well known journal, lending it quite some credibility as clearly demonstrated by the high-stakes PR it received. Especially, since any retraction of that paper will likely not be followed up by the same articles.

[andrewflnr]

The point of a statement like "it's nonsense" is to prevent a conservation that should not happen, because it will be dumb. It's the right thing to say iff it's correct.