QUOTE (Weaver95 @ Nov 30 2009, 09:11 PM)

there's a whole lotta context in that archive. its up on wikileaks if you want to see it for yourself.
Basically, the defense has resorted to two main strategies:
1. flat out denial. the emails are fake, it didn't happen, it never happened, OMG IT DIDN'T HAPPEN MAKE IT STOP...*ahem*. sorry. As I was saying, this is one of the two main defensive memes propagated right now. As more people read the archive and realize just how highly improbable it is to have crafted such a hoax, this meme is dying a slow death.
2. it's a conspiracy. this one has started roughly over the past 24-48 hours. As I understand it, the current popular strain of this meme pins the blame on a vague collection of gas and oil companies. It varies as to the size and scope of the conspiracy (everything from them planning the hack to merely taking advantage of it once they learned about it), but this one tends to incorporate X-files levels of paranoia regarding the ability to 'the man' to infiltrate and expose the inner workings of the global warming scientific crowd. I think this meme is gonna stick around a while - it's got a lot of the usual tropes in all the right places.
Weaver, are you the same weaver on fark.com? I would guess so based on your stance on the various topics on climate over there and your discussion over here, but figured I'd ask.
Which particular people are acting as the defense that you are you talking about?
My opinion, from a person who is a graduate student in the Atmospheric Sciences, is that the emails will damage those involved in them. Specifically the discussion of deleting information requested by FOIA. If action was taken, then it strikes me as extremely unethical. As for the science as a whole, there are enough data sets independent from CRU that the discussion of the code posted isn't anything sinister. Unless of course people want to argue that all the various data sets are doing something unethical. In that case, as you said, it seems to incorporate X-files levels of paranoia.
I don't intend the statement of research to be an argument from authority, and I'll even go so far as to say my research has pretty much nothing to do with Climate Change.