Programmers do ask the community to find and fix bugs.

See, for example, Google offering bounties on Chrome exploits, or the Tarsnap bug bounties.

(http://www.tarsnap.com/bugbounty.html)

Are you suggesting these are bad things?

The scientists had weird results. They checked everything; they wrote up the results; they released the results cautiously, asking other people to check for errors.

They are not to blame for the appalling state of scientific reporting in mainstream media.

Open Science.

I question your understanding of how science works. Actually, I question your ability to program also. I often go out to the community to find out if there are other issues, or maybe something simple that I forgot. Using your peers for help is not a weakness, it's a strength.

Science is about performing experiments and replicating them, not about debugging hardware. A friend of mine famously complained that his computer was broken because his C programs weren't compiling. He had misspelled "include." The "community" didn't need to step up and help him. He needed to learn how to use his tools.

Well, I wasn't sure before, but you've removed all doubt.

You know, I'm not a scientist, so it's quite possible I've misunderstood the situation here. But if nothing else, what I'm saying is exactly what you can expect the average person with some education—albeit not a scientist—to think, based on a casual knowledge of physics (the role of the speed of light, etc.) reading these headlines.

I don't think I've been particularly discourteous to you, but if I have, I apologize. It would be more helpful in the future to show me what I haven't seen rather than simply insult me.