further disingenuity by design?

When trackbacks stopped working for me over at Bill Dembski's blog, I had a sneaking suspicion something wasn't right, but I kept silent, chalking it up to Haloscan troubles. But now that they're deleting trackbacks over at an allied blog, IDtheFuture, I have to speak up.

I realize that trackbacks are a privilege. But deleting a trackback without notification, either for the general audience or for the blogger in question, is exactly the form of pernicious behavior IDers complain about. I had sent successful trackbacks to these two posts, and they've mysteriously disappeared.* (The first has the doubly ironic title, "Blog Welcomes Dissenting Voice.")

Here are the posts, respectively, that I had written in response: spin, spin, spin the poll and meanwhile, back in the lab. Are they contrarian? Certainly; I make no apology for their tone, because I've supported incisive claims with relevant facts. Are they offensive? Hardly; no ad hominem, no profanity, no obscenity. Are they cleverly titled? A matter of opinion.

A while ago, I pointed out that Dembski's Orwellian habit of deleting dissenting comments without notification smacks of intellectual dishonesty.

I stand by that assessment, and now, sadly, have to level the charge at IDtheFuture.

As Jonathan Witt has written, "Censoring public and scientific debate is never healthy." The disjunction between words and deeds has been duly noted.


Update: you can clearly see the trackbacks in the Google Cache version of the site. Where are they now?




*(I had been periodically watching StatCounter, and noticed that hits from IDtheFuture had dropped off to zero. I went to investigate, and lo and behold: my trackbacks were gone.)