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[–] Contrabardus 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Not true. That's a false dichotomy.

They could also have been inept, or just had unusual findings that were completely legit that couldn't be duplicated. There are any number of reasons outside of dishonesty that could have led to a false positive. Anything from an abnormal sample, to a math error, to something as simple as a bad control.

This is why peer review exists. It's not just to catch liars and fraud, but also to weed out errors and correct mistakes. In fact, it's more for the latter than the former.

Retractions are common for individual papers and studies, and it's not because there are a lot scam artists or frauds in the scientific community. It's because one little error or unaccounted for factor can change the outcome of a study and taint the results.

This is the Scientific Method working the way it's supposed to.

I would also dispute the article's claim that 'the debate' of the influence of violent video games is 'raging on'. It's over, and has been for a while. It's 'raging on' in the same manner that the debate about the influence of 'rock and roll', 'comic books', 'television', and 'dungeons and dragons' is still raging on.

The debate such as it is, is over. It's just being clung to by fringe nut jobs of the same sort as 'Flat Earthers', people who claim the 'Moon landings were faked', and the Bible is a completely literal account Creationists.