Wood Romances

It's been over a decade since Tim Ball claimed that Michael Mann belonged in a state pen, and it's been several years since Mann's libel case against Ball was dismissed, and still lies about this case are proliferating on social media and the blogosphere. To set the record straight, let's begin by setting the stage. By 2007, the MBH98/99 "hockey stick" papers had been thoroughly investigated. The MBH hockey stick was found to be robust to statistical method and it was replicated by multiple other reconstructions (above, and discussed  here , here and here ). After the CRU emails were hacked and published, a new set of conspiracy theories were popularized on blogs and YouTube - these were based on a misreading of various emails (discussed  here and here ), but contrarian rhetoric was ramping up to a frenzy. Mann was frequently labeled a criminal and fraud, the hockey stick was called a scam or a hoax.  The Mann v Ball Libel Suit In an interview with the Fron...