A paper of mine recently got some attention online. This was exciting for various reasons (I even had a phone interview! Like a real scientist!). However, by far my favourite part of finding out what news sites have picked up the story each day is reading the comments.
Oh internet, never change.
In fact the majority of the comments have been disappointingly sensible. Despite this there are still some gems and I have begun keeping a list of my favourites. So, in no particular order, here are some of the best things anonymous individuals have said about my work on the internet:
“While I understand the objective of the study, it seems to me that this is another case of Words being used to describe Things.” – Truer words were never spoken, Dresan from io9.
This exchange between dudewitch and Brawno also of io9 gets right to the heart of the issue:
“‘They found, for example, that female sexual cannibals were described with overwhelmingly negative language.’ Comedy.”
“Exactly. I’m shocked (shocked!) that female sexual cannibals are described with negative language. This seems like a textbook case of female sexual cannibal bias if I ever saw one.”
Meanwhile jscroft of phys.org clearly understands how vital our work is:
“Boy I hope these guys received a bunch of taxpayer funding to answer this VERY pressing and important question. Good Lord.”
There has also been some suggestion that we are simply after an Ignoble prize. I wish. It’s not nearly silly or funny enough for that. Perhaps a follow up study on the language used in comments about studies on language use might do the trick…..
As of yet no-one yet has accused me of being an evil feminist (maybe having two male co-authors helped) but I will keep you updated.
Insect Chemical and Evolutionary Ecology 
Update. Someone finally accused me of being an evil feminist! On the ScienceNow original article no less. Good to know some things don’t change.