In article , Tim Tyler wrote:

Notice that in the case cited above, the claim in quesition was whether
your are under-estimating the attention which gardeners with aphid
problems give to ants.

No, you introduced that irrelevance into a serious debate about
whether ants cause or enhance aphid infestations.

The subject of whether gardners paid attention to ants was raised
by you, with:

``I know that aphid infestations are a major agricultural problem,
and I knew people working on defences, but not one was even
considering attacking the ants. This indicates that they knew
it was an irrelevance.''

I was talking about scientists researching into aphid control, not
about the ecologically ignorant hoi polloi.

Perhaps the subset you contacted represent a biased sample.

Unquestionably. They were real scientists. Totally unrepresentative
of the general population.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.