<p>First of all--and most importantly--I am sorry you feel bad about that comment.</p>

<p>In coming to a decision about the flag, I considered several aspects of the situation.</p>

<ol>
<li><p><strong>Relevance.</strong>  Despite your claim that the comment is off-topic, a huge underlying issue in that thread is whether banning the use of a standard tool for pursuing scientific investigations is an appropriate strategy for a legitimate branch of science.  I suspect the initial reaction of many people to the BASP announcement may have been something like what was expressed in the comment.</p>

<p>One way to test relevance is to imagine replacing "psychology" by other fields that make claims to being scientific.  At two extremes are parapsychology and atomic physics.  In either context, the comment would make sense and be apt.  If parapsychologists abandoned hypothesis testing, they would have a much harder time keeping up the pretense of being scientific.  If physicists did, the first question they would hear is "but isn't that unscientific?"  In both cases the comment is apt, so why wouldn't be relevant to psychology?</p>

<p>The claim that a large group of people--such as research psychologists--would be sorely offended by such a benign offhand remark is certainly surprising.  If that were true, we would have to conclude there are some profound concerns in the profession about its scientific nature, or lack thereof: and doesn't that even more amply demonstrate the relevance of the remark and the need to address it rather than suppress it?</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Correctness.</strong>  Comments are frequently incorrect or downright false. That's frustrating because they cannot be downvoted or edited and extensive debates within comments are discouraged.  But that's how it is.  Usually, factuality plays almost no part in making keep-or-delete decisions: people have a right to be wrong in public.</p>

<p>In this case, I feel that the implication you are drawing ("BASP banned hypothesis testing, therefore social psychology is unscientific")--which to be fair may be a broader conclusion than intended by the commenter--ultimately reflects a limited and incorrect understanding of the editor's decision.  But that's a matter that can constructively be discussed by posting an answer in that thread.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Tone.</strong> Given the dissonant juxtoposition of its preface, "Great idea," and the consequent charge of being unscientific, it is difficult to read the comment in any other way than sarcasm.  It is equally difficult to interpret it as personally rude or insulting.  I won't defend the tone--it comes across as a little sharp--but it doesn't appear to transgress any boundaries of impropriety.  We should all err on the side of generosity when reading comments and not take them too much to heart nor interpret them in an overly broad or personal fashion.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Should we, then, unilaterally delete this comment?  As I see it, that amounts to a request to limit discourse and suppress an idea that has relevance and could constructively be discussed.  On balance, because the comment does not appear to breach the norms of this community, I could see no justification to remove it.</p>

<p>More generally, what should we do about comments that offend valued contributors to our community?  If the sole test is to be that <em>somebody</em> feels offended, then we are left with no consistent or rational way to decide what material should remain visible on our site.  The tests we do have (of which the strongest is that <em>ad hominem</em> remarks are not tolerated) are clear and practicable.  Removing comments solely because they might be construed by someone as being negative about some branch of science seems like it would head too far down a very slippery slope that would force us eventually to abandon the comment mechanism altogether.</p>

<p>Might I suggest, then, that you consider the possibility that this comment may have a more benign interpretation and that it was written without malign intent?  The best course of action might be to post a constructive <em>answer</em> in that thread and ignore the comment altogether rather than drawing undue attention to it.</p>
