Post by dinosauria101 on Mar 26, 2020 17:43:35 GMT
(OP borrowed from Theropod1. Was originally posted on WoA)
I propose we use this thread to share size figures that adhere to a high standard of rigor and verifiability. Essentially, profile-quality material. If you want to request something, simply specify what animal, and if applicable, what kind of size (length/height/mass/average/maximum/minimum/all of them) exactly you want data on.
In order to ensure scientific quality, legibility, and verifiability I propose some rules:
1) Primary data (e.g. measurements) should be from a reliable source (technical literature, websites or blogs of demonstrably credible individuals). Estimates can be your own (as long as based on solid data), summarizing (or refining, if there are perceived problems with it) an estimate from the literature, or estimates dug up from other threads on here.
2) Use sources, and cite them. That means at least author/year and title of a paper should be given, and/or a direct link (but please a stable one, like a doi or jstor permalink). It should be as easy as possible to verify the information provided.
3) Explain your methods, or the methods of your source. This is to make sure results can be reproduced.
4) Structure your post. I would suggest a formal outline with materials, methods, results, discussion (and summary if you feel the need). That makes them both easier to read and understand, and helps structure the process of making the estimates.
5) Avoid speculations and guesswork as much as humanly possible, rely on quantitative data. That way we can clearly separate what we actually know from what we only believe to know. Also, try to make an assessment of the error margins of your estimates, if possible.
6) Don’t debate on this thread. You can, however, post a different size figure for an animal for which one has already been posted here, provided you follow the aforementioned rules (in fact, that is probably better than just debating, as it forces people to show rigorous methods and verifiable data, instead of unquantifiable, unverifiable statements that often make up a substantial portion of debates). That way, updates can be given or different results pointed out. In that case, please also provide a link to the other size estimate with the post so people can compare them.
If there end up being a sufficiently large number of posts on this thread, we can make an inventory here
In order to ensure scientific quality, legibility, and verifiability I propose some rules:
1) Primary data (e.g. measurements) should be from a reliable source (technical literature, websites or blogs of demonstrably credible individuals). Estimates can be your own (as long as based on solid data), summarizing (or refining, if there are perceived problems with it) an estimate from the literature, or estimates dug up from other threads on here.
2) Use sources, and cite them. That means at least author/year and title of a paper should be given, and/or a direct link (but please a stable one, like a doi or jstor permalink). It should be as easy as possible to verify the information provided.
3) Explain your methods, or the methods of your source. This is to make sure results can be reproduced.
4) Structure your post. I would suggest a formal outline with materials, methods, results, discussion (and summary if you feel the need). That makes them both easier to read and understand, and helps structure the process of making the estimates.
5) Avoid speculations and guesswork as much as humanly possible, rely on quantitative data. That way we can clearly separate what we actually know from what we only believe to know. Also, try to make an assessment of the error margins of your estimates, if possible.
6) Don’t debate on this thread. You can, however, post a different size figure for an animal for which one has already been posted here, provided you follow the aforementioned rules (in fact, that is probably better than just debating, as it forces people to show rigorous methods and verifiable data, instead of unquantifiable, unverifiable statements that often make up a substantial portion of debates). That way, updates can be given or different results pointed out. In that case, please also provide a link to the other size estimate with the post so people can compare them.
If there end up being a sufficiently large number of posts on this thread, we can make an inventory here