[GAP Forum] A response to the September 12 blog by Igor Pak

[Eamonn O'Brien]

Dear Forum,

On Sep 12, Igor Pak posted a blog entitled "How NOT to reference papers".

A link to the original post is https://archive.today/IXYfZ
The current updated version is
http://igorpak.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/how-not-to-reference-papers/

The blog states:
> I am going to tell a story of one paper and its authors which 
> misrepresented my paper and  refused to acknowledge the fact. It’s 
> also a story about the section editor of Journal of Algebra which 
> published that paper and then ignored my complaints.

As an observer (and unsolicited recipient) of all of the related 
correspondence during the past 8 months, I prepared a detailed response 
to the blog's claims. On September 17, I posted the following comment to 
the blog:

> A comprehensive record of the related interchange between Professor 
> Pak and (i) Professor Niemeyer [one of the authors discussed in the 
> blog] and (ii) Editors of the Journal of Algebra, together with a 
> brief commentary by me on claims made here, is available at 
> www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~obrien/response.pdf

Professor Pak responded later on the 17th as follows:
> I saw your comment, but did not allow it. My blog post became
> outrageously popular with thousands of people reading it, and dozens
>  commenting on it.  Since some of the comments are rather ridiculous
>  (some giving thumbs up, welcoming me to some anti-establishment crowd,
>  while some claiming libel, chauvinism, etc.) I prohibited all of them
>  on the blog. 

I regret this decision by Igor, since I believe that the matter under 
discussion can best be understood and assessed by others by making the 
entire content of the email exchange available publicly. The extracts 
used in the blog are often selective and devoid of context. Hence I take 
the unusual action of sending this email to advise those interested that 
my planned post - with some material over which Professor Pak asserts 
his copyright deleted at his formal request -- is available at

www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~obrien/response.pdf

I provide the link to the original blog because the public version has 
been edited by Professor Pak to reflect information learned from his 
reading my proposed response.

Best wishes.
Eamonn O'Brien