"...too good to be true"

An anonymous comment to the previous post says: I guess it was too good to be true. Oh well.

I have to disagree with a few aspects of that comment.
1. The phrase "too good to be true" seems to imply that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker rediscovery was false and that the people who say they saw the bird lied.

2. I'm not ready to say that the ornithologists and birders who say they saw an ivory-bill lied, because I'm not ready to impugn their birding skills and their study of the bird, which began 30 years ago in some cases.

3. If I was ready to impugn their skills and expertise, I wouldn't do so with an anonymous comment. I'd stand behind that statement, put my name to it and risk the feedback, just as those ornithologists and birders risked their reputations -- and their careers? -- by saying they saw a bird long thought to be extinct.

4. Anonymous comments no longer appear here. If we feel strongly enough about something to publish it on the Internet, we can identify ourselves and take responsibility for our comments. Doing so could reduce the level of snarkiness that's invaded the debate about the IBWO rediscovery.