There is no shame in making a mistake, but there still needs to be accountability.
My recent factcheck about the number of childhood strokes in Australia per year has prompted a webpage to disappear:
https://www.mcri.edu.au/brilliantminds/Dr-Mark-Mackay
Luckily it was archived on the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220328073355/https://www.mcri.edu.au/brilliantminds/Dr-Mark-Mackay
Let me make a point that there is no shame in making a mistake. The good Doctor’s estimate of 3 to 10 childhood strokes per year is surely inflated, as the higher figure is derived from the estimate of the percentage of strokes in infants under 1 year of age, and really is a mistake of fact.
Where the shame occurs is in hiding the mistake afterwards.
Once upon a time, we used to read printed books and magazines. Once something was printed in a book, it was there for all to see, for all eternity, as long as one single copy of the book survived.
On the internet, when someone says something, it is there until it is removed.
What we need is a system of keeping track of the changes - if someone makes a mistake, it needs to be acknowledged on the website afterwards. Websites are not reliable for getting information from, if the information suddenly disappears afterwards.
Let me add that we rely on experts not to always be right, because everyone makes mistakes, but to correct their mistakes when they realise they have made them, because that is science.
PS It is always possible I am wrong. If so please comment on the page and I will gladly correct my mistakes, and apologise most humbly as well.