Hi Luke,

I think you are correct that SI has an image problem, and I agree that it's at least partially due to academic norm violations (and partially due to the personalities involved). And partially due to the fact that out of possible social organizations, SI most readily maps to a kind of secular cult, where a charismatic leader extracts a living from his followers.

If above is seen as a problem in need of correcting then some possibilities for change include:

(a) Adopting mainstream academic norms strategically. (b) Competing in the "mainstream marketplace of ideas" by writing research grant proposals.