An important part of the BMJ's business is to question assumptions. Mostly this is done in a well mannered way, but sometimes we hit a raw nerve and emotion breaks through.

This happened last week over our head to head debate on whether there should be a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The associated poll produced an unprecedented number of votes and the flavour of the debate can be gauged in our Observations section, together with the editor's response on why we published the debate (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39294.443264.59). Most of the correspondents quoted have engaged with the arguments, but others in rapid responses and in direct emails have not, choosing to focus on our right to host the debate.

In …