Applying simple linear regression models, an economist analysed a published dataset from an influential annual ranking in 2016 and 2017 of consumer outlets for Dutch New Herring and concluded that the ranking was manipulated. His finding was promoted by his university in national and international media, and this led to public outrage and ensuing discontinuation of the survey. We reconstitute the dataset, correcting errors and exposing features already important in a descriptive analysis of the data. The economist has continued his investigations, and in a follow-up publication repeats the same accusations. We point out errors in his reasoning and show that alleged evidence for deliberate manipulation of the ranking could easily be an artefact of specification errors. Temporal and spatial factors are both important and complex, and their effects cannot be captured using simple models, given the small sample sizes and many factors determining perceived taste of a food product.

翻译：一位经济学家运用简单线性回归模型，分析了2016年与2017年某权威年度排名中关于荷兰新鲱鱼消费者网点的公开数据集，并得出结论认为该排名存在操纵行为。其所在大学通过国内外媒体宣传了这一发现，引发公众哗然，最终导致该调查终止。我们重构了该数据集，修正了错误并揭示了数据描述性分析中已显现的重要特征。该经济学家持续开展调查，并在后续发表的出版物中重申了相同指控。我们指出其推理中的错误，并论证所谓蓄意操纵排名的证据，实则可能是模型设定错误导致的人为假象。时空因素均具重要性与复杂性，且鉴于样本量有限及影响食品感知风味的诸多变量，简单模型无法捕捉其效应。