Several people post on here a lot, but why are they noticed. prominent poster 1: 9 posts in May prominent poster 2: 12 posts in May
Yes, I actually sat down and counted. So, if you find 12 posts over 28 days to be inundated, I suggest you abandon email!!! This is a listserv, there are going to be exchanges. If you don't like it, you need to use a filter. That is what I do. Anyway, Most young biologists come out of graduate school thinking that everything works as it did at their school or in their grad program and that all PHDs are far more intelligent and educated in most matters than are they. It is important for them to discover even the finest of scientists is not all-knowing, but all have opinions on what is correct/incorrect, appropriate/inappropriate, fair/unfair, &c. I personally came to this while serving as an editor for three different journals over a decade and a half. I remember receiving a paper form a well-known ecologist and upon receiving it, opened it up to see some of the worst writing I've ever seen. This shocked me, and I spoke with my then PHD advisor about it. He informed me that this was not unusual, and I have now learned that writing is something almost everyone struggles with, so we all need to work on it. Likewise, on listserves I am sometimes shocked at statements made by highly accomplished widely cited ecologists who should know better, and impressed with comments by the inexperienced or unknown. I am very happy that ECOLOG has that verification of posts, sometimes I look back at a post I made and realize I completely insulted someone by miswording a comment. On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 9:48 AM, lmsconsulting <[email protected]> wrote: > I am in full agreement with Tom. When interacting with biology students and > graduates, i have asked if they belong to the ECOLOG list for it is a good > venue for job postings. Most young biologists have shaken their heads and > told me that the number of jobs posted and "real" interactions, such as > posters needing advice on project etc, is not worth the number of emails they > have to delete from members that appear to need to soapbox so they can post > any random opinion of theirs would be noticed and then try to open a > discussion over it. > > In my belief, we would have a larger membership if these individuals could > contain themselves or those that want to dicuss their random opinions could > have their own "room" or such to discuss it in. > > I honestly am tired of a certain few here that continually do this at the > expense of all other members and their inboxes who may just not care what > your opinion on everything is. > > Linda > > -------- Original message -------- > From: "Thomas J. Givnish" <[email protected]> > Date: 05/28/2013 12:05 AM (GMT-06:00) > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ECOLOG-L] two suggestions re inundation by opinion pieces > > Gentlepeople – > > I would like to offer two suggestions. > > > First, we each restrict our commentary to topics about which we, as > individuals, are experts. > > > Second, each individual should restrict the number of commentaries offered > per month to the number of times that individual's publications were cited > during all of last year, according to ISI. > > > Generally, ECOLOG-L is consulted by grad students and post-docs looking for > jobs and informed advice about field techniques, analytical approaches, and > job hunting. ECOLOG-L serves those purposes well. But when a few individuals > repeatedly offer their opinions – which are frequently ill-informed – it > clogs up thousands of email boxes across the country, spreads misinformation, > and raises the hackles of people who know better and feel compelled to rebut > the errors. My two proposals, if self-policed, would eliminate all these > problems and insure that a larger share of the opinion traffic is solidly > based. Everyone is entitled to free speech, but if in a given month your > opinion comments exceed ALL of your field-wide citations from last year, > perhaps it's time to think about whether large numbers of folks want to hear > what you have to say, when you want to say it, as frequently as you would > like to say it. > > > Cheers, Tom > > Thomas J. Givnish > Henry Allan Gleason Professor of Botany > University of Wisconsin > > [email protected] > http://botany.wisc.edu/givnish/Givnish/Welcome.html -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry School of Biological Sciences University of Missouri at Kansas City Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. 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