Target audience of this forum

[adel9216]

Hello, is this forum meant for faculty only or can I post questions as a PhD student? Is there a specific section for doctoral students? I really don't want to intrude if it's not my place to be here.

Thanks,

[Parasaurolophus]

Anyone who's inclined to join is welcome, but we're primarily an academic forum, and thus mostly targeted to people working in the academy (or who have left, but previously had some stake in it).

Graduate students are most welcome! We used to have a separate board for them, but it wasn't very active so on this new site we've consolidated it into the others. Post away, wherever seems most appropriate to you.

[fast_and_bulbous]

Hello, is this forum meant for faculty only or can I post questions as a PhD student? Is there a specific section for doctoral students? I really don't want to intrude if it's not my place to be here.

Thanks,

Kind of a strange question from someone with 54 posts, many of which were questions posted as a PhD student...

Of course you can ask questions as a PhD student. You can ask questions as anyone, really, but if it's not higher ed related it belongs in the general discussion forum.

[adel9216]

Hello, is this forum meant for faculty only or can I post questions as a PhD student? Is there a specific section for doctoral students? I really don't want to intrude if it's not my place to be here.

Thanks,

Kind of a strange question from someone with 54 posts, many of which were questions posted as a PhD student...

Of course you can ask questions as a PhD student. You can ask questions as anyone, really, but if it's not higher ed related it belongs in the general discussion forum.

Hello, I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.

[adel9216]

Anyone who's inclined to join is welcome, but we're primarily an academic forum, and thus mostly targeted to people working in the academy (or who have left, but previously had some stake in it).

Graduate students are most welcome! We used to have a separate board for them, but it wasn't very active so on this new site we've consolidated it into the others. Post away, wherever seems most appropriate to you.

Thanks.

[ergative]

Hello, is this forum meant for faculty only or can I post questions as a PhD student? Is there a specific section for doctoral students? I really don't want to intrude if it's not my place to be here.

Thanks,

Kind of a strange question from someone with 54 posts, many of which were questions posted as a PhD student...

Perhaps someone was unkind or brusque, and made adel9216 feel unwelcome. We can be a crotchety lot.

[mamselle]

Adele, just for follow-up, how has your advisor responded in the various situations in which you were pre-screening for advice this summer?

It helps us as well as you to know how reliable the hive-mind here is, and--without being too detailed, might help you see where you can anticipate issues and where you can't.

Any crotchetiness might have been related to the sense that you weren't picking up on the repeated cues that your questions were at times either too specific, or too general, for people to help with, without the input of those who, like an advisor, know the balance of issues as well as the details.

In many cases, the only possible answer is, "it depends," and wait to see how things play out.

That's in itself something you're expected to learn in grad settings: to make accurate generalizations (about repeated, similar answers, here) from the given data, and recognize a transcendent issue from a single, seemingly isolated one.

I hope your semester has started well.

M.

P.S. Related thought, maybe, in addition to the "Fora Guide to the Galaxy" thread on "When do you call the SC post-interview? Almost never!" we need one on "The care and feeding of new grad students"

(And maybe another for postdocs, since the gestational period to first-job birth is lengthening in all fields, even the humanities...)

Meant pastorally, I'm not being snarky here. We seem to have grown a caregiving dimension that seeks to be responsible, honest, and unblinkered by petty political motivations.

That's apparently much needed at present.

M.

[larryc]

This forum is for people who are pretending to be professors online. In real life, we are mostly Uber drivers, with some construction workers and sex providers mixed in.

[ergative]

This forum is for people who are pretending to be professors online. In real life, we are mostly Uber drivers, with some construction workers and sex providers mixed in.

Don't forget the occasional novelist writing books about werewolves on campus!

[adel9216]

Adele, just for follow-up, how has your advisor responded in the various situations in which you were pre-screening for advice this summer?

Hello, he has said for the most part that I need to focus on classes during the first year. There will be presentations and publications opportunities this year through my research assistantship, I am meeting the team of graduate students and him on Friday to discuss this further. Yes, my semester started well, I am just reading quite dense texts that I am not used to, but otherwise, it's going well so far.

Thank you for asking.

[adel9216]

This forum is for people who are pretending to be professors online. In real life, we are mostly Uber drivers, with some construction workers and sex providers mixed in.

lol

[mamselle]

Adele, just for follow-up, how has your advisor responded in the various situations in which you were pre-screening for advice this summer?

Hello, he has said for the most part that I need to focus on classes during the first year. There will be presentations and publications opportunities this year through my research assistantship, I am meeting the team of graduate students and him on Friday to discuss this further. Yes, my semester started well, I am just reading quite dense texts that I am not used to, but otherwise, it's going well so far.

Thank you for asking.

Glad it's working out.

Remember to take a dance break every now and again, when the reading gets too dense.

(Dance is my Rx for everything...unless you can visit France...in which case you should do both...)

M.

[adel9216]

Adele, just for follow-up, how has your advisor responded in the various situations in which you were pre-screening for advice this summer?

Hello, he has said for the most part that I need to focus on classes during the first year. There will be presentations and publications opportunities this year through my research assistantship, I am meeting the team of graduate students and him on Friday to discuss this further. Yes, my semester started well, I am just reading quite dense texts that I am not used to, but otherwise, it's going well so far.

Thank you for asking.

Glad it's working out.

Remember to take a dance break every now and again, when the reading gets too dense.

(Dance is my Rx for everything...unless you can visit France...in which case you should do both...)

M.

Good advice, thanks!


PS: I just want also to mention to the users of this forum, that one of the reasons why I am not posting much is that I often feel like I don't have the knowledge nor the experience to respond to the threads. I read a lot more than post.

[polly_mer]

PS: I just want also to mention to the users of this forum, that one of the reasons why I am not posting much is that I often feel like I don't have the knowledge nor the experience to respond to the threads. I read a lot more than post.

That's fine. 

Threads aren't just for the person who started with the question, which is why sometimes the response to the OP who gets shirty about undesired responses will be "No one controls a thread" or "We're writing for the next person who has a similar question".

[marshwiggle]

PS: I just want also to mention to the users of this forum, that one of the reasons why I am not posting much is that I often feel like I don't have the knowledge nor the experience to respond to the threads. I read a lot more than post.

That's fine. 

Threads aren't just for the person who started with the question, which is why sometimes the response to the OP who gets shirty about undesired responses will be "No one controls a thread" or "We're writing for the next person who has a similar question".

IIRC, on most forums on the Internet, the ratio of lurkers to posters is about 4 to 1, and the percentage of frequent posters is tiny. So I wouldn't expect this one to be any different.