New moderator

[ElDuderino]

I would like to announce that I have promoted Archivist to moderator. Those who have read this board over the years are familiar with how valuable archivist's posts have been, and as such I believe this is a great addition to the forum's moderation.

[Archivist]

For the most part, I intend to follow the hands-off approach set by ElDuderino regarding moderation. I have found most of the members of this community to be very respectful, mature, and remarkably helpful with their advice and information. While some discussions get uncomfortable at times, I'm very pleased that very few require active intervention due to breaking the very few rules that have been established for this forum.

I have a pretty low tolerance, however, for posts that invite inspection of the credentials for adjuncts or VAPs currently employed at hiring institutions. These rumors (always supplied anonymously and often completely unsubstantiated beyond the mere presence of faculty member in a department) serve little purpose for other candidates. These rumors can, however, cause much distress for those who are all but named in this forum. I won't hesitate to err on the side of protecting applicants from public scrutiny, and I even consider comments like "this looks like it will be an inside hire" to be crossing the line.

Also note that I get annoyed when status threads get hijacked by meta-issues that have little to do with a specific institution or position. The two topics that seem to attract the most strident opinions include VAP fears (again) and pedigree/prestige issues. ("Will Berkeley hire anybody who doesn't have a PhD from a top-ten graduate school?") When these discussions make the leap from localized to global considerations of the contemporary job market, I'll probably make a suggestion that we move on and continue talking about these issues somewhere in a "General > Misc. Job Market Discussion" thread. Moderators, of course, always have the option to simply lock a thread for twenty-four hours or so until some passions subside.

As always, feel free to discuss moderation decisions or to make suggestions that will help make these boards work better for you.

[Archivist]

On December 5th, 2013, El Duderino promoted me to be a moderator of this forum. And in the last ten years I have reviewed every post made on this site. With just a few exceptions, such as during travel with spotty internet connections, I have generally seen what is going here every single day. Beyond El Duderino, nobody actually knows that I have been doing this work over the years — not my colleagues, not my spouse or children, not my closest friends. It's been a very strange "secret life" to live, an odd labor of love.

One week after being promoted to be a moderator, I created the "Moderation Notes" thread. And over the years I have logged a comment for every single set of posts in which I have intervened, maintaining an archive of the issues that have arisen. (I have also "reported" posts that are obvious spamming or trolling to maintain a record of them, and those generally get deleted without comment.) And while I am fearful of jinxing this board, I am amazed to report that the "Moderation Notes" thread contains a record of only 29 sets of posts that have required these actions over the past ten years. Since January of 2020, I have only witnessed 12 issues arise that have required moderation.

I am truly impressed by the culture of this community, one whose population is inherently constantly changing. My guess is that very few individuals who first read the announcement in this thread when it was initially posted are still around today. This culture has endured through the rise (and eventual fall) of "the other board." The ethos of supporting each other through the incredibly stressful period of job seeking has remained a constant through economic highs and lows, persisting through the relative hiring boom around 2015 and the more recent pandemic years.

I am taking this opportunity to thank El Duderino for entrusting me with the responsibility to moderate this forum, and to thank all of the participants in these discussions — past, present, and future — for promoting a sense of solidarity and open discussion to anonymously share information about the professional sociology job market. I truly wish that all institutions would be more transparent about the status of their searches, that they would use their application portals to provide accurate and informative updates to help all candidates know where they stand. I would like nothing more than to see their practices become more humane, making this forum obsolete. But until then ...

I cannot guarantee that I will be staying in this role for another ten years. My own career has advanced in (positive) ways that I couldn't really imagine when I first accepted this assignment. I'm busy. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, but one never knows what the future will bring. And to be honest, any internet site (or site moderator) that sticks around for ten-plus years with volunteer labor is a pretty remarkable achievement in its own right. Let's see how long we can all keep this going.

And I want to thank you for indulging me with this reflection. It was really by chance that I happened to stumble upon this post on the exact anniversary of my promotion to moderator; I had not been planning on writing this note. I just want all of you to know that I am grateful I am for all of the thoughtful contributions and supportive energy you have provided in this strange little corner of the internets. The job market sucks, no doubt. But if nothing else, this site helps confirm that we are not alone in our suffering and our triumphs.

Best wishes to all as we try to make better lives for ourselves and to make some positive contributions to the public good.

[appreciative]

Thank you, Archivist, for the all the work you do promoting and maintaining this supportive culture. We have seen that the stress and anonymity can steer things in a different direction.

I share your wish that our institutions wouldn't create the information vacuum that creates the need for this board. But since they do, I am so glad that this board is here and able to facilitate such a supportive and cooperative exchange of information.