Q: Why should I visit this site?
A: There is a very active discussion board among educated and passionate members, shown on the homepage. There is an anonymously editable job market wiki for every year’s hiring cycle. There is a journal wiki to provide public information about economics journal practices. There is also a conference wiki for providing information about upcoming conferences in the profession. All of these wikis are linked to in the header navigation of the site.
Q: Should I register?
A: Registration is optional but has many benefits:
- No need to fill in the captcha for posting / voting
- Access econjobrumors.com/me which has a summary of all your activity, including charts of your account performance
- Use favourites
- Higher Good/No Good limit per day
- Build up a reputation
- Have consistent identity across threads
- Edit your comments
- Take credit for threads/posts
Accounts that are edu verified and receive a high enough reputation will be offered moderation powers.
Q: I find some of the content on this site reprehensible! How can I avoid it?
A: Use the filters (the tabs right above the list of new posts on the homepage)! The Economics and Job Market forums are more actively monitored and moderated than the others (you can see the list of forums by either clicking the “filter” tab, or scrolling down to the bottom of the homepage). Almost all posts that are initially filed under the Economics forum but are "irrelevant" from an economics perspective are quickly moved to the "off topic" forum or deleted. Once you use the filters, you can select and de-select the forums of your choice, easily ignoring most of the other content.
Q: That's not good enough. Something is truly offensive and inappropriate. How do I get rid of it?
A: Posts that run afoul of the moderation policy will be removed. If you think there is a post that violates moderation policy, post a link in the "Request a thread to be deleted" thread, or if you wish to complain privately you can email Kirk at admin@poliscirumors.com who will keep your email confidential. Keep in mind Kirk and the mods do their best to keep a light hand in moderation, particularly in "Off Topic". The simple fact that a post offends you, or you believe a certain type of topic "doesn't belong on EJMR" is not sufficient reason to delete a post or thread.
Q: Can I post rumors about specific people?
A: Yes, but you should exercise some caution. Libel is illegal, and will be immediately removed once it reaches our attention. Disparaging comments about current job market candidates are strongly discouraged, especially if the comments mention topics and personal characteristics that are unrelated to the candidate's professional work. Comments regarding scholars and public figures with established careers are typically OK, as long as the discussion is not libelous or running afoul of items in the moderation policy (sexism, racism, etc).
Q: I'm an econ undergrad, a graduate student in another field, a lawyer, etc. Am I welcome to post here?
A: We can't stop you. But the primary purpose of the site is to facilitate discussion among economists with (or close to obtaining) advanced degrees, particularly those who are committed to a lifetime career in the field. Comments clearly illustrating that you do not have a background or ambitions of this type are typically frowned upon by the community, often vocally and less-than-politely. If you are an undergrad who is considering the profession, you are welcome to post here but you should also consider frequenting TestMagic. Boards similar to EJMR exist for Political Science, lawyers, sociologists, and so on. We welcome discussion, but we're mostly here to talk to each other.
Q: I want to add a line to the journal wiki, but I can’t find the journal in the drop-down list. What do I do?
A: Email a request to Kirk, or mention it in the "Request a thread” thread
Q: What does this acronym mean?
A: EJMR: Economics Job Market Rumors. This site. (PSR is the sister site, Poli Sci Rumors)
HRM, MRM, LRM, VLRM: (high/medium/low/very low) ranked monkey. Typically a disparaging way of referring to students from programs of varying rank.
OP: Original poster. The person making the first comment in a thread.
Many acronyms not defined here are obviously universities or journals in economics.
Q: Why do certain blogs keep self-promoting and linking their posts on EJMR?
A: It’s not self-promotion, there is a certain set of blogs where new posts are auto-posted as new EJMR threads, for the purpose of discussion. You can tell which posts have been auto-posted because 1) the OP has no 4-digit hexcode identifier, and 2) they are posted to the “from the blogs” forum. If you think there’s a good blog to add to the list, send a suggestion to Kirk.
Q: We’re all grown-ups here! Why are you censoring some words with asterisks and deleting posts containing other words?
A: A few reasons. The curse word censoring is mostly to satisfy Google’s search bot standards, so that EJMR can be more effectively indexed and visible on their site (and other similar services). Auto-deleted words tend to fall into two categories. The first category is sexually explicit language that is used primarily for trolling and personal abuse. This is consistent with the site’s moderation policy. The second category involves words that are commonly used for spambots (such as the name of the famous “little blue pill”).
Q: What's a moderator? What do they do? Who are they? How does someone become one?
A: A moderator (usually just "mod") has two powers more than a registered user. First, they can change the forum in which a thread has been posted. Second, they can delete. They can delete either individual posts or entire threads. Part of this deletion power is to see a list of flagged threads and to see a list of previously deleted threads. Another part of the deletion power is to remove questionable items from the job market wiki, and to approve or delete additions to the conference wiki.
Mods can NOT see ANY identifying information about posters, including and especially IPs. Kirk, the site administrator, has broader powers and information than the mods. This includes the ability to restore threads that were previously deleted and to grant moderation authority. If you are a registered member and your rep is high enough, Kirk may extend an invitation to you to become a mod.
Q: Have an idea for improving EJMR
A: Make a suggestion. Some of the best aspects of EJMR, including the Journal wiki, have come from suggestions made by users. If your idea is popular and feasible it will likely be added.
This FAQ made will be moderated much like the "Request a thread to be deleted" thread. If you want to suggest additions to the document, you can propose them below. If the suggestion is useful and gooded enough, we'll add it to the FAQ. Irrelevant comments will be removed relatively quickly, as will (eventually) suggestions that are controversial or not sufficiently general for a newcomer to the board.
Thanks to Dr Reg Monkey for suggesting this and writing 95% of the content