Now they’ve launched their expensive and wasteful pet project, can the AEA return to its core mission and fix the ethical problems at its journals?
What ethical problems at its journals? Everything is fine.
MIT Bro
True. The costs were negligible tons of open source stuff out there to use. Will EconSpark actually takeoff? That remains to be seen
A little looking reveals that it's an integration of a popular open source forum system, reskinned with the AEA's site design.
The cost to implement a discussion forum is negligible for an organization like the AEA, which already has a website and other IT infrastructure in place.Does anyone know how much of our dues money was spent to develop this thing?
True. The costs were negligible tons of open source stuff out there to use. Will EconSpark actually takeoff? That remains to be seen
A little looking reveals that it's an integration of a popular open source forum system, reskinned with the AEA's site design.
The cost to implement a discussion forum is negligible for an organization like the AEA, which already has a website and other IT infrastructure in place.Does anyone know how much of our dues money was spent to develop this thing?
Yeah dumbass, it remains to be seen. Just like it technically remains to be seen whether a ball you throw up in the air will come down.
I'm looking forward someday to a healthy relationship between EJMR, the Reddit Econ fellas, Sparkie, the Twitter hashtag, and everyone else in the space. Why can't we all just get along.
Let's all sing a song of math and measurements together, across the platforms.
Assume the competitor does not exist.
Two questions for EconSpark, but I'm not going to register because of my perceived likelihood of retaliation or shunning if I were to register and post and ever be known:
-How do one's advisors' "connections" work in the job market? Can they or have they in the past been used to get students interviews, or placements? Can having a well-known and successful advisor be good for you on the job market because they can put pressure on colleagues to give you a shot (interview) or seriously consider you for hiring (after flyout when being weighed against other candidates)? Is this how we think things should work in the profession?
-Why does the Economics job market not have a two-sided deferred acceptance matching process (or some version of it) like the medical residency market? Given that Al Roth is the AEA president, can't we come up with something better? Or do we think that this is about as efficient as it gets?
-Why does the Economics job market not have a two-sided deferred acceptance matching process (or some version of it) like the medical residency market? Given that Al Roth is the AEA president, can't we come up with something better? Or do we think that this is about as efficient as it gets?
Weren't signaling and the scramble, products of Roth's years on the JOE committee, the first steps toward this?
From the AEA's forum terms of service, among other clauses that appear to address the rest of your points:
"...We also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of legal action arising from any message posted by you. "
That language is what you are referring to? It seems fairly standard and I'll bet that your "professional" systems have the same or similar language.If they had guaranteed anonymity it might have. Instead of having a moderation policy they have written that they are free to reveal your identity if they choose to do so.
Professional registration based forums don't run that way. Nearly all of them promise privacy in their clauses, when you give things like email. What they do have is a moderation policy that actually bans disruptive members.
Most forums don't require me to give my actual name and let me to use throw away emails. With the aea, they have my actual affiliation, I pay dues etc. So yes I think the lack of separation between their forum and my identity is a big deterrent from using the site for anything that might have a negative impact on me. Especially since this is initiative an organization that controls 8 journals that are all valued in this profession.
I think there is a place for the site though and it's a lot like test magic. Things like threads about specific job markets are probably something that could take off there because there is identity verifiability. I'd be much more likely to trust x, y , z institutions favor this over that when people's names are behind it.
I don't think the stuff that comes up about who is moving where and professional gossip can really thrive there.