Dear Luke:
Thank you for compiling this list of woes. May I say that overall, I am very happy with the PhD Design list. Nearly everyone, most of the time, is helpful and has something interesting to say. I can even see past the odd times people come across as dogmatic or blunt: it is my experience that writing (and writing quickly) can amplify characteristics which, in speech, would be nuanced and softened down. That is why I tend to 'phone people if I have a real problem.
The only "problem" I have with the list of problems is that it over-amplifies the extent that the 12 things are unwelcome features of the discussion. You can compile a list of problems for a 5-star hotel but it is still a five-star hotel.
I could also say that some them are talking points which we need to discuss and not class as problems to be dodged.
Things which are a nuisance are:
1. Excessive posting of conference calls, jobs advertisements and self-promotion ((mea culpa - I have advertised my conference but also found participants from the list!))
2. Lack of discussion of practical issues of PhD candidature and examination ((fully agree))
3. Lack of information on post-doctoral fellowships and academic job opportunities (does this not conflict with Number 1?)
4. Insufficient discussion of supervision of PhD candidates and examination of theses ((agree)).
The rest of make their appearance now and again but don´t predominate:
5. Lack of tolerance for a wide range of views in mailing list discussions ((some writers can be a bit blunt but I think this is the effect of writing rather than speaking and is probably not intentional))
6. Insufficient attention to moral and political issues in mailing list discussions ((does this not conflict with number 7, below))
7.Capture of the PHD-Design mailing list by interest groups with political rather than scientific goals ((I haven´t detected any "denialists" or markedly left or right wing views. Did I miss something. I am quite left wing, by the way))
8. Marginalization of feminist, racial, and/or non-Western views in mailing list culture ((there may not be enough of these views and I admit I may have a scotoma about these since I am a white, Western male))
9. Harmful effects of careless reasoning on the quality of mailing list discussions ((the discussion and responses tend to home in on real dodgy reasoning to sort it out but I think mostly people are quite polite about it))
10. Excessive emphasis on issues of diversity in mailing list discussions ((I can´t a spot this))
11. Excessive discussion of issues of sexism and argumentation style in PHD-Design list culture ((this issue came up and I think it was good to handle it))
12. Continued dominance of the ‘scientific’ worldview in mailing list discussions ((that is a discussion point for the forum and not a problem of the forum))
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