Timeline for answer to How can we attract more grad students? by AT0
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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20 events
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| Mar 14, 2021 at 15:02 | comment | added | mme | FWIW I appreciated this discussion and it changed my point of view somewhat. I feel I have commented in an unwelcoming way in the past and am going to endeavor to change some of the ways I engage. Thanks for posting it. | |
| Feb 14, 2021 at 17:07 | history | edited | Martin Sleziak | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
minor typos
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| Jan 31, 2021 at 22:59 | comment | added | Ravi Vakil | Separate comment, also for AT0: Of course, the most vocal people are not representative, but also of course: you clearly can't know how nonrepresentative. If we want more smart people like you in math (not just you, but the hundreds you implicitly are a representative of), the onus is on us (the community) to attract people in! | |
| Jan 31, 2021 at 22:57 | comment | added | Ravi Vakil | AT0 said "maybe the community is not willing to be extra cuddling or accomodating to relieve this sort of thing. Perhaps Im in the minority." I actually think you are in a massive majority, but one that is not very noisy. And I think many in the community would prefer to be extra cuddling or accommodating (not in a creepy way! :-). I also fully am convinced by what you wrote on other points. It would be really great to hear what others like you thought. Don't worry about being in some minority --- I want to hear it. If they are shy about doing it, perhaps you could just quote them? | |
| Jan 29, 2021 at 1:58 | comment | added | Ben Webster Mod | Thanks for the nice answer. It's useful to have your perspective. | |
| Jan 29, 2021 at 0:22 | comment | added | Will Sawin | On a personal level, you should feel comfortable asking for clarification in comments. The comments are almost never a linear conversation, but a series of short conversations - you can just start a new one and ask for questions. People are almost never going to be annoyed by a question, and if they are it's easy for them to ignore it and move on. | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 18:28 | history | edited | Martin Sleziak | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
corrected some typos
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| Jan 28, 2021 at 16:24 | comment | added | AT0 | @YemonChoi Thank you. I think this is a good example of answers or comments that could be helpful in one context but not so much, or even pretty discouraging, in others. I certainly have witnessed similar things in questions Ive had and found here. | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 14:58 | comment | added | Yemon Choi | FWIW, while I think there is some merit in points raised by Francesco and Harry, I'd just like to assure you that I found your answer valuable and (speaking only for myself) it does make me wonder if more can be done to lessen the barrier or the off-putting gradient. It is not easy to speak up if an answer or comment comes across (deliberately or not) as unhelpful or dismissive - years ago I felt a bit chastened for asking a reference question for the character table of certain finite groups and being told "do it yourself it's good for you" | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 12:48 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | You said that answers are unhelpful, but you have to put some work in too. Leave a comment asking for more details etc. Francesco mentioned in another thread that the process of getting a good answer is dialectical. It's rare that an answer is perfect and perfectly clear on the first go. If you're confused, nobody will know if you don't speak for yourself (this is life advice too). | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 12:03 | comment | added | AT0 | @HarryGindi Well, I gave my perspective of why I think a lot of people that dont come here wont come here, its certainly part of why I avoid answering or raising questions. As I said a couple of times already, maybe the community is not willing to be extra cuddling or accomodating to relieve this sort of thing. Perhaps Im in the minority. | |
| Jan 28, 2021 at 10:33 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | If you don't like an answer or find it unhelpful, the onus is on you to ask for clarification. It doesn't always work out, but it's silly to fault the person who answered the question for not knowing your level of knowledge (and sometimes looking into an answer that you don't understand yet is a great way to learn new things). | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 11:23 | comment | added | AT0 | I agree that giving away a good question is inherent of this part of the job. I cant see any way of mitigating this from just within MathOverflow. Maybe something the community can do is somehow ( and I do not have a concrete suggestion for this ) make the risk more worth it. Im sure this site produces countless collaborations from q&a's , I dont know if this can be extra promoted in these situations. Just a thought. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 11:17 | comment | added | AT0 | My best suggestion is making an effort to identify the issues with the graduate students that wont come, my experience is maybe common but only one at the end of the day. Addressing what I said, tho, @MattF's idea. might be worthy of the community's consideration. Maybe it would be good to signal that a question comes from a non expert, and similarly that an answer is intended for an audience of experts ( or not ). I dont know if this sort of transparency/honesty might make the experience easier. But I understand if this is not something the community at large would want to implement. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 6:59 | comment | added | Francesco Polizzi | [...] But this is a risk inherent the scientific research: if you work alone, you feel isolated while, as soon as you talk about your work with your colleagues, someone might show you that your problem can become trivial when you look at it from a different point of view. I'm afraid that's what life is all about, and one of the skills that a researcher should develop is to transform this apparently negative situation in a positive one (by learning some new math, for instance). Of course, I'm aware that this can be stressful when one is completing their Ph.D. or just entered the job market. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 6:43 | comment | added | Francesco Polizzi | Thank you for the nice and thoughtful answer. Could you please provide some suggestions about the changes the community could make? Regarding the fear of asking questions, we can surely try to act in order to reduce the "facing the crowd" perception (and I think this was partially done in the last years). However, I do not see any obvious way to reduce the fear of "give away a good question or partial work". It can surely happen that a couple-of-months project is answered very quickly here, because there are many experts in several fields [to be continued] | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 4:41 | comment | added | user44143 | If people here wrote answers and comments for an implied audience of graduate students, rather than an implied audience of PhDs, would that make a significant difference? That’s the biggest idea I get from your answer for the title question of how MO can attract more graduate students,. Or do you have other suggestions for that title question? | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 1:17 | comment | added | S. Carnahan Mod | Thank you for taking the time to share your view so thoroughly. | |
| Jan 27, 2021 at 0:24 | history | edited | AT0 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 27, 2021 at 0:07 | history | answered | AT0 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |