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| Bigger than Tingle's, How could it not be? |
Well, you crazzy mothers, you've done it again.
The gradkinder in my lab have a Twitter account we use to keep up with scheduling and projects. I followed the CM feed a few weeks ago and followed some of these supposedly onerous "conversations" with real life dumbfuck snowflakes.
In more than half the cases, the students REPLIED, often with LOL or HAHA or the all-encompassing "Thanx for the lulz."
It was actually good. It was actually a professor saying to kids, "Hey, don't be such a dumbass. Think about what you've just written." Even the poopypants kid "favorited" Terry P's comeback.
So, yes, we should definitely kill that. I mean, we don't want to do any fucking good. Let's instead insulate the blog, focus on attacking each other, and then academe will be on its knees to us.
Great Jesus in the Sky, forgive us for we truly know not what the fuck we're doing down here.
WWW
Bless you, brother Walt.
ReplyDeleteWhere have you been??
DeleteGood to see you, Cash. You owe me 17 bucks.
DeleteWalt FTWW!
ReplyDelete(for the wicked win)
I know Walter's schtick sometimes lapses into the "dick-swingery" category, but I truly always get a chuckle from him.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think in some small way he's even right about this issue.
Good to see that absolutely HORRIBLE avatar. It's a triumph that surely came from Cal, unless Walt you REALLY look like that. And I'm stealing "gradkinder." Love it.
My qualm with the twitter feed had absolutely nothing to do with the perceived "offensiveness" of the tweets (I didn't see any as offensive) or whether or not they were funny (they were) or whether or not we were "picking on specific students" (they posted publicly, so they deserve what they get).
ReplyDeleteMy qualm has to do with directing potentially hundreds or thousands of students to this blog. I think that's a bad idea. Not because I'm "ashamed" of anything I post, or anyone else posts, and not because I think I will be "outed". But because I deal with student stupidity all day and I really would rather not come to the blog and be faced with more of them saying "OMG U R SO MEEEEEEN!"
Which, potentially, is what would happen. The blog would become publicized to these idiots and some of them would come here to take their form of revenge for the smackdowns. Just ONE student with a burr under their saddle could make hanging out here annoying (it's happened before), and less of a refuge.
The other difficulty I have (which is a secondary one), is that on Twitter one person becomes the "face" of CM, and posts as CM. One person then speaks for all of us. This is fine if we all seem to agree that the posts are funny, not offensive, etc. Some of us don't. The fact that I think some CMers might be too sensitive at this point doesn't negate the fact that at some future date I might not appreciate what is being tweeted in the name of CM as well.
Which is why I think that CMers should adopt their own personas on Twitter and share those tweets here. "College Misery" might even be confusing to some students--because students feel "college misery" as well. Something like "MEANPROF" is not.
This is not the hill I want to die on. And I'm all for skewering over-18s that gleefully publicize their stupidity. I just think doing it in this particular way is unwise.
Hi Stella. Do you think even linking our postings to the 170 or so followers on Twitter is a bad idea? Do you think if we hashtagged the tweets with #collegeprofessor it might draw some other like-minded folks, or would you think its better for the blog to not have a Twitter at all?
Delete(A number of folks are weighing in on this via email, and I hope some of you will also comment here.)
Leslie K
??? I don't have a twitter account and I don't follow anyone on twitter. I don't really know how it "works", except that from what I've seen some people end up tweeting really stupid things that they're sorry for later.
DeleteI also wouldn't presume to tell mods whether or not we "should" be tweeting as CM. I'm just thinking about possible long-term consequences that might fall on the blog itself if we do that.
I'm all for bringing like-minded people here and publicizing the blog!
I hope our new policy won't be a problem for any community members. I posted something a bit ago and am happy to listen to feedback.
Delete"Which is why I think that CMers should adopt their own personas on Twitter and share those tweets here. "College Misery" might even be confusing to some students--because students feel "college misery" as well. Something like "MEANPROF" is not."
ReplyDeleteI LIKE that idea!
And of course, HorribleMeanieProf is definitely no confusing to students.
DeleteFwiw, I don't think linking is a bad idea. Even if there is a bump in traffic here b/c of exposure in the Twitterverse, I would posit that any ill effects will be somewhat transitory, as the bad actors will likely get easily bored & outgunned, while kindred spirits could be welcomed & will stay once they see the whole geist...
ReplyDeleteBut, then I could just be striking a blow against my own introverted, isolationist demons here...
I say we give Wicked Walter WHATEVER WICKED WALTER WANTS.
ReplyDeleteWalter wants to hear some Foghat.
DeleteThere's never enough Foghat.
DeleteWalt, we've been trying to kill it since the old days.
ReplyDeleteHook 'em horns, baby, and keep those grad students working to pay for all your ammunition.
You Maniacs! You blew it up!
ReplyDelete