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[studentsmakemesleepy]

So, I hit the wrong link this morning and I noticed that there is very minor discussion pertaining to starting up the Job Hunt Wiki for the new season:  http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/EnglishLiterature

Just to get the ball rolling some, (as I'm a bit of a luddite in terms of wiki manipulation, but I love to use it!), does anyone want to set-up the wiki for this year's hunt? 

It seems like there have been a lot of questions about how solid/ not the jobs will be this season.  So, even though the ADE list doesn't come out for a little over a month, it might not be a bad time to start the appetizer menu en route to the main course.

And besides, the sooner the job hunt begins, the sooner the crazy, bordering upon insane, forum posts start rolling in (and those are great fun to respond to in between classes!  I seem to recall one from some named ahastar that went on for months...  Ah... good times :)). 

To arms!  To arms!  Let the hunt begin!

--SMMS

[zombie]

Blech.  Wiki, Shmicki.  :)

[smirky]

Awesome. I cannot believe I am going on the market AGAIN. I thought one would get a job and stay put until the bitter end. I'll see you all on the wiki...!

[smirky]

Sorry. No, I can't set it up. I could fiddle with it but I might really ruin what there already is. In my field, books are still a new invention.

[alliterativerevival]

Since people are asking about this topic:

So, I'm a panicker. And the last time I used an online board to track acceptances (that time to graduate school), it just about ruined my life--including the two days when I heard, authoritatively, that the program that had accepted me had already accepted everyone.

This is all sort of a preamble for my question: is there any conceivable professional disadvantage to my just ignoring the wiki?

[sugaree]

Since people are asking about this topic:

So, I'm a panicker. And the last time I used an online board to track acceptances (that time to graduate school), it just about ruined my life--including the two days when I heard, authoritatively, that the program that had accepted me had already accepted everyone.

This is all sort of a preamble for my question: is there any conceivable professional disadvantage to my just ignoring the wiki?

No, and in your case I would think it would be better to not look at it if you can resist. I began job searching (not MLA, but the just as bad AHA field) before the wiki really got going in our fields. Since then, I've applied for a few jobs and constantly forget that the wiki exists, so therefore I do not check. And I am much happier for it. No constant anxiety and wasting time updating the page every 20 minutes. Gah!

[zombie]

I have to say this.  Last year, I think the wiki made me shoot myself in the foot.  I know this is not necessarily indicative of everyone, and I might have done it anyway in any number of other ways, but I unfairly blame the wiki.  (Can't blame myself, that would be too grown up, right?)  :)

But I saw something on there that made me panic, and I emailed the committee (as an internal candidate, I figured I was kind of allowed).  I was OH SO wrong. 

At least one member of the committee found my email to be bad.  The rest of the committee didn't mind, but that one member was fairly powerful, and I still have to deal with the issue, which might even affect my chances THIS year. 

It's my own fault.  I must learn to, as the forum puts it STFU.  But the wiki really did cause me anxiety.  It might relieve many people's anxiety.  But one must use it very, very carefully. 

The fact that I was internal makes a difference, I know.  I would never have emailed a committee somewhere else, and that does change things a bit.  But the panic that I felt when I saw other people had MLA interviews was just too much to take.  And that panic I think is part of the wiki's basic vibe. 

Just relax.  Don't check wiki every five seconds.  Don't check email every five seconds.  Send out your packets and FORGET ABOUT THEM.  That worked so much better for me for the other job I didn't get last year.  I just got over it.  If they want you they want you.  If they don't, the wiki will not help. 

[airball]

Since people are asking about this topic:

So, I'm a panicker. And the last time I used an online board to track acceptances (that time to graduate school), it just about ruined my life--including the two days when I heard, authoritatively, that the program that had accepted me had already accepted everyone.

This is all sort of a preamble for my question: is there any conceivable professional disadvantage to my just ignoring the wiki?

It is surely a mixed blessing. It gives the user a sense of community (however dysfunctional), and can give you a general sense of how a search is going.

That said, there are real problems:

• Checking the Wiki can become addictive faster than mainlining high-quality heroin.
• There is no guarantee that the information is any good. Last year I watched the Wiki for a search we were running, and people posted things about the search that were simply untrue.
• It is a gathering place for the desperate and neurotic, and going there will make you one of them.

That said, I have to think that anything that gets more information out there is a good thing. If SCs used it as a place to post search updates, it could actually do some good in the world.

airball

[jacaranda_]

I agree with posters here about the fact that the wiki can make you a bit crazy.  But I've done a job search without it, and I much prefer having some information on hand, even if it feels like trying to read entrails some days.

One potentially positive impact of the site is that I believe it may discourage some bad behavior on the part of search committees, simply because there is a public forum for reporting about things that happen during the search process.  Or to put it more nicely, the accountability factor may encourage greater sensitivity and politeness on the part of SC members.

Possible case in point:  when I was on the job market, one of the departments I applied to (very large, high-profile state university) received a torrent of sarcasm and critical comments from wiki posters after HR sent out the first round of impersonal rejections by email.  Some of the responses were clearly over-the-top, and I'm sure it was embarrassing for the department.  I ended up interviewing with them at MLA but was not chosen for a campus visit.  However, I received a personal phone call from the SC Chair, who left a thoughtful, detailed voicemail for me to indicate their admiration for my work, even though I wasn't a campus finalist.  I was floored.  That sort of thing has never happened to me on the job market after MLA interviews.  Now I don't know for certain if those two "events" are connected, but I wouldn't be surprised.  This is all just to say that the wiki site may have some positive influence on the overall dynamic between SCs and applicants.  Some SC chairs have started posting updates themselves on the wiki as the search progresses, which is really the best possible trend.   

[charlie00]

Since people are asking about this topic:



That said, there are real problems:

• Checking the Wiki can become addictive faster than mainlining high-quality heroin.
• There is no guarantee that the information is any good. Last year I watched the Wiki for a search we were running, and people posted things about the search that were simply untrue.
• It is a gathering place for the desperate and neurotic, and going there will make you one of them.

That said, I have to think that anything that gets more information out there is a good thing. If SCs used it as a place to post search updates, it could actually do some good in the world.

airball

Some scary comments out there. So should we all forget about Wiki?

[airball]

Some scary comments out there. So should we all forget about Wiki?

Seriously? No. Just remember what it is: a website upon which any idiot can post anonymously.

[studentsmakemesleepy]

Crikey!

And here I thought this thread would die on the vine!

But, to answer any discussion on the wiki:  better the devil you know than the devil you don't (The pessimi-pragmatist in him says.).  Just as long as any reader of the wiki realizes that it is nothing more than wikiality, it is an invaluable resource for looking, albeit a slight glance, into the mind of the market and the search committee. 

Methinks that, no matter how much we bemoan the search process, it will never really improve.  Thus, we must improve our own capacity to try and see through the process.  Alone, we are relatively blind, but together we can put all our minor knowledges together and almost see what goes on. 

...at least until some peckerhead tries to subvert our efforts!

--SMMS

[airball]

There were a few searches last year in which the SCC used the Wiki to communicate with the candidate pool. Perhaps to let potential vandals and fibbers know that misinformation would be corrected, perhaps just to reduce pressure by saying, "Hey, we're not meeting to choose our short list until next week, so chill the fork out."

airball

[smirky]

Some scary comments out there. So should we all forget about Wiki?

Seriously? No. Just remember what it is: a website upon which any idiot can post anonymously.

Yep. I am an idiot and I posted today.

[studentsmakemesleepy]

Some scary comments out there. So should we all forget about Wiki?

Seriously? No. Just remember what it is: a website upon which any idiot can post anonymously.

Yep. I am an idiot and I posted today.

And the idiots shall inherit the earth (at least I think that might be the state of American politics :) *oooooooooh, he went there!  Bad, SMMS, bad!*)...  But seriously folks, the first *official* ADE list just came out!  Tis time to start the wiki and let our anxieties slowly eat us alive!

--Three cheers for ulcer season... hiring season!