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Overtooting?

By: Qwaider

On:Thursday, May 21, 2009 8:43:00 PM
In:Thoughts
Viewed: (4247) times

Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
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Rated 4.5/5 stars (86 votes cast)

Couple of weeks ago, I talked about over-succeeding. But on the flip side there is such a thing as over-tooting, over celebrating, over showing off, over promoting.

If you work with people in Academia, this appears to be clearer than other places. But rest assured, it's everywhere.

Someone would just publish a paper on how to do something trivial, stupid, or unimportant... Few years later, you find people coming to the office with champagne bottles and confetti celebrating the ratification of the new method of tying shoes as a new ISO standard. Then the long and boring congratulatory emails on how amazing someone's brain farts were...

Then you go to read the new "breakthrough" and it turns out to be nothing more than a horribly written paper on something that anyone with half a brain would have done on their own!

What surprises me more is how some people go the extra mile to get some exposure on less than mediocre work. Then comes dumb management types who understand nothing, but hear the big organization's name next to the crappy paper. And jump immediately on the band wagon as how they believed all along in that brain fart!

If anything, it makes me lose all respect for some of the middle management who appear to jump on these trivialities and start promoting them like the best thing since sliced bread!

Oh, and if you happen to share a piece of code that is supposed to do X, Y and Z. Make sure it delivers X, Y and Z! (Just a thought)

Memories....

#1
KJ
Said
On: 5/21/2009 10:18:50 PM
SpamScore=[0.17]

Don't insult management, they're competent intelligent people who know what they're doing

#2
Ahmad Hamdan
Said
On: 5/21/2009 10:42:48 PM
SpamScore=[1.33]

It looks like you had a bad day at work but yeah you are right, anyone who done something that can be considered normal shouldn't spend all of his time just celeberating it

#3
Faisal
Said
On: 5/21/2009 11:21:33 PM
SpamScore=[0.7]

that is why i quit my PhD and found a real job...

#4
Qwaider
Said
On: 5/21/2009 11:53:13 PM
SpamScore=[-41.39]

KJ
Looks like you're speaking from experience :)

Ahmad
If it was "a" bad day, I would have taken it just fine. But it's been a bad, 3 months of people marvelling at the stupidity of something completely useless!

Faisal
Don't let these people discourage you away from your dreams. You will find them everywhere

#5
Mab3oos
Said
On: 5/22/2009 3:34:10 AM
SpamScore=[-1.45]

It depends where this paper was published. Some journals allow for rubbish to fill pages. Others, not a chance in hell. The congratulatory bonanza you referred to is only explained if the paper was publish in a "Peer Reviewed Journal," where you would have at least 3 experts on the subject matter to attest to the research findings.

now, not because you read something in Archy's comics it has to be significant. They just cater brain farts to half brained audience! :)

#6
za3tar
Said
On: 5/22/2009 1:21:00 PM
SpamScore=[-0.58]

I agree with Garfan that higher-end conferences and/or journals usually are very careful not to let in any garbage. Every now and then some stupid garbage slips in, but one would mostly expect good things in top research venues.

But yeah, some things *are* over hyped :-p

#7
Qwaider
Said
On: 5/22/2009 5:12:13 PM
SpamScore=[-41.41]

Quite frankly my friends, I've been around these allies for so long that I know how so much of this junk is politics.

Take patenting something for example. You can patent anything under the sun, right? anything. Just write it up, spend the time, effort and money and ... now you hold a patent! Or something the doesn't even necessarily works or that "inventive"