Is half the site dead?

[EmilyMiller]

I was in Waco, TX twenty odd years ago, hanging in a downtown bar with a couple of locals I was friendly with, when a bunch of girls came in. Immediately the locals rolled their eyes, and upon questioning them I was told the girls were obviously from Baylor. Being an ignorant Brit I needed further info, but was simply told that they were there to get the big MRS. I tried working out in my head what degree that was for a moment or too before the penny dropped, and I could only think 'what a waste of a chance for an actual education'. Sad.

At the risk of being even bitchier than normal. Why did you accept what the locals told you? Because the girls went to a bar?

Em

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Oh... oh eeuw.

My series of shagging scientists has group leaders insist that PhD students are off-limits - so it's possibly not just kindness that has various PIs being very helpful to get students to write up their theses...

In reality, there was a proportion of senior scientists who treated all junior staff as fresh meat. One was banned from having any female staff for five years, at which point he acquired a female tech, student and postdoc. The one of them who didn't get groped didn't know whether to be relieved or offended...

 

[EmilyMiller]

My series of shagging scientists has group leaders insist that PhD students are off-limits - so it's possibly not just kindness that has various PIs being very helpful to get students to write up their theses...

In reality, there was a proportion of senior scientists who treated all junior staff as fresh meat. One was banned from having any female staff for five years, at which point he acquired a female tech, student and postdoc. The one of them who didn't get groped didn't know whether to be relieved or offended...

It never happened to me. I was lucky enough to do proper lab work during my masters in parallel with class (then it got rather COVID limited). My group leader was lovely. Not a single problem and a big supporter of women in science. But you talk to other women and some of the stories were pretty unpleasant.

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

One was banned from having any female staff for five years, at which point he acquired a female tech, student and postdoc. The one of them who didn't get groped didn't know whether to be relieved or offended...

Jesus . Every 6 months to a year here we have to do mandatory sexual harassment training and one of the most repeated things is: DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH ANYONE WHERE THERE IS A POWER IMBALANCE IN THE RELATIONSHIP.

Previous places I've worked have fired people (into the sun) for being inappropriate. We're a big multinational and I'm sure all sorts of fucked-up stuff goes on that I don't know about because I am about as perceptive as a stunned brick - but even I cannot even imagine the shitshorm that would happen in my current company were someone to grope someone else.

I feel like I need to go scrub myself clean

 

[EmilyMiller]

Jesus . Every 6 months to a year here we have to do mandatory sexual harassment training and one of the most repeated things is: DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH ANYONE WHERE THERE IS A POWER IMBALANCE IN THE RELATIONSHIP.

Previous places I've worked have fired people (into the sun) for being inappropriate. We're a big multinational and I'm sure all sorts of fucked-up stuff goes on that I don't know about because I am about as perceptive as a stunned brick - but even I cannot even imagine the shitshorm that would happen in my current company were someone to grope someone else.

I feel like I need to go scrub myself clean

Some - and I stress some - of science is pretty antediluvian.
Em

 

[NoTalentHack]

Uh. I think I know what the site upgrade might have been. I put a story into the queue, expecting to have the usual day or two to tinker with it before it actually got published. That was about an hour ago.

It’s status now is “Published 06/07/2023.” It’s for heart//beats, but even then, I’ve never seen a turnaround that fast, especially for a ~10K word story.

I wonder if they’ve added enhancements to the auto-handler for rejecting/allowing stories?

 

[John_Vandermeer]

I used to hang out at a certain research center that shall go unamed were three Nobel laureates were senior scientists, and there was nothing sadder than seeing a famous but obviously creepy over-80 year old major figure in science hit on under-30yo post doc chicks rather hard. They knew the game they had to play too, and I never saw one of those girls miss a beat in the back and forth. How far that went, I am of course not privy. But I can certainly imagine those girls helping that man whatever it took to get him to the finish line...

No offense towards fans of the Mature genre, there are times it is obviously 100% about exploiting institutional power.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Uh. I think I know what the site upgrade might have been. I put a story into the queue, expecting to have the usual day or two to tinker with it before it actually got published. That was about an hour ago.

It’s status now is “Published 06/07/2023.” It’s for heart//beats, but even then, I’ve never seen a turnaround that fast, especially for a ~10K word story.

I wonder if they’ve added enhancements to the auto-handler for rejecting/allowing stories?

Mine - which I submitted yesterday - is tagged to go live tomorrow. But that’s not exceptional.

Em

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Jesus . Every 6 months to a year here we have to do mandatory sexual harassment training and one of the most repeated things is: DO NOT DO ANYTHING WITH ANYONE WHERE THERE IS A POWER IMBALANCE IN THE RELATIONSHIP.

Previous places I've worked have fired people (into the sun) for being inappropriate. We're a big multinational and I'm sure all sorts of fucked-up stuff goes on that I don't know about because I am about as perceptive as a stunned brick - but even I cannot even imagine the shitshorm that would happen in my current company were someone to grope someone else.

I feel like I need to go scrub myself clean

You're young, right?
Round 2000, the idea that schoolteachers shouldn't have relationships with their students was considered shocking and radical, and would have been called woke if people used the word then.

Students at my unis were fine to go out with their tutors or lecturers as long as it was reported to the exam authorities, so they wouldn't be the ones marking your work (or not the final arbiter of your grades). And often did.

Even now, about 70% of scientists in academia end up in relationships with other academics - keeping out of your direct management chain is considered desirable, and ideally not having partners in the same lab, but people take jobs where they can get them...

I don't think I've been groped since 2005 (I kicked the guy's shin with my high heel, and had another even more satisfying revenge), but the change in respect for women in my workplaces really only got going round then.

 

[onehitwanda]

You're young, right?
Round 2000, the idea that schoolteachers shouldn't have relationships with their students was considered shocking and radical, and would have been called woke if people used the word then.

not that young, but I grew up somewhere where I was pretty sheltered from all of this. My dad was an academic so I saw alllllllll the political shenanigans of it but none of the... other stuff, thankfully.

I kicked the guy's shin with my high heel

The physicist in me just went white when I did a first order estimate of how much force you applied over that very small surface area. What a pity it wasn't one of his dangleberries.

 

[HordHolm]

At the risk of being even bitchier than normal. Why did you accept what the locals told you? Because the girls went to a bar?

Em

The locals telling me this were girls.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

The locals telling me this were girls.

Internalized misogyny is a thing. As is town vs gown.

Look, I've said some dumb things too in my time, just not on this forum, yet. I've found it goes best to give it a day or two when someone points it out, so I can come back with fresh eyes.

Coming back to the site, I just got back into my control panel. My latest story was hovering at 4.47 for a while. It surged to 4.53 for a few hours and I was hopeful my genius would finally be recognized. Maybe the H would get it some more views and then some more votes? Nope. I had that H for all of one day before somebody voted me back down to 4.44.

This, too, shall pass...

 

[HordHolm]

Internalized misogyny is a thing. As is town vs gown.

Look, I've said some dumb things too in my time, just not on this forum, yet. I've found it goes best to give it a day or two when someone points it out, so I can come back with fresh eyes.

Coming back to the site, I just got back into my control panel. My latest story was hovering at 4.47 for a while. It surged to 4.53 for a few hours and I was hopeful my genius would finally be recognized. Maybe the H would get it some more views and then some more votes? Nope. I had that H for all of one day before somebody voted me back down to 4.44.

This, too, shall pass...

Oh, I understand town v gown very well. I'd add there seemed to be a bunch of context I didn't bother adding in a brief post. On balance, I'm more inclined to believe what I was told than not. I'd also add that one of the women telling me this was an environmental scientist and the other managed an events company. I will admit that it might have been an anti-Southern Baptist thing, though, being as the sorority types who came in were from Baylor.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-mau265z808/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/6044/21110/BOB_THE_BUILDER_MUG__20087.1668434537.png?c=1

Bob the Honest Builder

 

[onehitwanda]

Bob the Honest Builder

"When I say I'll fix it, what I actually mean is I'll take these two rusty nails and twat them into it in randomly-chosen spots that make the whole thing look really fucking solid for about five minutes longer than it's going to take your bank transfer to my account to clear. Then, love, I'm going to fuck off to the pub and declare bankruptcy so that when this whole side of your house falls down on Tuesday there's nothing for you to claim against . In a week's time I'll be working again under a new company name. Oh, by the way, your tits are nice and I'm going to stare at them all the time."

meow, Wanda.

 

[oneagainst]

Back on topic - just commented on @NoTalentHack's story and the comment instantly appeared. That's new. Or am I trusted by the almighty Lit engine now?

 

[NoTalentHack]

Back on topic - just commented on @NoTalentHack's story and the comment instantly appeared. That's new. Or am I trusted by the almighty Lit engine now?

I donut know what you’re talking about.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I dunno, Em. AI might be the latest IT fad in several disciplines, but it still needs to have a "sanity check" step in the process. You know, some person with the training and skills to verify that, yep, it's right... this time.

"AI" is an ill-defined term that can mean almost any computer technology that somebody wants to hype. There are "AIs" for which that statement would be very reasonable, others where the AI is vastly better than any human at its designated task (e.g. Stockfish), and yet others which are best left alone.

It's not at all clear to me that you're talking about the same "AIs" that Em is.

 

[Bramblethorn]

My series of shagging scientists has group leaders insist that PhD students are off-limits - so it's possibly not just kindness that has various PIs being very helpful to get students to write up their theses...

In reality, there was a proportion of senior scientists who treated all junior staff as fresh meat. One was banned from having any female staff for five years, at which point he acquired a female tech, student and postdoc. The one of them who didn't get groped didn't know whether to be relieved or offended...

Uh huh. I knew of one professor who had a thing of travelling overseas to find attractive young women to be his grad students, wooing their families, sponsoring their visas, and then once they got to Australia maneuvering them into a position where he controlled both their academic careers and their housing, before putting the moves on. In hindsight, I guess one could call it grooming behaviour, and that's not a word I use lightly.

 

[oneagainst]

I donut know what you’re talking about.

Yeah, you coulda gone instead with mushrooms sauteed in butter and garlic for the first meal of the day. The French swear by it. It's the breakfast of champignons.

...

I'll get my coat.

 

[onehitwanda]

It's the breakfast of champignons.

Oh my god.

 

[oneagainst]

Oh my god.

I'll be here all week. Don't forget to to your waitress.

 

[MrPixel]

At risk of flagellation (...oh, please!...), I'm going to yank the steering wheel away from you guys and get us back to the original topic.

Authors' tools (uploading, control panels) seem to be working, but not for everybody. Everything is broken badly on the older computer/OS I use for writing. Control panels are a garbled mess and totally unusable. Others appear to be in the same boat. I reported it the Tech Support area last week, but as we all know, the communications there are one-way.

There has been a major version jump in the web tools Manu is using to build the interactive pages that instantly obsoletes older systems. I abandoned web programming a decade ago with retirement so I don't know the exact particulars, but there is something that happened with systems in general about four or five years ago - a security "fix", I think - that forced a lot of upgrades. Putting on my tin hat, it seemed to happen proximate to most of the major software companies migrating to the subscription software sales model.

To wit, if I upgrade my authoring system to be compatible with the new LitE scheme, my local authoring tools (Office 2007, for one) no longer function. I would have to "subscribe" to the latest, which I otherwise do not need.

I have clumsy workarounds for LitE uploading and archive maintenance - using a laptop with a current OS and transferring .doc and .docx files to it, or using the dual-boot partition on my main system to boot into a current OS and uploading from there, then booting back into the older OS where my bought software works. Both clumsy and time-consuming.

Bottom line - why was this change necessary? The tools I relied on worked fine a week ago. There full-well may be future projects in the wings which require a more up-to-date framework, but if that's the case, then you leave the legacy in place and bifurcate to accommodate the new methods.

Can you tell that I'm pissed?

 

[onehitwanda]

At risk of flagellation (...oh, please!...), I'm going to yank the steering wheel away from you guys and get us back to the original topic.

Authors' tools (uploading, control panels) seem to be working, but not for everybody. Everything is broken badly on the older computer/OS I use for writing. Control panels are a garbled mess and totally unusable. Others appear to be in the same boat. I reported it the Tech Support area last week, but as we all know, the communications there are one-way.

There has been a major version jump in the web tools Manu is using to build the interactive pages that instantly obsoletes older systems. I abandoned web programming a decade ago with retirement so I don't know the exact particulars, but there is something that happened with systems in general about four or five years ago - a security "fix", I think - that forced a lot of upgrades. Putting on my tin hat, it seemed to happen proximate to most of the major software companies migrating to the subscription software sales model.

To wit, if I upgrade my authoring system to be compatible with the new LitE scheme, my local authoring tools (Office 2007, for one) no longer function. I would have to "subscribe" to the latest, which I otherwise do not need.

I have clumsy workarounds for LitE uploading and archive maintenance - using a laptop with a current OS and transferring .doc and .docx files to it, or using the dual-boot partition on my main system to boot into a current OS and uploading from there, then booting back into the older OS where my bought software works. Both clumsy and time-consuming.

Bottom line - why was this change necessary? The tools I relied on worked fine a week ago. There full-well may be future projects in the wings which require a more up-to-date framework, but if that's the case, then you leave the legacy in place and bifurcate to accommodate the new methods.

Can you tell that I'm pissed?

Launch an incognito tab in firefox - it could be stale cookies + stale session data and cached assets. Lit is ********** heavy, especially the authoring side.

(yeah, I'm a NERD.)

 

[MrPixel]

Thanks, but I'm a nerd, too. At least on the Apple side of the fence, there's something at the OS level that determines this behavior - and it very well may be Java$cript. Apple has had a fraught relationship with Java$cript for a while. I suspect big CSS changes are behind the LitE problems, but it's not anywhere close my job to ferret that out. There are far more knowledgeable folk in these parts.

I'm mostly just venting my displeasure with the lack of recognition that everybody doesn't have to be running the latest and greatest whiz-bang for this minimal access, which used to function just fine. I'm not accusing upgrading for upgrading's sake (there may be server framework dependencies dictating the change... been there), but there is the throwing the baby out with the bathwater aspect to this.