As the job market season approached last summer, those in my department who were planning to go on it gathered to discuss the process. One of the topics was the Job Market Rumor Mill blog, which looks, for 2009, to become a job market forum. Regardless, opinions varied from “it is a worthless time waster” to “it is a pit of negativity that will consume your soul.” The consensus was that it should be avoided and, quite possibly, LeechBlocked. Nevertheless, I visited the blog daily before successfully getting off the market. Recently, Drek unwittingly described why I visited the blog, and why I still check in on it from time to time in its dying days:
Recently, I have noticed some rather lengthy threads here on [the Job Market Rumor Mill] that are filled to the brim with misunderstandings, false attributions, hurt feelings and general foolishness, mixed in with nuggets of true wisdom.
Besides, I like to procrastinate.
Memoirs of a SLACer 