Naughty, naughty!

Hooray for professionalism in philosophy, but like many virtues, it can sometimes be a bit wearisome and taxing. One particularly depressing development of recent years is the status-driven fascination that philosophers have with each other’s jobs—where people are, where they are going, how much they make. (The last is furtively checked using public websites and private whispers.)

The silent questions: Is X doing better than me? Is she making more? Is she in a better-ranked department?

For these reasons, we are particularly underwhelmed by the anonymous website, prophilosophy.  (No, dear reader: ‘pro’ signifies not partisanship or advocacy, but ‘professional’.) This site is devoted entirely to “news” clips. On the home page, there are a few desultory items like this: “In light of the number of hires made at KCL this season, a summary post seems in order.” (No! Not “in order” at all. Redundant, actually.)

The real business of the site is conducted under tabs labelled “Promotions,” “Tenure Track Hires,” and “Tenured Hires,” which offers lists of these things. (There isn't a Salaries tab . . . yet. Under construction, perhaps.) Anonymity is understandable given the ennui that generates (and is generated by) such an enterprise. (Even so, we much prefer signed posts.)

To every cloud, there is a silver lining, in this case an amusing vignette. The authors have issued a statement:

ProPhilosophy has received a cease and desist letter from the owner of a blog that also publishes philosophy news, alleging misappropriation of hot news items. In the future, ProPhilosophy will never publish hot news obtained directly from other sources without including a citation and a link. Readers are, of course, welcome to email philosophy news directly to [email protected], or to comment on the relevant page(s) of this blog.

Apparently, prophilosophy been re-reporting, or even simply repeating, “hot news”  (such as the hires at KCL!?!—OMG, pp scooped the Guardian)? Really guys, that's not on!

Advice for the anonymous: be careful where you go!

UPDATE: Another statement on prophilosophy: "ProPhilosophy has reached an agreement with the philosophy blogger mentioned here. ProPhi will not post or link to any hot news of which that blog is the sole source for at least 24 hours."