Hi there ! You know what: I really liked your posts at the beginning; quite fun, nice ideas, often describing what’s worse in the academic world. But I’m really getting tired of what has become a constant bashing with universal claims. No, everyone in academia is not that bad and does not have a choice between depression and becoming a social monster. Anyway, I’m sad for you if that’s the only experience you had, but you’re on the verge of pushing it too far… Your posts would get much better and fairer if they were to describe the full ecosystem (with the same level of wit/humor!) rather than the worse of what we see…
Thanks for your comment. Your criticism is one I have pondered often, but the answer is simple: I’m aiming for humour, and humour will tend to focus on the absurd and outrageous. And judging from the enormous traffic and positive responses every post receives, I’d say that most people enjoy each cartoon for what it is: satire and parody. If there anything more to them, I leave to the readers to decide.
My own academic experience has been quite moderate, ranging between good and bad extremes; I think that goes for most people in the academic world. Sadly, a nice and polite interaction with a reasonable PI doesn’t make for a good cartoon.
Thanks for your feedback though, and I’m sorry if you feel that the content is unfair. But I hope you understand how that happens. The last thing I want to do is offend: https://upmic.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/a-public-message/
Take care, and I hope you can still enjoy the blog! And if you have any ideas they are certainly welcome.
The Upturned Microscope 
Hi there ! You know what: I really liked your posts at the beginning; quite fun, nice ideas, often describing what’s worse in the academic world. But I’m really getting tired of what has become a constant bashing with universal claims. No, everyone in academia is not that bad and does not have a choice between depression and becoming a social monster. Anyway, I’m sad for you if that’s the only experience you had, but you’re on the verge of pushing it too far… Your posts would get much better and fairer if they were to describe the full ecosystem (with the same level of wit/humor!) rather than the worse of what we see…
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Hello back!
Thanks for your comment. Your criticism is one I have pondered often, but the answer is simple: I’m aiming for humour, and humour will tend to focus on the absurd and outrageous. And judging from the enormous traffic and positive responses every post receives, I’d say that most people enjoy each cartoon for what it is: satire and parody. If there anything more to them, I leave to the readers to decide.
My own academic experience has been quite moderate, ranging between good and bad extremes; I think that goes for most people in the academic world. Sadly, a nice and polite interaction with a reasonable PI doesn’t make for a good cartoon.
Thanks for your feedback though, and I’m sorry if you feel that the content is unfair. But I hope you understand how that happens. The last thing I want to do is offend: https://upmic.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/a-public-message/
Take care, and I hope you can still enjoy the blog! And if you have any ideas they are certainly welcome.
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