I bet this was written by a much hated whyte male.
I'm an APSA 2020 Section Chair. Here's why the virtual conference is a disaster.
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"a long rant about how holding panels on Zoom would endanger everyone's safety because the potential for Zoom-bombing would violate APSA's racial and sexual harassment policies. Yes, they really tried to claim that policing harassment was the justification for charging registration fees in order to keep out non-registrants."
This is appalling. Charging fees by appealing to people's fears. Isn't that basically what Donald Trump is doing? "I need to remain president and fleece the American people because otherwise white people in suburbs will be endangered."
And if Zoom-bombing scares you that much, please leave academia now.
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"a long rant about how holding panels on Zoom would endanger everyone's safety because the potential for Zoom-bombing would violate APSA's racial and sexual harassment policies. Yes, they really tried to claim that policing harassment was the justification for charging registration fees in order to keep out non-registrants."
This is appalling. Charging fees by appealing to people's fears. Isn't that basically what Donald Trump is doing? "I need to remain president and fleece the American people because otherwise white people in suburbs will be endangered."
And if Zoom-bombing scares you that much, please leave academia now.I'm trying to imagine Ericka's response when a third party site - let alone some APSA member's four year old niece or drunk cousin - interrupted her presentation because they got access to the Zoom code.
Invariably, it would be "this is why I hate APSA. They cannot run a professional conference to save their lives. How can you call yourself a professional organization when you can't even secure a virtual conference panel?? I'm never paying the salaries of these corrupt officials again."
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Reviewing journal articles = chairing an APSA section?
You’re writing from pretty far outside the orbit of actual APs, huh?Ok, then deal with it. Don't complain about how you have no power. You agreed to the parameters. Don't portray yourself as someone who's in it to fight for professional justice - you signed up to check a box.
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APSA has a legitimate interest in upholding the Code of Conduct at conferences. No problem with that. The Code of Conduct is pretty much a bunch of common sense, i.e. don't be an arshehole at the conference. But the idea that Zoom is more vulnerable to bad behavior than other platforms is just....laughable.
Of course the real reason for avoiding Zoom is the same reason why we are made to wear badges at conferences -- to make sure everyone has paid at the door.
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APSA has a legitimate interest in upholding the Code of Conduct at conferences. No problem with that. The Code of Conduct is pretty much a bunch of common sense, i.e. don't be an arshehole at the conference. But the idea that Zoom is more vulnerable to bad behavior than other platforms is just....laughable.
Of course the real reason for avoiding Zoom is the same reason why we are made to wear badges at conferences -- to make sure everyone has paid at the door.OP is not saying that APSA should have an interest in upholding the Code of Conduct. OP is saying that dues should be eliminated or heavily reduced no matter what.
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I went to the LASA conference online this year and they just dropped the fees, and let everyone pay what they wanted. I paid $50 voluntarily instead of $150 I think. I heard that they were surprised at how generous people were and they got a very healthy return on the policy. They paid grad students to be Zoom room managers, I know someone who did it.
But the main thing is that everyone was very impressed by the policy and it won them some points. APSA could learn from this. I hope they're on Twitter listening to what people are saying about them.
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Rent-seeking company does bad work. Rent-seeking association contracts with said company because of pre-existing relationships.
Basically, take everything we teach political economy students is "bad" and implement it. Same with competition-less elections. Same with lack of transparency about big decisions.
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Regine defending this fiasco on multiple threads is just laughable. Who cares if the whole thing is a waste of money, our institutions are good for it! As we all know, departments are flush with cash for discretionary spending right now! Budgets are thicc and juicy! Why not just transfer that cash to an incompetently managed rent-seeking org? I can't believe someone who is ostensibly a political scientist thinks that's a recipe for good governance.
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Rent-seeking company does bad work. Rent-seeking association contracts with said company because of pre-existing relationships.
Basically, take everything we teach political economy students is "bad" and implement it. Same with competition-less elections. Same with lack of transparency about big decisions.Exactly what I was thinking.
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The WPSA did what the section chairs suggested and it was fine.
It probably builds much more good will for the organization.
I hadn't been to WPSA in years, but I saw a link to a panel on twitter. I was about to wash my car, so I just popped the zoom thing on, kept my camera off, and chillaxed with the panel while I washed my car.
The panel was still going on when I finished washing the car, so I sat in my lawn chair, popped open a Lagunitas, and had a beer during the Q and A,.
I wound up having a second beer and then watching a Bundesliga game on tv, before having an afternoon nap on the couch.
Pretty much the best conference experience I've ever had.^has never gotten laid at a conference.
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LOL joke's on them. Once I went without registering (I had genuinely forgot) and presented my paper, attended other panels etc. Then I spent the $175 buying chicks drinks at the bar later
APSA has a legitimate interest in upholding the Code of Conduct at conferences. No problem with that. The Code of Conduct is pretty much a bunch of common sense, i.e. don't be an arshehole at the conference. But the idea that Zoom is more vulnerable to bad behavior than other platforms is just....laughable.
Of course the real reason for avoiding Zoom is the same reason why we are made to wear badges at conferences -- to make sure everyone has paid at the door. -
Rent-seeking company does bad work. Rent-seeking association contracts with said company because of pre-existing relationships.
Basically, take everything we teach political economy students is "bad" and implement it. Same with competition-less elections. Same with lack of transparency about big decisions.second-best post in ages