Don't walk. Don't run either

Question

If we have a meme on this site, it's "Don't walk. Run." It is like an inside joke for the community ... but the joke might not be clear to newcomers.

If we could get past the semantic satiation for a minute, somebody quitting their real-life position and looking for employment/studies elsewhere is a serious issue and should be treated seriously.

I think it's especially problematic coming from hugely successful academics working in rock-star departments who don't know the culture in other areas and departments.

Lots of questions are coming from inexperienced researchers and typically paint a one-sided picture. Highly-upvoted comments in bold left by experienced academics telling inexperienced academics that they leave their job as soon as possible ... I sometimes find it uncomfortable.

A couple of examples of where it made me cringe:

• Handling credit with advisor: a question that seems almost too simple in terms of not being the whole story. The first piece of advice isn't "have you tried talking with her?" but rather "Don't walk. Run." ... with 18 upvotes.

• What to do: PI lied to me and is keeping my grant!: a difficult question that requires legal advice, not a pithy comment.

• There was another example I can't find right now where a student mentioned that in their school, they require the permission of their supervisor to publish. This was met with "Don't walk. Run" from JeffE which seemed entirely inappropriate. A school guideline requiring students to clear affiliated publications with their supervisor seems pretty reasonable (if a tad distrustful) ... certainly not grounds to quit.

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Anyone agree that this meme is potentially damaging? It just doesn't seem worth the risk.

Folks using this meme should have some respect for the fact that they're advising another human being to quit their job/studies ... and they should keep in mind that they are simultaneously communicating with thousands of vulnerable people from a variety of areas who see such questions and who might project themselves as being in similar situations.

Answer 1

I use the response "Don't walk. Run." to mean exactly two things, neither of which is intended as a joke.

• You are being abused. Get out now. Further engagement will only hurt you more. Seek professional (and possibly legal) help, but from a safe distance, after you extract yourself.

• Your relationship with your advisor/colleague/department is broken beyond repair. The situation has progressed beyond the point where it can be salvaged. Further engagement will not be productive, and may do you permanent professional harm.

In retrospect, I really should distinguish between these two responses, and I will certainly be more careful in the future. The latter is probably better summarized as "Walk away."

I sometimes find it uncomfortable

Good. It is uncomfortable.

There was another example I can't find right now where a student mentioned that in their school, they require the permission of their supervisor to publish. This was met with "Don't walk. Run" from JeffE which seemed entirely inappropriate.

I stand by my response. Forbidding researchers (students or otherwise) to publish without their supervisor's permission, in an academic environment, is unethical bordering on abusive. Of course, research should only be published with the agreement of all contributors (or as they are usually known after publication, coauthors), and it's entirely appropriate for equipment owners to restrict access to their research equipment, but those are completely separate issues. If your students' poor-quality publications are sullying the reputation of your department, it's your responsibility to mentor and reward them more effectively, not lock them up.

Folks using this meme should have some respect for the fact that they're advising another human being to quit their job/studies ... and they should keep in mind that they are simultaneously communicating with thousands of vulnerable people from a variety of areas who see such questions and who might project themselves as being in similar situations.

This is absolutely correct. I am indeed advising another human being to quit their job, leave their department, or at least find a new advisor. And I am communicating that message to thousands to vulnerable people who might believe themselves to be in similar situations. Which is exactly why I give that answer.

Answer 2

Actually, "don't walk—run" is a shorthand for a different situation, in my opinion:

"Don't walk. Run." is a signal that the questioner is in a situation where the status quo is completely unsustainable.

Such situations are usually ones where things have deteriorated to the point where leaving is likely a better option than just "toughing things out."

So perhaps a little bit of caution is in order before using the line, but I wouldn't say it is always unacceptable.

Answer 3

Initially I liked the Don't walk. Run! line. However, it may be more fun as an inside joke for the Academia.SE community than for the person who is experiencing the problem.

Imagine when an already confused student or young researcher gets such comment. Is it that helpful and actionable? Especially as academic market is not very flexible and typically you can't start a new position the next day (or have savings to get you past unemployment). Also, as recommendation letters are crucial, in many cases enduring outright mistreatment might be "the lesser evil" to burning bridges. (I don't say it should work that way, but we are dealing with real, not idealized, academia.)

So for Don't walk. Run! (for anything below an advisor asking a student for their kidney) now my immediate though is Great! But how and where?.

Answer 4

I agree with aeismail's answer, in that "Don't walk. Run." somehow indicates that if you've reached this point, the problem is unlikely to be fixed.

However, a disclaimer I'd like to add on the site:

Don't follow advice from strangers on the Internet

I think Ac.SE should be seen not as a place to get advice, but as a place to receive objective answers. Most questions where Jeff's catchphrase applies usually correspond to bad/dysfunctional relationships between advisor and advisee.

Of course, the problem can be cultural (that's just the way we do it here) and there can be strong constraints (I have invested so much, I cannot leave now), but I honestly think that in such cases, there is no good answer from strangers on the Internet. We should probably have a template answer: Talk to you advisor; Talk to a mentor; Talk to the administration; Talk to colleagues; Talk to a lawyer; Talk to a psychologist/therapist; Talk to your family and friends; Talk to anybody who has a good understanding of the particular situation you are in. Don't listen to people who are 10.000km from you, in a different system and a different culture.

Answer 5

I know this is old, but I'll focus on OP's last paragraph, and propose a work around.

Folks using this meme should have some respect for the fact that they're advising another human being to quit their job/studies ... and they should keep in mind that they are simultaneously communicating with thousands of vulnerable people from a variety of areas who see such questions and who might project themselves as being in similar situations.

I agree that the meme doesn't become clear right away to total newbie's on the site. It takes a while to get acquainted. And while Jeff is not aiming to patronize, his remark his well intended, it can potentially be misread.

The easiest resolution is to post Don't Walk, Run, as Don't Walk, Run, i.e. link to this post.

This will serve three purposes at once:

1 The meme doesn't get killed.

2 The context and underlying intention becomes clear even to first timers.

3 Possibility of anyone taking offense gets eliminated.

Answer 6

I read "Don't walk. Run." as an acknowledgement that the difficult situation described in the question is drastically wrong and needs to be addressed quickly. As the answers to the questions often eventually point out, the correct "answer" is rarely to quit then and there. The key to the "Don't walk. Run." meme is that it is saying: your interpretation is correct and there is a problem you need to go talk to a trusted colleague NOW instead of waiting for answers (but it is using a lot less words).

Now the question becomes how do new users who are potentially inexperienced academics interpret a highly up voted "Don't walk. Run." If they are quitting their jobs, we have a problem, but if they are seeing it as encouraging comment then it is serving its purpose. As I have never seen an OP question the meme, I don't think we have a problem.

Answer 7

I've always understood it to mean "Don't walk to wherever you need to go to deal with this, run!", i.e., a pithy way of stressing the urgency of the situation; it was only by reading this question that I became aware of the possible interpretation of "Don't walk out, run away!"

Now, internet communication is a narrow-bandwidth medium, internet comments doubly so; hence that subtlety might get lost. I think having this discussion is already quite helpful -- now whenever JeffE leaves his trademark comment, and someone is afraid that it can be misunderstood, they can give a link to this Meta post explaining the implied (or to be inferred) meaning and demonstrating that it's not (just) a snarky comment.

(Being able to give a link to an accepted consensus answer as a sort of FAQ entry would be even better.)

Answer 8

It's not a constructive comment: i.e. it doesn't seek clarification on the question.

So when you see it, flag it as non-constructive.

This should get the comment deleted, when the flag is reviewed. Comments are ephemeral here (just as across almost all Stack Exchange sites), and need little reason for deletion. A single flag prompting it should, in almost all cases, be sufficient.

If your flags get declined, then come back to meta and post about it, and we'll discuss moderation policy.