Monday, July 21, 2014

Well, since you asked


I got randomly selected for an online survey about the ACS. I found this one to be a good question. 
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26 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 21, 2014 at 3:41 PM

    Given how little revenue the ACS gets from dues I can't believe they bother charging - especially for graduate students. I would think they would make money on us with all the insurance offers they send.

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    1. milkshakeJuly 21, 2014 at 4:59 PM

      ACS needs membership in order to maintain its status as a tax-exempt professional society. ACS is a monopolistic publishing house/Scifinder database subscription service that masquerades as nonprofit. That doing anything meaningful for its members (who are not industry execs or high-profile professors) is not the priority of ACS has became painfully clear even before 2008.

      I stopped renewing my ACS membership about 10 years ago, even though my employers were refunding the membership fee.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJuly 21, 2014 at 3:44 PM

    I take it that "might or might not" choice reflects the fact that your decision not to renew does not necessarily depend on employer subsidy?

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    1. ChemjobberJuly 21, 2014 at 3:46 PM

      Yeah, I dunno. I think employer subsidy helps with the relatively high price.

      Delete
  3. Bring the MoviesJuly 21, 2014 at 3:54 PM

    Once the means of publication for the academy are in the hands of Plos Chemistry, the fat, capitalist ACS swine will be eating their own manure and will perish.

    Well, I can only hope that librarians from different universities will work together to negotiate a lower price for the subscription to ACS journals.

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    1. Medellin JacobsJuly 21, 2014 at 4:37 PM

      How dare you call me fat! My chef makes sure my diet is healthy and balanced, and my trainer developed a personalized program to help me keep in excellent physical shape.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousJuly 21, 2014 at 5:58 PM

    I'd rather spend the $154 on hookers and blow.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. milkshakenJuly 21, 2014 at 6:08 PM

      what the leper said to a hooker: "You can keep the tip."

      Delete
    2. Harry ElstonJuly 22, 2014 at 8:52 AM

      Anon: $154 for hookers and blow? Doesn't sound as though you'd get much of either. Anyway, that's just the "basic" membership. Tack on a few divisions and you're looking at $200-$250 easy.

      Delete
    3. Bring the MoviesJuly 22, 2014 at 12:30 PM

      It kind of depends where you are. Silicon Valley, no! Missouri? No problem! And the hookers will be tattoo free.

      Delete
    4. JohnJuly 22, 2014 at 6:53 PM

      Hookers and blow is always a good motive, but realistically $154 is more on the order of "ritalin and strippers"

      Delete
  5. AnonymousJuly 21, 2014 at 8:13 PM

    Got the same survey today. Interesting, since I just rejoined last week after several years. I pretty much only rejoin for a year when I need to present at one of the conferences and don't have a co-author for which I can honestly answer, "someone on this presentation meets the definition of being a member..."

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  6. Eka-siliconJuly 22, 2014 at 9:06 AM

    And the funniest part of the whole damn thing?! Yet again, the ACS cannot even design an even semi-professional survey!

    *Basic* survey design principles mean you need an even # of options for Likert-type scales. Otherwise, everyone defaults to the middle and the results are not very useful for anything.... or maybe that's the point.

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    1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 11:48 AM

      On a scale of one to nine how do you feel the ACS does advocating for you?

      Delete
    2. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 7:43 PM

      I keep asking for a billboard and articles in CEN about how great I am, but I keep getting nothing. With that in mind, it doesn't seem they advocate for me at all. They might actually be working to the detriment of US citizen chemists. I'm not sure that deserves a positive integer value.

      Delete
    3. Generic ChemistJuly 23, 2014 at 5:50 AM

      "Random" survey? Coincidentally, I got one of those, too.
      I also told them that they were not working in the interests of US citizens.

      Delete
  7. Eka-siliconJuly 22, 2014 at 9:08 AM

    And my English sucks today.... 'Yet again, the ACS cannot design an even semi-professional survey!"

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Iron ChemistJuly 22, 2014 at 9:27 AM

    I liked the question at the end where they essentially ask, "So, did you really read all the questions or were you just clicking on random answers to get through this monstrosity as quickly as you could?"

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    1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 12:49 PM

      I was just laughing at that last question too. I also liked the open-ended "what do you want us to do for you?" question, where I really wanted to write, "COMBAT THE STEM SHORTAGE MYTH!!!" but decided to be professional and not use caps.

      Delete
  9. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 3:05 PM

    I just took this too… well at least until I got too bored to continue.
    I felt like it was Stephen Colbert asking the questions: "How would you rate our unceasing spam for webinars and useless career advice like how to format your resume? Great or greatest? I'll put you down for greatest."

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  10. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 7:31 PM

    It's weird to ask if members would be interested in certain products (ie short courses) without also asking about pricing. Sure I would love to take a few short courses, but not at a few thousand dollars each. They could end up with all the survey respondents saying that they were interested in taking short courses but still end up with no enrollment because the course offerings were too expensive.

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    1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 7:46 PM

      Agreed. I wonder how many people actually pay for those courses out of their own pockets . . .

      Delete
    2. See Arr OhJuly 22, 2014 at 8:45 PM

      Sigh. I have paid for an ACS short course out of my own pocket.

      Delete
    3. UnknownJuly 23, 2014 at 9:33 AM

      See Arr Oh, do you feel like you got your money's worth out of the course?

      Delete
  11. AnonymousJuly 22, 2014 at 7:55 PM

    My employer will pay for it and I still won't join. I might consider rejoining if they rename C&EN as The Chemistry Bathroom Reader.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chemist NCJuly 27, 2014 at 11:29 PM

    Is it really random? I feel like everyone I know got asked to do this. I got sent it too, despite my membership lapsing (I still don't understand why their dues are so high) several months ago.

    ReplyDelete

looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20

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