[PRL] Subrefereeing for POPL 09

[Matthias Felleisen]

On Jul 17, 2008, at 2:20 PM, Mitchell Wand wrote:

> If I think you're off base, I'll ignore it.

While I can see that someone might like the credit of being listed in  
some obscure conference proceedings on a page that nobody I know ever  
looks at, I could see how an explanation of why a report is off-base  
could be much more valuable than a "credit." The feedback doesn't  
even have to come from Mitch, it could be from another sub-ref who  
wrote a good report.

;;  
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> On Jul 17, 2008, at 2:47 PM, Mitchell Wand wrote:
>> No, though you should note this in your report.  --Mitch
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 2:35 PM, Aaron Turon <turon at ccs.neu.edu>  
>> wrote:
>> Mitch,
>>
>> Is it a conflict of interest to act as a subreviewer when you have a
>> paper submitted to the conference?


I am glad you asked! After two really bad experiences in my career,  
I'd like everyone to consider the following simple points:

-- If you're on a PC and you submit, your paper competes with  
everyone else's for the very finite number of slots that are  
available. So the correct strategy is to "talk down" as many papers  
as possible because that raises the chances for your paper. NOT NOT  
NOT !!! It's unethical. 

(I have never submitted a paper when I was a PC member and I have  
always left the room when someone from my institution was discussed.  
I have discussed papers from my place with co-PCs after decisions had  
been made.)

-- If you're on a PC and you are reviewing a paper in the same area  
as your submission, your are simply UNETHICAL. 

-- If you're asked to review a paper and you have submitted, use the  
very first line of your review to inform the PC of this coincidence. 

;;  
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There is no such thing as a "refereed conference". Don't list it as  
such on your CV because you may run into someone like me who hates it  
and discounts  your job application by a few points. There are  
selective and highly selective and non-selective conferences. That's it.

-- Matthias



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