In the meantime, 10,000 more children died in the last three days in Burma and newspapers prefer to report on the olympic torch on the Mount Everest. I'm not implying that the Austrian story is unbelievable, I just think the balance got out of control. The same newspapers that make this the top story and blame the Austrian government or society and point their fingers are guilty of the crime to be more concerned with Cheryl Cole's new haircut than with more pressing injustice in the world.

And what exactly would be the difference between starting a new course or applying for a new course? In any case, you would have to fill out an application form and probably provide references because PhD and MSc serve different purposes and naturally have different requirements.

Or are you talking about an MPhil?

thumbs up!

This has been discussed several times and in great detail. Please refer to the Forum Search Function in the top bar of the website. Thanks.

For me, that "point of no return" was the moment where I had less than six months to go until submission. At this point I thought, well, just pull yourself together and complete the bloody thing. Of course, it's never to late to quit, but I suspect that as time progresses the pain about the wasted time increases. One year after the start I've hit a low point and should have quit. I didn't but I cannot say that it will be worth having pulled myself together. Life is just too short to be in the wrong place doing the wrong thing. Carrying on regardless may sound like determination but it's also pointless - in a way.

You sound like your decision has been made. So don't ask for advice, just go for it and quit. Everything else would be an uphill struggle, not because of the hard PhD process but because you don't have any goal at the end as you're not interested in academic or museum career. Quit, get out and enjoy the sunshine. Just don't forget about the poor souls which did not have the guts to make this decision when the time was right - like myself two years ago.

More smileys. And, in particular, one which holds up a sign saying "OFF TOPIC".

When are we going to see the first changes? Given the speed of response to our request, I suspect it will be after 2018?

I am very unpopular in my department with some people. This is due to the fact that I refuse to bitch and talk to people directly if there is a problem. It has gained me the respect of some but also the grudge of others. There is a choice and nobody is forced to participate in this inappropriate, unprofessional bitching culture.

Why do academics gossip so much?

Because most of them don't have a life, so the only pleasure they derive from anything is getting acceptance letters for publications and funding and the gossiping. Sad.

You really need to want to do a PhD really hard in order to complete it. You don't sound like you really want it. Take a few days off, if you can, walk down the pier, watch the birds, and get clear about it. Honesty to yourself is the key to the right decision.

I tend to agree with catchianthe. Regardless of teaching, if I feel like a student, have to write, study and learn, I refer to myself as a student. I feel proud to be a student who searches for spheres no others have been before (most of the time, except when I'm depressed and demotivated which is the majority of the time ;))

Good point, TomFinland. And at the same time, can you please provide an option where it is possible to reply with citation, i.e. the text of the previous poster is automatically included in the reply post? Standard nowadays in most forums.

Please see above. Before it goes missing and we miss this unique opportunity to contribute to the design of the new Postgraduateforum

They must have mixed something dodgy in both our CocoPops at the same time, how else could you explain our sarcasm?

Thanks for listening. I thought this day would never arrive. Could you please post this thread to the main section, because here in the Off-Topic not many people ever look around.

We would like a function where we can have little profiles next to our usernames, for example with age, research field and so on, but of course voluntarily. Also, it might be good to see how many users are currently reading a thread, then a function to make our own little surveys, if possible. And PM (Private Messages) and editing, of course.