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It’s not appropriate to call yourself Dr. with an honorary degree so I’m not sure why you are being down voted.

tptacek 7y ago
This is a pretty silly debate. Plenty of people have done far less far-reaching CS work to obtain "actual" PhD's; it's not like computer science doctorates are medical degrees. Let him have his "Dr." title.
- claudiawerner 7y ago
  To add to that, he was in the process of a physics PhD at the time he started his free software stuff. I'd say his work since then, in a spiritual sense, has "completed" his PhD.
- Ensorceled 7y ago
  I really don’t care, but it’s yet another convention he ignores, in a terse resignation letter no less.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
legulere 7y ago
In Germany it’s even illegal (Dr. h. c. is fine though).
inopinatus 7y ago
Conversely, those who earned their doctorate conventionally sometimes need reminding of it. This came up at my wedding. After the ceremony we had a bunch of silly "group of X" photos. All the musicians, all the writers, the lawyers, the grandparents, the athletes, the tech folk, the doctors, and so on. The programmers made jokes about type checking, of course. (I was, on the sly, also gently nudging strangers to connect. Our friends are pretty scattered and don't know each other.) However, several of the PhDs had forgotten they had one, particularly those that had not subsequently remained in the ivory tower. When the Call for Doctors went around, we had to remind them them individually.
- _Nat_ 7y ago
  > However, several of the PhDs had forgotten they had one, particularly those that had not subsequently remained in the ivory tower. Hah, yeah, sometimes PhD's don't stress their "Dr." title to avoid being mistaken for a medical doctor in miscellaneous medical emergencies. For example, I'd heard one professor say that after checking the "Dr." title on an airline ticket, he was called upon in-flight to deal with a medical emergency, only to have to explain that he wasn't that kind of "Dr.". Thereafter, he reverted to "Mr." in such informal situations. Then in professional environments, we often go by first names anyway.
  - inopinatus 7y ago
    To be scrupulously honest we allowed the medical doctors into that photo as well, partly because wedding, but some of them had both anyway, including the bride's father, who like many people possessing more post-nominal characters than a French grand opera enjoyed a most commanding personality, which would've made any objections quite impossible even if they hadn't been ungenerously contrary to the celebratory spirit of such a day. > Thereafter, he reverted to "Mr." in such informal situations "Oh! So you're a surgeon!" [1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119265/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119265/

This is a pretty silly debate. Plenty of people have done far less far-reaching CS work to obtain "actual" PhD's; it's not like computer science doctorates are medical degrees. Let him have his "Dr." title.

claudiawerner 7y ago
To add to that, he was in the process of a physics PhD at the time he started his free software stuff. I'd say his work since then, in a spiritual sense, has "completed" his PhD.
Ensorceled 7y ago
I really don’t care, but it’s yet another convention he ignores, in a terse resignation letter no less.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

legulere 7y ago

In Germany it’s even illegal (Dr. h. c. is fine though).

inopinatus 7y ago

Conversely, those who earned their doctorate conventionally sometimes need reminding of it. This came up at my wedding. After the ceremony we had a bunch of silly "group of X" photos. All the musicians, all the writers, the lawyers, the grandparents, the athletes, the tech folk, the doctors, and so on. The programmers made jokes about type checking, of course. (I was, on the sly, also gently nudging strangers to connect. Our friends are pretty scattered and don't know each other.) However, several of the PhDs had forgotten they had one, particularly those that had not subsequently remained in the ivory tower. When the Call for Doctors went around, we had to remind them them individually.

_Nat_ 7y ago
> However, several of the PhDs had forgotten they had one, particularly those that had not subsequently remained in the ivory tower. Hah, yeah, sometimes PhD's don't stress their "Dr." title to avoid being mistaken for a medical doctor in miscellaneous medical emergencies. For example, I'd heard one professor say that after checking the "Dr." title on an airline ticket, he was called upon in-flight to deal with a medical emergency, only to have to explain that he wasn't that kind of "Dr.". Thereafter, he reverted to "Mr." in such informal situations. Then in professional environments, we often go by first names anyway.
- inopinatus 7y ago
  To be scrupulously honest we allowed the medical doctors into that photo as well, partly because wedding, but some of them had both anyway, including the bride's father, who like many people possessing more post-nominal characters than a French grand opera enjoyed a most commanding personality, which would've made any objections quite impossible even if they hadn't been ungenerously contrary to the celebratory spirit of such a day. > Thereafter, he reverted to "Mr." in such informal situations "Oh! So you're a surgeon!" [1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119265/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119265/