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> Ask someone for a potential collaboration. I have received many cold emails asking for this over the years (many more after becoming an editor for obvious re

> Ask someone for a potential collaboration. I have received many cold emails asking for this over the years (many more after becoming an editor for obvious reasons). Given my schedule and my research backlog, I'm unlikely to accept such an offer. What I find odd is that the requests almost always involve topics nowhere near my research expertise. The worst ones include something like, "After going through your publication record, I see that you are an expert on this topic...". You should not expect a response. I create a new email filter to be sure I never spend time on your messages again.

iamcreasy 5y ago
What's good way to ask for help? I am a graduate student and sometimes I stumble on problems that I think could be solved by talking to an senior researcher for about 30 minutes. But I don't know how to approach.
- mellavora 5y ago
  <former academic> I've found it helpful to write the letter to the senior researcher. Be prepared to make 4-8 drafts of the letter. The first draft is to just dump your thoughts, typically at this point mine are unorganized and incomplete. That gets fixed in the drafts/revisions. The key point is to express my problem/question in the framework which I think the senior researcher uses. And I usually find (? 3 times out of 4?) that by the time I complete this process, I have found the answer to my question. If not, I'll send the email. If they see you've put effort into thinking about it, they almost always respond positively.
mmmmpancakes 5y ago
This matches my experience. Collaboration is a serious undertaking and commitment. It is very unlikely that a collaboration formed out of thin air will be productive enough to justify the investment of time and effort.
actually_a_dog 5y ago
> The worst ones include something like, "After going through your publication record, I see that you are an expert on this topic...". You should not expect a response. I create a new email filter to be sure I never spend time on your messages again. Hah! That sounds like the "I came across your LinkedIn profile and was impressed by your experience" of academia. Of all the stock phrases recruiters use in their cold emails, that's got to be one of the more annoying ones. I can see why you'd block those people.

iamcreasy 5y ago

What's good way to ask for help? I am a graduate student and sometimes I stumble on problems that I think could be solved by talking to an senior researcher for about 30 minutes. But I don't know how to approach.

mellavora 5y ago
<former academic> I've found it helpful to write the letter to the senior researcher. Be prepared to make 4-8 drafts of the letter. The first draft is to just dump your thoughts, typically at this point mine are unorganized and incomplete. That gets fixed in the drafts/revisions. The key point is to express my problem/question in the framework which I think the senior researcher uses. And I usually find (? 3 times out of 4?) that by the time I complete this process, I have found the answer to my question. If not, I'll send the email. If they see you've put effort into thinking about it, they almost always respond positively.

mmmmpancakes 5y ago

This matches my experience. Collaboration is a serious undertaking and commitment. It is very unlikely that a collaboration formed out of thin air will be productive enough to justify the investment of time and effort.

actually_a_dog 5y ago

> The worst ones include something like, "After going through your publication record, I see that you are an expert on this topic...". You should not expect a response. I create a new email filter to be sure I never spend time on your messages again. Hah! That sounds like the "I came across your LinkedIn profile and was impressed by your experience" of academia. Of all the stock phrases recruiters use in their cold emails, that's got to be one of the more annoying ones. I can see why you'd block those people.