Comment by filmgirlcw | Hacker News Reader

Comment by filmgirlcw | Hacker News Reader

Betteridge’s Law strikes again. If it is honorary, you don’t get to use the title. Everyone should know this and it doesn’t matter if you feel you “deserve” your honorary degree more than others. If you didn’t write the dissertation, you don’t get the title. List it on your CV but don’t use the title or request others refer to you that way.

Moreover, although some people are definitely swayed by titles and degrees, once you have achieved a level of notoriety and respect in an industry or subject matter, titles really do become meaningless. I want my actual medical doctor to have a degree. Same with my dentist and my lawyer. I don’t really care about the engineer or academic or author.

Pseudo-related note. I used to work with a person who signed all of their emails [first] [last], Ph.D as if anyone cared (it was wholly irrelevant to his work). When they rage quit in a mass email to the team, they had to send the email twice because they forgot the Ph.D the first time. I’ve never laughed harder at the amount of self-satisfaction on display in my life.

Someone who made a contribution relevant to the field deserves far more the title than someone who made a dissertation no one reads. These silly formalities dont benefit academia

I don’t disagree with you in theory but if you didn’t earn the degree, you shouldn’t use the title. Title != respect and assuming you should automatically respect or disrespect a person based on title alone seems fairly pointless to me.

Define "earn", in some way that results in his recognition being un-earned.

“Earn” in the academic sense. These are not by definition an earned degree. It is honorary. This isn’t a semantical discussion. He literally didn’t earn the degrees by academic study. He was awarded them because of honor, which is lovely, but literally not the same thing.

I don't see a definition anywhere in there. Certainly not one that differs from any dictionary I ever saw.

Standing in front of a panel of his peers and advisors, defending a written thesis?

I believe that’s the customary standard for earning a PhD.

If one doesn't deserve the respect associated with the title why was it given to them in the first place?

I take more exception to people who sprinkle it in regardless of how they earned it.

“You are on the council but we do not grant you the title of Doctor.”

I feel anyone can call themselves Doktor (ignoring fraud like pretending to be a medical practitioner without a license) and people can choose to follow along with their “preferred pronoun” or not as the evidence sways them.

I’d be inclined to use the terms others are using and when in doubt defer to the person themselves.

I feel Dr Stallman won’t care much how you refer to him as long as you don’t call him a proponent of closed-source.

Or open source, for that matter.

I feel that gets the heavy sigh and the “let me explain” whereas the former would be the “you’re trying to piss me off” line.

All of this strikes me as a tempest in a teapot: but I’d still be interested in speaking with the man.

> Betteridge’s Law strikes again. If it is honorary, you don’t get to use the title.

With one exception: When at a function hosted by the institution who granted you that honorary degree.

Fair. But even then, and I have never been to one of those functions, I don’t think they call you “Dr. [X].”

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