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Hi, all. I'm guessing few of you here know me; I don't post here much at all. I'm the one who runs the site, maintains the software, etc. It's been pretty much a passion project for some 20 years now. (I make very little money from ads, not enough to pay for the server.) But I keep the site going! Now with the pandemic, I have more time to devote to this forum. You probably know that forums ain't what they used to be--the big sites, such as Facebook and Reddit, have taken most of the interaction that used to exist in forums. Nothing against them; I am a daily user of both of those sites. But I do think there's still a place for independent forums such as this one, one that's not designed solely to mine your data and track your identity. So, in the coming weeks and months, I am planning to make some changes (improvements). First, I want to move off this forum software; it's not being updated. I've been researching alternatives, from the old standbys, such as vBulletin (the current version), and phpBB to new challengers, such as Discourse and Flarum, which attempt to modernize the old forum experience. I am also hoping to add a few extra features, such as tracking programs, schools, etc. for admissions information. And in other sections of the forum, some kind of system where people can post their essays to get feedback. I will also be moving to a better, faster server, which will reduce or even eliminate time-outs. The biggest changes will be in the look and usage of the forum. But I don't think there will be much of a learning curve. Also, links will likely change. That will break a lot of existing links, but there's not much I can do about that, unfortunately, and sometimes, you have to make changes like this to move forward. I'm posting here because this is the most active forum, and I wanted to let you folks know directly. I'll also be posting a general announcement. Also, it appears we could use another moderator or two. Thanks for reading!

I've noticed recently that some posters seem to get their posts downvoted even when the posts are innocuous. This forum is extraordinarily positive compared to much of the web--something that I think quite valuable. So I suggest that downvotes be reserved for situations that are trolling or the like, or where the advice being offered is clearly way, way wrong. The thought is to not use downvotes to merely suggest disagreement, nor not happening to like a particular poster. I hope this might be a useful suggestion for preserving the generally overwhelming friendly atmosphere here.

So I've been lurking about this forum for sometimes and one thing I observed is that the application sweat thread got less and less active each admission season. I wonder if it's just the general trend of people moving away from online, anonymous forum, or there are new channels for applicants to converse? I wonder if there is a group chat or a Discord channel somewhere that is replacing Urch?:drunk:

Hi guys am new to this forum.

Hi, I am applying for Phd in environmental economics this year. Need help and support from this forum . Also i can help the people in this forum as much as possible.

Hi everybody. I'm from South East Asia. Thanks for accepting me. This is a really nice forum. I can learn a lot from you guys. I'm looking forward to connecting with new friends! Have a great day!

Hey all, new member here. Just joined this awesome forum.

HELLO, I want my TOEFL speaking recordings to get graded?..which forum should i go to ?

Hey all, I was wondering whether there are forums out there for business school PhDs and professors that aren‘t aimed at PhD applicants anymore. I’m thinking of forums comparable to econjobrumors.com or socjobrumors.com if any of you should be familiar with the two. Would really be cool to find something more suitable for our position. Thanks :)

Hello everyone! :) I'm so thankful I found this forum. I'm currently studying for the GRE and planning to to Marketing Ph.D programs in the fall. I'm really excited to learn more about everything through this forum because I'm pretty new to the process of preparing for Ph.D programs! Please feel free to reach out if you are in the same place as me or if you are willing to help a new person out ^^ Sue

Hi Everyone! I heard that Duke Accounting PhD program has made their offers this week. Congratulations to the applicants who have received an offer! So is there any offer holder in the forum? Are you going to accept the offer? I just want to know what the average acceptance rate is. Thank you!

Hi guys.I'm applying for Accounting programs. I have went down the BYU list of probably 100 schools. I didn't notice any school require a writing sample. Some schools (not a large percentage though) mentioned writing samples as an optional material. Others don't even mention it. Therefore, I wonder how much does writing samples matter? Have any past successful applicants in this forum submitted a writing sample in this forum? Thanks a lot.

Hello All, My name is Ayesha. I am a student. I hope this forum will help me with my preparation. Thank You