RG has some gross defects:
1/ it encourages members to upload copyrighted materials against the law. It then punishes you in its dubious rating systems if you choose to remain legal.
2/ it accepts advertising from UK companies that write essays and dissertations for a fee. Others which will identify a student's graduate research topics, for a fee. And other dubious operators whose wares seem to subvert the academic endeavour.
3/ it fails to maintain the statistics on "achievements" properly, and other important items.
4/ when you complain they rarely respond. When they do, it's curt and rude and misses the point.
Their attitude seems to be, "if it's that bad, leave". But, like you, I stay! Why is that?
It's just like any other social media site; think of it as the Facebook of researchers. My perspective is this: The point is to share research (even if we just provide citations), build or maintain connections with other researchers, and learn about what is going on in the field. In the grand scheme of things, how many recommendations, reads, and followers I have on ResearchGate won't impact my likelihood of earning tenure. My ResearchGate score isn't on my CV, either. Just like Linkedin followers or Twitter followers won't be included or considered in the hiring or tenure process. Part of this is just people giving too much weight to a social media site. The more seriously we take it, the more legitimate it becomes.
Long story short: people are taking a social media site far more seriously than it deserves to be taken.
William, this is not a criticism--indeed I do have much sympathy for your view--but it is a little Anglo-Saxon, if I can put it that way....
Savvy users of social media might be expected to think like you (us), and we can get good things from RG without taking it too seriously. But I know that some less developed systems do ascribe great importance to what goes on here. Some universities and, indeed, some systems do use RG to grade faculty! So that's not good....
Okay for us naredowells. You starting out (good luck). Me finished.
Any solace for the others, I wonder...?
NOCK
Good question. The answers will certainly be different for each individual. I would like to stay tuned until I have edited and uploaded all my projects. This will probably only be the case in 2020 - if I still experience it. Two positive experiences: Essays that I consider to be successful, but which are hidden in books and magazines, are read here with interest and by a considerable number of interested parties - as far as the system reflects this. The second is good, friendly contacts to previously unknown colleagues. This point is opposed. There are also colleagues in some threads whose communication style I don't like, although I was happy to participate in the discussion of an interesting question. So it is a mixed result.
But I think you can and should stop with RG immediately if you need the time you usually spend with RG to be up to date for more important things.
Hein, a very thoughtful contribution, thank you. Yes, I agree spreading your work wider and further is good. And there's people you do look forward to hearing from on certain threads. Some unpleasant people as well, but they can be managed with help from RG.
NOCK
Dear all,
I am rather thankful to be a member of the RG community.
RG is nicknamed the facebook oc the science and research community and there are positive and negative sides, agreed...
On the positive side I value the respectful exchange with researchers worldwide on various topics of my and common interest...
I can make my research visible and spark discussions or contribute to such...
and for the first time I get feedback and data on reads of my contributions...
about your criticism:
1. nobody is forced to upload an paper illegally;
2. you can make your research visibly by help of sharing the meta-data an abstract and links...
3. we are not paying for RG therefore we accept that it is financed by help of ads...
4. most ads are useful and helpful...
5. I also dislike the kind of ads you are naming but have not noticed such ads, yet...
6. in case these ads are illegal you must inform the authorities...
the background and criticism on RG can also be read on wikipedia, see
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ResearchGate
Dear all,
you are right that RG help does rarely respond to enquiries - however we are using RG for free and are more than 10 Mio. users.... that may be the reason why RG rarely responds...
Best,
Carsten
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