A TAXONOMY OF ACADEMIC WEBLOGS. Included in La Profesora Abstraida's roundup of reactions to Ivan the Pusillanimous is a taxonomy of academic weblogger types that Public Brewery expands on.There are additional roundups at Blogs for Industry, Conscientious Objector, and Badgerings. Professor Althouse calls the pusillanimous out.

Man, these people are just too stupid to be trusted with appointments -- and too timorous to deserve to a university position from which to dribble out the contents of their weak little minds.

Tightly Wound has some scorn for the search committees, as well as for the operators of some of the academic weblogs. A carefuly study of the taxonomy puts this in some context.

Seems that the delicate flowers of academic hiring committees are not mentally equipped to deal with the revelatory nature of blogs. Well, okay. It does make sense that if you're spending all your online time kvetching about your ovaries or picking fights with the blogatrice across the way that maybe you shouldn't consider your blog part of your academic output. Point taken. Also, if you're spending all your time fantasizing--in writing--about how you'll get your revenge on that ass of a department head or your own unique sexual predilections--well, could you blame a university for being a little bit cautious?

There's also this.

New faculty might be autonomous! They might have--gasp--opinions! Or personal preferences! Or they might not be willing to shut up and go along like a good little peon! The horror! The nerve!

In other words, if you wanna be an academic, you'd better shut your mouth and get on the reservation, baby. No freedom of expression for you!

I know, I know, being able to hold two contradictory ideas in one's mind simultaneously is a virtue, but I'm getting a little tired of Conformity in Transgressivity accompanying Unity in Diversity all the time, which appears to be the "fit" Ivan the Pusillanimous and his colleagues are seeking.