Talk:New England Complex Systems Institute

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[edit] Spammers?

I work in a physics department and have gotten quite a number of bulk emails from NECSI. These seem to be borderline spam, for example the most recent one announces a publication in Science:

We are pleased to announce the publication of a paper in Science on September 14, 2007:

Global Pattern Formation and Ethnic/Cultural Violence
by May Lim, Richard Metzler and Yaneer Bar-Yam
of the New England Complex Systems Institute

Abstract: We identify a process of global pattern formation that causes regions to differentiate by culture. Violence arises at boundaries between regions that are not sufficiently well defined. We model cultural differentiation as a separation of groups whose members prefer similar neighbors with a characteristic group size at which violence occurs. Application of this model to the area of the former Yugoslavia and to India accurately predicts the locations of reported conflict. This model also points to imposed mixing or boundary clarification as mechanisms for promoting peace.

I would write them off as just another source of crackpot/spam-conference academic spam, except that this recent publication is in the most prestigious academic journal in the country! It seems pretty shocking to me that a productive academic institute would send out spam... there are a couple other mentions of them spamming on Wikipedia in the talk pages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Spam/2006_Archive_Jul#65.96.127.125

What do others think? Are NECSI spammers? MOXFYRE (contrib) 21:19, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I no nothing about those spam. But I looked at the articles related to the New England Complex Systems Institute in Wikipedia and I did some checking. It seems to be that this institute is as notable as it claims to be. It has an impressive faculty, with more notable people. And the publications you can find at the website are also quiet impressive. The institute itselve seems to be mentioned some 33 or 45 times in the Wikipedia but also here on notable places with respectable sources. This is my first impression. - Mdd 22:17, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

NECSI follows the practice common in academic circles of announcing conferences and other activities within the academic community to lists that are meticulously maintained --- anyone who requests removal from the list is promptly removed. If you would like to be removed, there is an automated procedure for doing so indicated in the header of every message, and you can also reply to any message with your desire to be removed. This may not be an ideal solution, but our lists predate the tremendous growth in spam in recent years. I personally take care of the lists and you can contact me directly by phone or e-mail: greg@necsi.org / 617-547-4100.

Of course, anyone who wants to be added to our mailing list of complex systems research related announcements can contact me or send a message to complex-announcements-on@necsi.org

All best,

Greg

Greg necsi 15:54, 20 September 2007 (UTC)