Toxic Posts on Economist Job Website Traced to Users from Elite Universities
- ‘Toxic’ posts said to originate from some elite schools
- Researchers unmasked locations of anonymous users on site
Posts orginated from users at top schools such as Stanford University, Columbia University and the University of Chicago, along with the Fed.
Photographer: Philip Pacheco/Getty Images
An online economics forum known for sexist, racist and abusive commentary included posts that originated at many prominent US universities as well as the Federal Reserve, according to a new study.
Economics Job Market Rumors, a site started in 2008 to aid newly minted doctorate holders in their job searches, has become notorious for hateful and damaging content, all anonymous. A trio of researchers from Boston University and Yale University said they unmasked internet addresses connected to two-thirds of posts and determined many of the users’ physical locations, though not their identities.