I haven't, but have wanted to. But let me summarize the issue. Suppose I have students A, B, C with deadlines in successive weeks. I allocate time accordingly to wrap up their papers in the last weeks. …
Now A's deadline is extended by a week. This sits directly atop the time that I *promised* to B. I have two choices, neither of them satisfactory. …
I can tell B "Sorry, I promised you exclusive access, but you don't get it". B did nothing wrong. The PC chair of A's conference did. But B suffers. …
Or I tell A, "Yes, I know, you're young and ambitious and want to «improve your paper» like the PC chair said, but I'm sorry, I have no time for you — and as a jr student your edits may do as much harm as good, so please avoid much improving." …
Of course, A's competitors vying for the same few slots are not sitting still, so A's paper is in some sense getting slightly weaker relative to who they are being judged against (face it, all PCs end up making relative decisions, _especially_ at small events). …
Meanwhile, we've forgotten about C. But even C has knock-on effects. If I end up splitting my time between A and B, that usually means I'm working even harder than usual, so by the time I get to C's week, I'm much more tired and cranky. …
THIS IS NOT A HYPOTHETICAL. I have been here on multiple instances. I can tell you from personal experience IT SUCKS. I never once felt like I was being given the "gift" of an "opportunity" to "improve" my paper. …
But I haven't even gotten to the real issue. You know who was most hurt by this on each instance? It wasn't A, B, C, or me. It was my WIFE, who quietly took on more household chores, and my KID, who had to make do with less time from me. …
You want to talk about making CS more equitable? You want to talk about work-life balance? Well, then put your deadlines where you mouth is. Fix them. …
If you absolutely must change, don't present it as a joyful feature. Do the right thing: APOLOGIZE to those whose schedule you have disrupted. It's hubris to assume you know everyone's schedules better than them & your change is obviously welcome. Assume someone may not agree. …
When I chair, I always say the deadline is FIXED. I say it boldly on the CFP. I then mean it. That's my CONTRACT to the world. We're software people: we understand what it means to honor a contract. …
Now let's talk about these four grad students. Did they not know about the event? Were they not aware of the deadline? Were their advisors? I'm guessing 100% everyone knew. If it's that important to them, why didn't they plan ahead? …
Maybe the event has a history of shifting deadlines. We create this mess and then compound it. It privileges those who are insiders: they know what the "real" deadline is. Someone trying to enter the community gets the bad deal. Is that fair? …
Summary: deadline extensions are not an unalloyed good. They are exclusionary, they disrupt lives (literally), and they create unpleasant tradeoffs. Make deadlines firm and stick to them. Everything literally gets better. …
But if you MUST extend a deadline, at least apologize. Acknowledge you may have disrupted someone's life. Consider marking late papers as late, so PCs can take that into account! Make a fairer playing field. End of sermon. (-:
Btw, it's a bit unfair that my comments are all in response to @mircealungu. This is a general issue. My thoughts have been in my head for years. It's not personal against him, and it's unfortunate they came out in response to what he'd regard as an innocent post. Sorry Mircea.
