speed round — submit your questions

by Alison Green on August 27, 2024

Tomorrow is the Ask a Manager speed round! On Wednesday from 2-3:30 pm ET, I’ll be answering as many questions as I can live on the website during that time.

To submit a question in advance, use the form below.

These will be short answers, obviously, so this is better suited for questions that don’t require lengthy, nuanced replies.

The speed round has now happened (you can read it here) so I am closing this form.

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{ 21 comments }

{ 21 comments… read them below }

    3. Jay (no, the other one)*

      If anyone hasn’t read the speed dial story, click on it NOW. It’s an AAM classic and one of my faves.

  2. Jamboree*

    I couldn’t get the first screen to work (send button was greyed out) even though I was logged in so I’m submitting my peripherally connected question here:

    Your [Surprise Me] button is probably my favorite thing on the Internet but I’m always sad when I want to comment on an oldie because you close the comments so quickly after a new column goes up. Why is that? I comment occasionally on current posts during the window but I often find old posts I’d love to ask for an update on! Thanks for all you do and the knowledge you share, but probably most importantly, thanks for often level setting what normal is for kids.

    1. Dawn*

      I’d recommend trying a different browser and/or clearing your browser cache to submit your question.

      That said, I think the posts close quickly simply because there’s no new comment notifications on them and the few comments that do trickle in after the fact quickly lose relevance. If you go read some old comments from 2012ish, before the comments closed automatically, they pretty rapidly degenerate and that was with way less people visiting the site.

      But honestly, if you comment on an old post, nobody is going to see it except weirdos like me who are obsessively working their way through the archives.

    2. Kalongdia*

      Hey! Just wanted to let you know that the form worked on my end, so I submitted this question for you :)

    3. SusieQQ*

      I know Alison moderates the comments, so my guess is part of the reason they get closed is so she doesn’t have to maintain every single discussion.

      1. So they all cheap-ass rolled over and one fell out*

        After a while, the comments are 99% from spammers.

        1. Dawn*

          Or, I’m finding as I go through the archives, they’re from people who found the post through Google who want to ask about a similar subject and they ask the question in the comments long after anyone else has stopped responding.

          I’ve seen sooooo many final comments on posts from 2012 which say something like “I am also in a similar situation, here is what is happening, please advise me quickly” and of course they never get a response because the first time I’m seeing their comment is 12 years later.

          1. Hlao-roo*

            I confess those are some of my favorite comments. Post from 2012, final comment from 2015: “My boss has it out for me and I want to move across the country and ideally I’d have a new job by tomorrow. Please advise!”

            1. Dawn*

              Fair, but I can completely understand why one wouldn’t want to have automod trigger on those. ;)

              1. Hlao-roo*

                Oh yeah, I completely get why the comments close so much faster now and I don’t think that posts should be left open to comments for years. I just enjoy stumbling over those relics in the deep archives every once in a while :)

        2. Audiophile*

          The comment section used to stay open longer, but I think that was when readership was lower, and thus, the comments were more manageable. As some of those posts went viral, like the intern dress code question, I’m sure it got harder for Alison to moderate.

  4. Irish Teacher.*

    Oooh and I’m taking a work from home day tomorrow (we’re on our first week back, there are only two classes in tomorrow and I don’t teach them so I only have planning to do). I mean, it will be after work, Irish time anyway, but I won’t be rushing. I am looking forward to this.

  7. Snowy*

    I just cannot get the form to work (on mobile, might be why? send button disappears when I type in the box, tried two different browsers) so:

    career change advice

    Any advice for changing careers back to what you got a degree in, after working in a completely unrelated and unappreciated field (so, no relevant work experience to the job you want)?

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