iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Gemini AI is inserting this strange ad into an actual article. Like at the end of multiple paragraphs. It offers a (bad) explanation and definition of what economic analysis is. Fronted by an ad. Maybe inserted by Chrome? Unless this is some feature by @thewalrus.ca? Seems weird and bad.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Just a shout out to the reviewers at @cjps-rcsp.bsky.social The Canadian political behaviour community is excellent, people almost always accept. I can see that they're also really busy - just looked through 8 potential reviewers and all had reviewed this year. Thanks!

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

In case you were wondering, Canadian party identification 1988-2025

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Its baffling to me why prominent Democrats aren't loudly and repeatedly saying "after we win the next election we are going to vigorously investigate everyone who give money to Trump". It works both ways, as deterrence and as campaigning.

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Chagai Weiss @chagaiweiss.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

🚨The Toronto Political Behaviour Workshop is back for its 12th edition! Join us on Nov. 13–14, 2026 @UofT! We welcome paper/poster proposals on any topic in political behaviour, broadly defined! 📅 Submission Deadline: July 11. Apply here: utorontops.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Had Claude do a review of a draft paper and it referred to one problem as a "known kill-shot in peer review". Well then, guess I better work on that.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

On my way to #CPSA_ASPC26 and Toronto Union really is a beautiful train station. If they would only finish that last bit of construction...

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🇨🇦 CPSA ACSP 🇨🇦 @cpsa-acsp.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

📬 Your #CPSA_ACSP26 participant INFO is here! We're thrilled to welcome you @uottawa.ca next week! Everything you need for the conference: programme, registration hub, Boutique Expo, quiet room, Wi-Fi & more. 🍁👉 conta.cc/4ecGFab @jplewis.bsky.social @alexmarland.bsky.social @jlisayoung.bsky.social

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Everyone needs to relax about the canvas hack. We all do that 2-factor authentication thing five times a day, so the data is safe now. Right?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Again! Now I have to wait another five years for another chance.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

LLM just said "I appreciate you being direct". Are they getting passive aggressive now? It was bad enough when my printer started talking, not sure I can handle sass from my computer.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

A fun little update of the data from this book - this year possibly the highest number of floor-crossings ever (at least since 1990s)? For non-Canadians: multiple floor crossings to the Liberal Party recently, which is on the edge of a majority.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

The last few years have really made it clear that people (including academics) basically only have substantive preferences, almost no procedural principles at all. Majoritarianism? Sovereignty? Plain text of constitutions? All completely flipped ideologically. Even among experts!

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

You're too busy and don't have time to do all the reviews? Easy step one, stop reviewing for Elsevier journals. Later you can also stop editing and submitting to them. (sorry to Electoral Studies, but this calls for market discipline, time to devalue those assets)

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

So LLMs have guidelines about discussing presidents? Trying out ChatGTP5.2, and it reasons: "OK, I’m thinking through how to respect guidelines on discussing influential politicians. Redirecting to general topics like race and elections research instead of focusing on Obama as an individual."

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Reviewing PhD applications for next year, and I can't believe the number and quality of them. We always have good applicants, but this year we could easily admit three full cohorts. And I suspect the acceptance rate will be really high too.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I was an external examiner for a PhD defense for the first time today, and it was a great experience. I went in person rather than zoom. That has costs, but I think its worth it. Partly because its an important event, but also somehow being in person makes it important. 10/10 would examine again.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

New work on on Immigration attitudes, out in @irpp.org with @natashagoel.bsky.social We show dramatical increase in anti-immigration opinion in Canada over the past couple of years. Its very different than previous shifts like in 1990s...

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Very satisfying year for Toronto to win the American League baseball championship. Just sayin.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Love to see our beautiful wildlife on @utm.utoronto.ca campus

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

I copy pasted some text from a french-language Word document. And now Word thinks my entire document must be french, and underlined everything in red as misspelled 🤦

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

This an interesting phrasing from the Minister of Indigenous services. "Canadians and Indigenous peoples" echoes a common phrasing "Canadians and Quebecers" used by Quebec nationalist politicians as a way of emphasizing that these are two separate groups of peoples.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Another example of universities corrupting our youth 🤣

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Free paper idea! Do people from Ontario actually know or care less about provincial politics than people in other provinces?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

The Paper Skygest feed is excellent and you should all add it. If you want to see research/paper posts, its clearly the best thing around. Almost like old academic twitter.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

I'm just finishing my American Politics syllabus, and used a bunch of podasts/substacks/explainers. So thank you very much to @goodauth.bsky.social @adambonica.bsky.social @donmoyn.bsky.social @juliaazari.bsky.social @egojunk.bsky.social @proflupton.bsky.social @sarahbinder.bsky.social and..

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Totally forgot that Converse 1964 include a discussion of ideology and mass support of the Nazi party!

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Adding some material to our PhD Canadian course on political behavior of Quebec nationalism/sovereignty. Do you have recommendations for classic or influential pieces?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Here is a fun chart: turnout over time. Contrary to popular wisdom, there is no long slow decline. In fact, there is a single, permeant step down in 2000. I'm pretty sure I know why, but surely someone has published on this before?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

When I google CPSA @cpsa-acsp.bsky.social I accidentally get College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta. But when I google PSRM @psrm.bsky.social I get the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, which seems much more entertaining.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Paper accepted! Literally no one around in my department today, so I'm just going to walk around fist pumping to myself.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Oh a new journal request for a review just arrived. I don't have time right now, but I'm sure in a month I'll have lots of time to do it.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Looking forward to presenting “Electoral Discrimination Reconsidered”, with Selen Onculoglu at #CPSA_ACSP25 The last few years have seen a) major changes in racial politics b) new null results c) methodological developments. So: do ethnic minority candidates really get less votes?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

I did a bunch of media interviews this week for the election, and I know it's better to talk in sound bites rather than paragraphs. But its honestly quite difficult.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Updating my CV, and realized I've reviewed for 33 separate journals (not all this year thankfully). And this is on a relatively narrow set of topics. There is a lot of journals out there!

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

ChatGPT and Copilot can't even format a citation right, what is the point. It supposedly accesses the web, but can't even find the author and date of a news article, so makes it up. I see people posting about amazing results, but then I get this kind of problem and don't know what to think.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Its important that a paper address a gap in previous knowledge, but under no circumstances should it refer to "filling a gap". Similarly, it should review the relevant literature, but must not have a section called "literature review".

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Gave a talk to our PhD students today, and feeling appreciative of all the recent methods work on improving common practices. Thanks to all the authors who work to make their work accessible, especially on social media. A few articles we discussed:

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Has anyone measured Party ID strength of the other party? Like Dem IDPG strength of Republicans. Perhaps lower, but not zero. Maybe someone has it in an appendix? If so I'd like to cite it! Maybe @chrispolpsych.bsky.social @lilymasonphd.bsky.social or @agtheodoridis.bsky.social know of any?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Thank you to all authors who specify where they made changes (manuscript page numbers etc) in their R&R responses.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

New must read book on polarization! Especially important for our American friends, provides important deep comparative context.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Idle thought just now - would I take up arms if the US invades? Hard to believe that thought could even occur to me.

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Reposted by Randy Besco

Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 24/12/2024

1/ So, where were we? Oh yep, #duvetknowitschristmas. Firstly, some admin: Twitter/X has evidently been run into the ground by a preening, self-radicalised clot, so while there's a slim possibility that this annual celebration might be thriving over there, I won't know cos I won't be looking.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Apparently there is a mass influx of new accounts from the Netherlands?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 30/10/2024

Where do people put robustness checks, alternative models, etc? I like a section near the end of the paper, as they’re often distracting or off main topic. But maybe readers think of a problem and miss how its dealt with at the end, or have already made up their mind. Any advice?

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 22/10/2024

Riding a bike while wearing a dress shirt today, got told I "look like a movie professor". 🤷

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 05/03/2024

Does @pgi-wpsa.bsky.social not show reviewers the other reviews? If so this is too bad, I like seeing what other people wrote, and seems like a bad idea to take away even small benefits from reviewing.

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Randy Besco @randybesco.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

Qualtrics is jacking up the price of our departmental license by 30%, I wonder if this is happening to anyone else.

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