Ned Potter

Just two-factor-authenticated into an online training module about the different coloured fire extinguishers.

I'd love to see the journey-mapping for the fraud this is preventing...

'So, they've successfully stolen your username and password. They immediately do your overdue Fire Safety Training'

Side note they are SO SMALL. We kept expecting them to become typically sized cats but they're past 2 now and show now signs of a late growth spurt.

Cattens, Grace calls them.

String lights, a dark blue evening sky, and two cats sitting on a wall. One looks at the camera while the other stares off into the distance.

International cat day is it?

Slap a Parental Advisory sticker on this pic I took of Shnoops and MegaCat and it’s basically an album cover.

You’ll find this book in our ‘Accountability’ section.

Was genuinely disappointed to go onto warwick.ac.uk the other day and find they’d replaced the main homepage link so it’s no longer ‘find out more about our brand’ - this makes up for it a little.

This is well worth reading

Delighted to see this @jsendall.bsky.social!

"We understand people have concerns, but the sooner we embrace the fact that Tullett's new Superb is inevitable, the sooner we can pivot to set up effective guidance on the use of its nice wrap-around ambient interior lighting," said a spokesperson.

They should do an update on Knight Rider that shows David Hasselhoff's character chronically unable to drive safely or accurately without KITT's assistance, to counter this argument from Zuckerberg which I think - hear me out - may be inaccurate

Yep (and apologies if you were already referring to this!) I made the same comparison in the full post, it is resilience-esque for sure…

In case you missed it yesterday, mega-thread about the issues with Imposter Syndrome, its possible frequent misdiagnosis, and Trespasser Syndrome being an important alternative.

Sorry didn't realise you were here or I'd've tagged you in the thread!

Ooooo thanks I'd not spotted that @johnxlibris.bsky.social was here - hey John!

I can totally understand that. I naively thought my lack of imposter syndrome was just, you know, sort of innate rather than the results of my experiences, but looking back I think I was never made to feel like an imposter.

Thanks Megan

It might not be Imposter Syndrome... We need to talk about Trespasser Syndrome — Ned Potter Back in 2014 I wrote on this blog that Imposter Syndrome ran through librarianship like a vein. Writing now in 2025, I consider that a misdiagnosis. Imposter Syndrome is defined as a psychological co...

I made a whole thread of this because I think it's important, but Bluesky is a tricky platform for something this complicated... If you're at all interested in this, please read the full post with some more relevant quotes from people more qualified to talk about it than I am!

For those of you here today who support racially minoritised staff and students, ask yourselves: have I provided people with the tools they need to be able to thrive in the space? If not, what else do I need to be doing? Instead of helping underrepresented groups to walk past the metaphorical ‘no entry or ‘no trespassing signs,’ instead pull down the sign before they get there, have a comfortable seat ready for them: don’t just applaud the courage and grit on getting there.

Sadly my colleague Raj isn't on Bluesky (yet!), but she organised the Trespasser's Conference at York to explore this issue, and so I'll finish this thread with a quote from her keynote address.

Instantly (for me, anyway!) you start to think of all the times someone has said they have imposter syndrome, and see that perhaps it was Trespasser Syndrome for many of those people.

I do think language matters, nuance matters, and we should try and avoid perpetuating harmful examples of it.

>

People from underrepresented groups are not afraid that they are imposters; they are afraid that the majority groups won’t see them for who they are and won’t welcome them if they do see them. These fears are not the fears of imposters; they are the fears of trespassers. A trespasser is someone who enters spaces they are not supposed to be, where they do not belong. A trespasser isn’t afraid of being discovered for who they really are; they are afraid of being treated like they don’t belong where they are.

Obviously go and read the whole thing, but here's a key quote.

| Nextions Impact | Is It Imposter Syndrome or Is It Trespasser Syndrome? “Trespasser Syndrome” is a more empowering description of what underrepresented groups experience vs. "Imposter Syndrome."

'Trespasser Syndrome' was (I think) first coined by Dr Arin N. Reeves, in 2022. I’d recommend reading her article Is It Imposter Syndrome or Is It Trespasser Syndrome?

nextions.com/insights/per...

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So we need a term that acknowledges that the feeling comes from without rather than from within, and is actually a form of systemic oppression rather than a psychological condition.

Which is where Trespasser Syndrome comes in.

>

<< are ethnically minoritised, or female, or from working-class backgrounds, or part of any intersectional combination of underrepresented groups, the 'feeling of persistent doubt about one's abilities' is surely often likely to stem from being treated like, & made to feel like, an imposter.

>

As I say in the post at the top of this thread, I look back with embarrassment at ascribing my own lack of (what is commonly termed) imposter syndrome to anything other than privilege - as a white middle class male I'm not treated like an imposter.

But for my colleagues in the profession who >

I've mentioned before an article on @libraryleadpipe.bsky.social in 2020, by Nicola Andrews on resisting Imposter Syndrome:

"The lack of belonging I felt did not stem from a lack of self-esteem, but from the knowledge that libraries and academia as institutions never intended I belong."

< but the trouble is it's framed as it’s something you ‘have’, a personal flaw that comes from within, rather than something being done to you.

For many underrepresented groups, especially in academia, the reality is being *made to feel like an imposter* - and that isn't Imposter Syndrome.

>

Imposter Syndrome (‘persistent doubt concerning one's abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one's ongoing success') is so widely used and understood that we hear it all the time without pausing to question the diagnosis >

It might not be Imposter Syndrome... We need to talk about Trespasser Syndrome — Ned Potter Back in 2014 I wrote on this blog that Imposter Syndrome ran through librarianship like a vein. Writing now in 2025, I consider that a misdiagnosis. Imposter Syndrome is defined as a psychological co...

New post on how we use #ImposterSyndrome when perhaps we mean #TrespasserSyndrome. 📚

My colleague Raj Mann introduced me to this new term and I can't get it out of my head. I think 'Imposter Syndrome' is a potentially harmful term we should stop misusing in Higher Ed, libraries & elsewhere...

🧵>>

Ah sorry, I see it now - didn't expand via the arrow!

It’s brilliant!

Ha, I am also on leave and am *about to set off* on a run that is normally concluded by 7:30am at the latest, so I feel this!