I’m here to report – somewhat sadly – a recent sighting of a Profzilla rampant. Now, the Profzilla is a relatively common creature and most of the time it happily co-exists with the rest of us, getting by the best we can in the scholarly community. The Profzilla is the academic writ large – you can always hear it coming because it has a big reputation and a big mouth. You can nearly always see it coming too, as it is usually accompanied by a retinue of admirers. While producing regular loud emissions the Profzilla generally causes no harm.

“Call that a piece of research? I’ll eat your scumbag data and your puny ‘just raising questions’ for breakfast,” he roared.

The Profzilla is however occasionally enraged. It’s not clear why any particular incident triggers their righteous anger. But when it happens, the effects are immediately apparent. In its aroused state, the Profzilla is prone to protracted and highly public ad-hominen ranting. While making some interesting noises along the way, the overall effect is deafening and destructive. Sweeping all along in a tide of invective and polemic, the Profzilla rampant is particularly dangerous for smaller and younger members of the community who have not encountered its like before.

Most of us have learnt to live with this behaviour. However we do hope that, like its Jurassic cousin, the Profzilla rampant dies out. There’s probably a bit of Profzilla living in all of us, of course, but most of us know better than to let it out.

Sound familiar? Seen this lately? I have, and I rather wish I hadn’t.