Like many others, I have become entangled in collaborative projects that have hindered the pursuit of my own work for precious years. The fact that someone asks us to edit or coauthor (even with promises that it will be quick, easy, or career enhancing) is never a reason to commit to a scholarly project. Why agree to do projects that are only vaguely interesting to us, or that yoke us to the work of others at the expense of our own, or that use the same data and methods to support familiar arguments? Far too many of us find ourselves, often with the best of intentions, agreeing to what we
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