A few months ago I responded to a request for papers for a conference being organised by a BIG UNIVERSITY in London -( I can’t even find a web resource, all that comes up are ‘ERROR - the requested URL could not be retrieved’). My paper was in well before the deadline (which kept getting extended and extended). On submission of the paper I requested confirmation that it had been received - which I got.

Then nothing.

Several weeks later, a flood of emails asking why I haven’t sent camera ready art-work, and in a slightly unpleasant way suggesting that I’d given them the wrong email. That the paper had been reviewed and received but unless I did a whole heap of things (including paying to go to the conference itself, even thought I had now been asked to do a presentation), then it would not be accepted. So there. Yes, so there. What a waste of time.

Have just visited said Universities website again (through a different route) and found the ‘School of Information Systems’ (?) but no mention of alleged conference.

Has this all been a strange academic dream, or do modern Schools of Information Systems not teach basic email management techniques? Like when someone sends you an email, it’s fairly easy to file it somewhere, rather than write it down inaccurately on a piece of paper?