Woman trolled by 'basement guys' for celebrating her PhD thesis — so she had some fun with it

After relentless years of research, sleepless nights and most importantly, intellectual struggle, the moment of final PhD thesis submission feels surprisingly unreal. Similarly, a woman named Ally Louks–who goes by @drallylouks on X–experienced a moment of pure joy when she completed her PhD degree in English literature. She shared her excitement on the platform and dropped a picture of herself proudly flaunting her PhD thesis. With a wide grin on her face, she wrote, "Thrilled to say I passed my viva with no corrections and am officially Ph.D.," in the caption. The beautiful picture amazed over 116 million viewers online.

While the post garnered an outpouring of praise for her big achievement, it also attracted several aggressive and negative comments, especially from men. The situation became so bad that people even openly gave sexual assault threats to the PhD scholar. For instance, @fakeandgay61 commented, "Wow! You wrote something worthless that nobody is ever going to read instead of starting a family. Here's a sticker." @poxesfoxes said, "You would have spent your years better by getting married and having children." Similarly, @chhopsky criticized Louks for her thesis and wrote, "It's not every day that I call someone stupid, and they respond with definitive proof that I was right. Incredible work!"

Meanwhile, @cptancapistan added, "Enjoy the debt since nothing you learned or produced will ever be of any benefit to society." @eddiebacon9 wrote, "What an incredible waste of money and time!" On the other hand, several people stood in support of Louks and appreciated her for withstanding all the negativity with grace. @aaronbastani shared, "Congratulations! A PhD is a big accomplishment. Ignore the negativity. Opinions are like backsides - we all have one!" @adamrutherford chimed in, "Congratulations! Dr Louks, your thesis sounds fascinating!" She turned the table on the trolls by responding with humor. When one person tweeted, "Fair play for not turning off comments," she replied, "And forgo the entertainment? Never."

When someone tweeted, "We need a new prefix for people with academic PhDs. "Dr" should mean something," and she responded, "You know what, I don’t disagree with this! I certainly won’t be putting up my hand if someone asks “is there a doctor in here?” on a plane!" Notably, considering the confusion and negative response from the people, Louks felt the need to clarify the subject of her PhD thesis. She wrote, "Since there is some confusion about the nature of my research, here is the abstract for my PhD thesis, which I hope will provide more context for anyone interested in learning more about my work!"

Louks' extraordinary approach to addressing the negativity surrounding her post while emphasizing the positive responses from others resonated deeply with many viewers online. She highlighted, "Since this whole debacle has now hit the news, I think it's worth drawing attention to the fact that the majority of those commenting and quote-tweeting are doing so with generosity, intellectual curiosity, and kindness."

Concentrating on the constructive and meaningful attention of the majority of the audience on the platform, the PhD holder shifted the narrative from controversy to the more uplifting aspects of the public's response. This particular story underscores the challenges as well as triumphs that come with public announcements of personal accomplishments. Despite the online bullying, Louks's resilience reaffirmed her academic success and showcased her grace. 

You can follow Dr. Ally Louks (@drallylouks) on X for more academic updates.