A couple of readers asked whether I was going to reply on the blog to any of the recent blog criticisms of the PGR.  I am not, since there is almost nothing new in the criticisms that hasn't been addressed a hundred times, to no avail, since the critics have, with rare exceptions, other axes to grind.  Faculty advise their students where to apply to graduate school based in significant measure on judgments of quality.  The PGR aggregates a lot of those judgments, for the benefit of lots of students.  This is obvious to most who participate in the surveys and use them.  The strong response to the current surveys indicates that most professional philosophers know that the PGR does well what it does.  Those interested in the merits of the surveys and the value of the results should consult the sociologist Kieran Healy's research on them (some of which you can read here.)