# A serious question for Sam Stone on Factual Errors **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 11, 2021, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881 "2021-12-11T12:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 107
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2121 "2024-02-22T22:10:52Z")
Persecuting people for lying but not for telling the truth just isn’t Fair and Balanced! ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2122 "2024-02-22T23:33:47Z")
You know… I apprecaite all of you paying attention to Sam\_Stone-headed, so that he’s been making fewer useful threads the SS show. Good work! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2123 "2024-02-22T23:46:45Z")
Maybe his ex-wife hacked into his computer and posted all that bullshit. Could be. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2124 "2024-02-22T23:51:06Z")
I already said I’m banning myself from P&E. Spent some time today having to turn off notifications for all the threads I was in. So mission accomplished for you, and you can now back off any time,. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2024, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2125 "2024-02-22T23:51:59Z")
Yeah, whatever guys. Not being able to remember if you first met your wife online, or by saving her from being bullied at a baseball game, or because you were chatting with fiends about Warren Zevon, and she was physically within earshot, and it was like the two of you immediately old friends are all the exact same thing. We should all be hanging our heads in shame. Its normal to be this confused about how you met your wife. It’s even more normal to try to mash these three contradictory stories into a single event to cover your tracks, forgetting in the immediacy of coming up with a coherent way to weave them all together that in one story you met your wife when she physically overheard you because she was in literal earshot. Confusing that with a teleconference you had 35 years ago is perfectly normal. I mean, people teleconferenced all the time in 1989, right? Oh… yeah… oopsie! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2126 "2024-02-23T00:00:15Z")
The only thing I may have forgotten was an extra user meet we both attended 30 odd years ago. But yeah, feel free to hang your head in shame. You’ve done lots to warrant it. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2127 "2024-02-23T00:00:15Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I already said I’m banning myself from P&E. Spent some time today having to turn off notifications for all the threads I was in. So mission accomplished for you, and you can now back off any time,. That was never the “mission”. So, yet again, you’re lying. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2128 "2024-02-23T00:00:41Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Confusing that with a teleconference you had 35 years ago is perfectly normal. I mean, people teleconferenced all the time in 1989, right? Oh… yeah… oopsie! It really is quite uncool That you’re so Preoccupied With 19 19 1989 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2129 "2024-02-23T00:01:14Z")
I appreciated your posts in the Amazon Pit thread. They were good posts and had good info. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2130 "2024-02-23T00:01:38Z")
Thanks a lot. I appreciate that. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2131 "2024-02-23T00:03:14Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > That was never the “mission”. So, yet again, you’re lying. Tell it to this guy: > [@ParallelLines](#): > > You know… I apprecaite all of you paying attention to Sam\_Stone-headed, so that he’s been making fewer useful threads the SS show. Good work! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2132 "2024-02-23T00:05:18Z")
Umm, the phrase ‘the PosterX show’ has a specific meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2133 "2024-02-23T00:18:15Z")
Here’s an idea: Instead of a self-banning from P&E, how about if you CHECK your information BEFORE posting, and don’t rely on stuff that is half-remembered, or came from a dubious source. How about if you do a bit of research BEFORE posting something that simply comports with a pre-conceived notion of how things should be? And also, READ the full citation you post, before posting. Don’t rely on the headline. Read. The. Article. It often transpires that a headline is misleading or gives incomplete information. Finally, ADMIT when you’ve made a mistake. It’s not a sign of weakness to be wrong. We are all wrong sometimes. “Whoops, it seems I was wrong. Nevermind.” That’s OK. If you can commit to doing these things, an amazing thing will happen. The amount of bad things being said about you will diminish. Wow! That would be a good thing. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2134 "2024-02-23T01:48:42Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The only thing I may have forgotten was an extra user meet we both attended 30 odd years ago. Psst: you also forgot that teleconferencing wasn’t a thing people did back in 1989. So, you can’t be mistaking a teleconference you were in with her for your reason she was **in earshot** and you can’t have **seen her perk up** and say, “You like Warren Zevon??” in a teleconference. Or have you already forgotten that you said you misremembered a teleconference as a face-to-face conversation? > [@Pitting Honeybadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-honeybadger/810183/986): > > THAT I don’t remember. It’s not quite what happened, but close. We were chatting online privately, not with a group of people. Maybe I misremembered it as a teleconference communication with a group or something. We did get engaged and married in those timeframes. I don’t know why I misremembered that at the time - you are dragging up a post from 20 years ago. Like Judge Judy said, you don’t need a good memory if you’re telling the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2135 "2024-02-23T01:58:47Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > you also forgot that teleconferencing wasn’t a thing people did back in 1989. [Awww come on!](https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/The-history-and-evolution-of-video-conferencing#:~:text=In%201989%2C%20AT%26T%20chose%20PictureTel,the%20AT%26T%20office%20in%20Paris.) > in 1982, Compression Labs, an AT&T competitor, launched CLI T1 as the first commercial group video conferencing system. Its hardware took up an entire room, and it had a hefty upfront cost of $250,000. Each call also cost $1,000/hour. Maybe Sam and future bride were early adopters of videoconferencing, and had lots of money! Hmmmm? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2136 "2024-02-23T02:02:15Z")
But, also: > [@](#): > > In 1984, Concept Communication in the United States replaced the 100-pound (45 kg), US$100,000 computers necessary for teleconferencing, with a $12,000 [circuit board](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_board) that doubled the video [frame rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate) from 15 to 30 frames per second, and which reduced the equipment to the size of a circuit board fitting into standard [personal computers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer). [Videotelephony - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotelephony#:~:text=Finally%2C%20in%20the%201990s%2C%20Internet,by%20Tim%20Dorcey%20et%20al). It’s not out of the question that a serious computer hobbyist would have that by 1989. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2137 "2024-02-23T02:04:09Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Psst: you also forgot that teleconferencing wasn’t a thing people did back in 1989 Oh yeah? Explain this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9or2BpV0W9g/maxresdefault.jpg "1986: The first VIDEO PHONE call made in Britain | Tomorrow’s World | Retro Tech | BBC Archive") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9or2BpV0W9g) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2138 "2024-02-23T02:17:35Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Psst: you also forgot that teleconferencing wasn’t a thing people did back in 1989. Instead of calling you a liar and demanding an apology, or calling you an idiot for not knowing what you are talking about, I am going to be charitable and assume you are talking about something other than multi-user realtime chat, which back in the day was called ‘teleconferencing’. Several vendors offered multi-user teleconferencing software in the mid-80’s. The first came out in 1986 or thereabouts. The term ‘chat’ for chat rooms I think probably started with IRC - Internet Relay Chat, which came along a little later. So back to sleuthing, Encyclopedia Brown. Your last gotcha failed. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2139 "2024-02-23T02:26:03Z")
(Meanwhile, somewhere downtown Edmonton) - Hey, remember that guy that used to work here, you know… that guy who thought he knew everything? - Oh ya. Mister Knowitall. Every single fucking meeting, he used to tell a bullshit story. Thought he had to instruct us poor plebs about what was what. Once when I called him on his bullshit he sent me a 12 paragraph email “proving” he was right. And it was also full of crap. - Whatever happened to him? - Retired I guess. Good riddance. - Ya, I thought that the meetings were much more pleasant now. Fuck that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881/2140 "2024-02-23T02:27:36Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Oh yeah? Explain this: Around the two minute mark he says the “digital equipment needed in the telephone exchanges for a dial up network won’t be available for three or four years” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881.md?page=106) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-serious-question-for-sam-stone-on-factual-errors/955881.md?page=108)