# How many of Cecil's questions are faked? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347 "2008-09-12T21:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/1 "2008-09-12T21:49:07Z")
[The recent zombie column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2783/how-would-the-u-s-military-fight-attack-by-a-zombie-army) is excellent, but I can’t help being struck by the notion that Cecil read The Zombie Survival Guide of his own accord and then wrote a question-answer style book review for us. I’m not doubting that many or almost all of the columns are real questions, but I recall having the feeling that the QAs were sometimes faked while reading the SD books. Not a huge deal - just something I think I noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/2 "2008-09-12T21:51:27Z")
I can’t speak for Cecil, but I’ve heard advice columnists say, in effect, “You can’t make this shit up, it comes from the readers.” Why is that so preposterous? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/3 "2008-09-12T22:29:36Z")
I don’t think any of them are made up. With the amount of people that visit the forums alone he has enough questions to answer for a hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/4 "2008-09-12T22:30:18Z")
It doesn’t seem preposterous - I admitted that most are probably real. But some of this shit seems made up. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/5 "2008-09-12T22:33:07Z")
I’ve moved this thread to IMHO per request of the OP. The questions are really from readers. I’ve seen them ahead of time and I see who they come from. (I haven’t written a staff report, but I hope to some time.) Somebody’s going to post and wonder if you can trust “them” on this, but aside from Ed and Cecil, only mods and SDSAB get to see this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/6 "2008-09-12T22:33:15Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > It doesn’t seem preposterous - I admitted that most are probably real. But some of this shit seems made up. I heard that about the “true stories” in Playboy. It broke my heart. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/7 "2008-09-12T22:35:12Z")
As SDSAB members, we get to see a lot of the questions sent to Cecil. You have _no idea_.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/8 "2008-09-12T22:39:54Z")
Seriously, you should see the pile of questions Cecil _doesn’t_ answer. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/9 "2008-09-12T22:40:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As SDSAB members, we get to see a lot of the questions sent to Cecil. > > You have _no idea_.😃 Interesting. These should get their own forum so users can see/answer/comment on them! ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/10 "2008-09-12T22:46:27Z")
“Cecil’s Inbox” - all pre-approved of course. Getting permission to post them is easy. Anytime someone sends an e-mail to Cecil their e-mail is ignored until they reply “agree” to a TOS e-mail. I’m dreaming, but this sounds like fun and profit:) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/11 "2008-09-12T22:48:07Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Seriously, you should see the pile of questions Cecil _doesn’t_ answer. 😉 My personal favorite is the one about whether swallowing a Mexican’s semen would be a useful technique for inoculating oneself against Montezeuma’s Revenge. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/12 "2008-09-12T22:58:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > My personal favorite is the one about whether swallowing a Mexican’s semen would be a useful technique for inoculating oneself against Montezeuma’s Revenge. That was you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/13 "2008-09-12T23:00:44Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > That was you? 😉 I don’t need to actually detail the horrific revenge that particular remark mandates, right? I mean, I’ve been posting here for years; everybody knows to step away from Gfactor till the monkeys are done with him, surely. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/14 "2008-09-12T23:06:53Z")
[Here’s one I submitted.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2248/do-cemetery-plots-have-expiration-dates) I’m the last question. So I know they are real. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/15 "2008-09-12T23:45:55Z")
I don’t know why you think any of them are fake. It would take a lot more effort to make up weird questions than just answer the ones that get sent from other people. Just as a guess, I imagine that the number of questions sent in versus those answered is well over 1000 to 1 and probably much higher. There is no need to make up weird questions on his own. Read GQ to see just the tinniest bit of fodder is. What do you think pan fried semen would be like? ---
**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:** [September 13, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/16 "2008-09-13T01:29:37Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > I heard that about the “true stories” in Playboy. It broke my heart. That would be the “true stories” in _Penthouse_. Or so I’ve been told. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/17 "2008-09-13T02:26:15Z")
Read [The Master’s response](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/46/how-many-calories-are-in-the-average-male-ejaculation) to an allegation he made up a letter. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/18 "2008-09-13T15:41:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > That would be the “true stories” in _Penthouse_. > > Or so I’ve been told. I knew a pornoisseur would come along and correct me if my memory had let me down!😃 ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/19 "2008-09-13T17:03:36Z")
Count me as another person who doesn’t understand why you would think any of the questions are fake. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s a pretty big world out there, with all sorts of free-thinking individuals (and that’s being nice) whose brains work differently than most. Sometimes that makes them a genius, and sometimes it just makes them curious about bull semen. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347/20 "2008-09-14T21:04:44Z")
After reading the column in question, a few thought spring to mind (in addition to the already mentioned “people ask the darnedest things”): He probably gets a dozen zombie questions a day. Fantasy is a popular topic amongst the users of this site, and presumably the readers of his column. The Zombie Survival Guide is not the only reference mentioned. He could have just as easily have watched the movie White Zombie and decided to make a review. The knowledge from the book he could have just read on the local bookstore after getting the letter. There is no need for him to have actually read the book. Someone with a range of interests as wide as “Cecil” could have had already read the book and known it by heart. Or know about the book and referenced it. And he sure can get away with a lot of political commentary on his column. You try and sneak 3 Iraq comments on a zombie themed thread and enjoy the warning. All in all, I think it is quite a stretch to single out this particular thread. If I had to, I would be more suspicious of threads about actual trivia. That’s the type of stuff you normally learn of and want to run and share. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-cecils-questions-are-faked/463347.md?page=2)