# Ignorance Test **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 13, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487 "2010-07-13T02:52:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tropes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tropes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tropes)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/1 "2010-07-13T02:52:12Z")
Regarding the message at the top of the home page " Congratulation! Your IP Address has been selected as a potential winner"; is this really part of an ignorance test to assess the progress since 1973? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/2 "2010-07-13T04:14:29Z")
I’m so smart my brain hurts. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/3 "2010-07-13T12:46:09Z")
Sadly, neither we nor the READER have any control over which ads are placed there. I wish 'twere otherwise, but 'tisn’t. The way the commercial whirled works, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/4 "2010-07-13T12:52:58Z")
To clarify, we have control over some aspects of ads, such as sound - why we’re still getting noisy ads is a matter of continuing inquiry. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to filter for ads that insult your intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/5 "2010-07-13T13:31:00Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > To clarify, we have control over some aspects of ads, such as sound - why we’re still getting noisy ads is a matter of continuing inquiry. Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to filter for ads that insult your intelligence. I think our subscribers are plenty smart. (Subscribers don’t see ads.) ---
**Author:** ![tropes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tropes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tropes)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/6 "2010-07-14T14:37:08Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > I think our subscribers are plenty smart. (Subscribers don’t see ads.) I am now a subscriber. I guess that makes me plenty smart. Now when I close my eyes I don’t see the ads. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/7 "2010-07-14T19:00:32Z")
Actually, it’s an intelligence test being carried out all over the internet, by aliens determining whether internet users (as presumably brighter than the average of humanity) are smart enough to figure out how IP address tracking works. The idea is that if the number of people answering doesn’t decline in a manner that indicates we are smart enough, they will exterminate our species as “too stupid to exist”, rather than “worthy of joining the Galactic Federation”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/8 "2010-07-14T20:06:55Z")
> [@tropes](#): > > I am now a subscriber. I guess that makes me plenty smart. Now when I close my eyes I don’t see the ads. When/how did you subscribe? I’m not finding the transaction. Can you contact me off the board so we can find out what happened here? [EMAIL=“[TubaDiva@aol.com](mailto:TubaDiva@aol.com)”]TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/9 "2010-07-14T20:32:41Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > > [@tropes](#): > > > > I am now a subscriber. I guess that makes me plenty smart. Now when I close my eyes I don’t see the ads. > > When/how did you subscribe? I’m not finding the transaction. > > Can you contact me off the board so we can find out what happened here? [EMAIL=“[TubaDiva@aol.com](mailto:TubaDiva@aol.com)”]TubaDiva WOOSSSHHHH! See the last sentence. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tropes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tropes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tropes)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/10 "2010-07-15T05:26:23Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > When/how did you subscribe? I’m not finding the transaction. > > Can you contact me off the board so we can find out what happened here? [EMAIL=“[TubaDiva@aol.com](mailto:TubaDiva@aol.com)”]TubaDiva I like your line"Tryin to think/nothing happens" ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ignorance-test/546487/11 "2010-07-15T16:53:34Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Subscribers don’t see ads. So I might have been selected as a potential winner and don’t even know about it? Well dang!