Why doesn’t he do some conspiracies? Just because there’s websites making counter-arguments doesn’t mean Cecil shouldn’t write about it (cecil’s not one to leave the last word to some chumps with websites, is he?). P.S. does cecil get to rummage throught the questions too, or are the ones that he writes about pretty much end up those you wanted answered?
I’ve been recommending a look at the anti-Stratfordian crowd for some time.
Well, generally, he doesn’t do stuff that’s easily found elsewhere… unless he’s feeling lazy, which tends to happens around August, when he’s ready for vacation. We get a ton of questions about word or phrase origins (e.g., “what does etymology mean?”) and there are several excellent websites out there, so we can tell folks to go there. Cecil doesn’t think of this as “leav[ing] the last word to some chumps with websites,” he thinks of it as not bothering to answer what’s readily answered elsewhere.
Now, on your P.S. – no, I do not have the power to push Cecil towards what I want answered. My mail sorting process is largely mechanical and administrative, rather than selective. First, I go through and eliminate spam. There’s tons. After that, in a typical week, there are a few dozen questions that I need to read. I eliminate:
- Questions that Cecil or SDSAB has already answered. I try to send a link to the column or Staff Report.
- Questions that Cecil obviously can’t know and probably wouldn’t answer if he did (“Is my boyfriend cheating on me?” is my favorite to date, although “Is there a god?” pops up every few weeks.)
- Questions that seem to me to be too dumb to imagine. Cecil (or Ed), looking for filler, does sometimes browse through the discard pile; see Why does the Canadian flag have a cannabis leaf on it?
- Questions that can be easily answered elsewhere. I try to direct those people to such sources (sometimes, just a dictionary or encyclopedia), or tell them to ask here on the SDMB.
- Questions where the answers would be too long for a column. Cecil’s column is syndicated, and hence of limited length. If it would take too long to answer, we have to decline. Most of your conspiracy questions fall in this category: hard to answer in a few paragraphs, beyond just “That’s stupid.” Sometimes, the SDSAB will take them on, since Staff Reports aren’t subject to wordcount limits (as anyone who’s read some of my Staff Reports would know.) I sometimes suggest the person post on the SDMB, or send them to an authoritative website.
I’m usually then down to anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen question each week. These get put in a pile for Cecil to review, and he goes through and decides what to answer. Sometimes, he doesn’t see anything in the current pile, and looks back and picks up one that got set aside weeks/months/years ago. So, the process can be fairly long from asking to answering. (Even once Cecil has drafted his column, Ed and READER staff have to do editing and fact-checking, which can take weeks until publication.)
But once I’ve done the sorting, I don’t really have much say in the matter. TA couple of times, I’ve politely asked the Boss if he’d take one on as a personal favor (e.g., one that my wife asked), and I’m running about 50/50.
- [sub]For those of you who think I’m being heretical in suggesting there are things Cecil doesn’t know: his tag line is that he CAN answer anything, not that he can answer truthfully or factually.[/sub]
Nice get-out, but I’m still mentioning this to Cecil over next weeks chess game.
Of course he already knows.
I gotta admit I’ve been tempted because those guys aaaaaaare (<–don’t spill sticky stuff on your $4 keyboaard) nuckin’ futs.
Bro, the only thing worse than getting slapped for trolling is being treated seriously, but patronizingly, when you try. We want to scream, “I’m not really an imbecile! I was just trying to make this dump more entertaining,” but dasn’t for fear of crossing the mods.
Hell’s bells, that’s where I go first. Saves me the purchase price of some books.
Which is why I have some problem with doing reports. I want to ask those people if they are new to the interwebs because a pat, if not necessarily thorough or accurate, answer to pretty much anything can be found in the time it takes to find Cecil’s email address. Then I tell myself they mostly want to see their names in print, which I can relate to. And I have to remind myself that I do research parttime and the rest of the time I’m trying to find the manufacturer’s website amid all the online sales sites so my Googlefu is at a professional level in a “Dude, I actually get paid for it!” way.
Hey, don’t drag me into this!
Well, while I’m here, I have a suggestion, Dex: could you give us a precis of, say, the last ten questions you’ve stuffed in Cecil 's inbox? 'Twould be interesting. Course, if you’d prefer not to (sanctity of work product, too busy cleaning the hamster cages, remember some of my posts to the “What Does the CK in CKDexterHaven Stand For?” thread a couple of years back) I’ll understand. . . .
It does make it tough, both for SDSAB and for Cecil, to find questions that aren’t readily answered in places like Wikipedia.
For SDSAB, we really want to add some value. Otherwise, we can just direct the person to Wikipedia or The Word Detective or similar. So, where do we add value? Sometimes, where there’s controversy, an unwary searcher can be lured into one side or another of a matter that is really unsettled. Sometimes, Wikipedia and professional journals/websites provide too much information and too technical, and we can add value by condensing down to a concise, quickie, readily understandable version. Sometimes, we can offer synthesis, or “compare and contrast,” that isn’t available elsewhere. But it’s a challenge, dropzone, and you’re up to it.
Huh? Pardon me, but why? So that some bright-eyed young ass can research the answer, and publish it here before Cecil gets around to it?
Anyhow, always one to try to be helpful, the last couple that I’ve tossed to the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board have been:
- Why do water bottles have expiration dates?
- Why do we think three meals a day is the right allocation?
- Why do people get random itching in random places?
- Why don’t people counterfeit postage stamps? How would the govt detect it?
- History of the dictionary
- Great Chicago fire: causes and outcome
If anyone is interested in submitted a guest staff report on one of these (or on some other topic), please email me at ckdexthavn@aol.com and I’ll be glad to discuss with you.
Oh, just asking out of morbid curiosity.
Thanks for the response! Kinda surprised Unca Cece passed on the first one - it’d make a nice companion to the expiration-date-on-sour-cream column.
Well, the initial assignments are pretty tentative. If Cecil sees something in the Staff Pile that he wants, he certainly gets first claim… no one argues with the Boss who Knows Everything.
However, this is kind of far afield from the OP.