# In every thread about xxxx, someone always posts yyyy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462 "2021-07-27T22:46:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/41 "2021-07-29T04:18:59Z")
I remember one time when that happened. It was in about 2004. I was asking about something that I can’t remember now and specifically said I wanted scientific evidence and wasn’t interested in anecdotes, but this one guy, can’t think of his name, just chimed right in with an anecdote anyway. I complained about it but by the time I’d done that another three guys had posted anecdotes. I think only about 180 anecdotes were posted but I agree that sort of thing does happen I guess. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/42 "2021-07-29T04:22:40Z")
Well, that is 200 bits of data. Not the greatest of data, but 200 is quite a lot. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/43 "2021-07-29T04:36:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, that is 200 bits of data. Not the greatest of data, but 200 is quite a lot Sounds like what one of the anecdote-posters tell themselves. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/44 "2021-07-29T04:42:05Z")
[http://blog.danwin.com/don-t-forget-the-plural-of-anecdote-is-data/#:~:text=You%20may%20have%20heard%20the,plural%20of%20anecdote%20is%20data.&text=All%20data%20is%20information%20surrendered](http://blog.danwin.com/don-t-forget-the-plural-of-anecdote-is-data/#:~:text=You%20may%20have%20heard%20the,plural%20of%20anecdote%20is%20data.&text=All%20data%20is%20information%20surrendered). _You may have heard the phrase the plural of anecdote is not data. It turns out that this is a misquote. The original aphorism, by the political scientist Ray Wolfinger, was just the opposite: The plural of anecdote is data._ _Wolfinger’s formulation makes sense: Data does not have a virgin birth. It comes to us from somewhere. Someone set up a procedure to collect and record it. Sometimes this person is a scientist, but she also could be a journalist._ ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/45 "2021-07-29T05:07:08Z")
Yeah kinda. It’s seldom useful data because it tends to be highly biased. It is typically only data showing (at best): (a) what the particular non-representative people with which you are communicating; (b) _want_ to tell you. If that’s what you want to know, have at it. It seldom is. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/46 "2021-07-29T05:08:22Z")
Yeah, an anecdote is only useful as inspiration for an actual study designed to determine whether there is truth to it or not, scientifically speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/47 "2021-07-29T08:28:31Z")
Still, 200 anecdotes, especially if they come from 200 different people, adds up to anecdata. ---
**Author:** ![LegendHasit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/legendhasit/32/8246_2.png) [@LegendHasit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LegendHasit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/48 "2021-07-29T08:35:40Z")
In every thread about “songs that don’t mean what you think they mean,” someone always posts the Police’s _Every Breath You Take._ ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/49 "2021-07-29T08:55:18Z")
In every thread about roundabouts, someone always brings up the Swindon Magic Roundabout with a link to a picture. There are other magic roundabouts, but that’s the one that always gets mentioned. Someone else will post about how they hate roundabouts, usually with the complaint that Americans don’t know how to drive them. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/50 "2021-07-29T13:25:54Z")
In every Café Society thread about the cultural value of television sitcoms someone with ask either “Ginger or Mary Ann” or “Bailey Quarters or Jennifer Marlowe”? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/51 "2021-07-29T15:20:21Z")
Well, for example, exit polls are anecdotes. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/52 "2021-07-29T15:41:39Z")
Every time someone is called a pedophile, we get a correction to Ephebophile or some such thing. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/53 "2021-07-29T19:04:28Z")
In every ‘evil Repuplican’ thread, someone quotes the line “‘I never thought leopards would eat _ **my** _ face’, said woman who voted for the ‘Leopards Eating Faces’ party”. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/54 "2021-07-29T19:32:47Z")
Do you have any scientific evidence for that? Because as stated it sounds pretty anecdotic to me… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/55 "2021-07-29T19:43:50Z")
This is the first time I have read this, but I like it! ---
**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:** [July 29, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/56 "2021-07-29T19:44:44Z")
> [@solost](#): > > In every ‘evil Repuplican’ thread What’s a Repuplican? Are they in favor of handing out puppies? Because if so, I’m down. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/57 "2021-07-29T19:47:10Z")
Everytime someone makes a silly typo, someone makes a joke out of it. Or gives them a hard time, depending. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/58 "2021-07-29T20:00:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > This is the first time I have read this, but I like it! I may be confusing seeing it on this board with other sources, like the wonderfully sarcastic comments to trump’s tweets back in the day, but I have seen it oft quoted wherever Repub outrages are discussed. > **[Leopards Eating People's Faces Party](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces-party)** > > Leopards Eating People's Faces Party refers to a parody of regretful voters who vote for cruel and unjust policies (and politicians) and are then surprised when their own lives become worse as a result. It has been commonly used to parody regretful... ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/59 "2021-07-29T20:31:04Z")
Every time there is a thread where a member of _some group_ complains about a problem they have, or that _some group_ is affected by a problem, people have to show up to remind everybody that _other group_ also has that problem, or has that problem worse, or that when _some group_ complains it trivializes the problems of _other group_. This occasionally degenerates into the supposition that _some group_ shouldn’t be allowed to complain, because sometimes not all members behave in the best way possible, or because _some group_ also benefits from _some privileges_. Often times those things are true. _Some group_ does benefit from _some privileges_, and in general has it better than _other group_, but sometimes people just want a space to complain without having to take responsibility for all of the unfairness in society. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462/60 "2021-07-29T21:20:05Z")
In every Cafe Society thread about music, somebody is sure to mention the band Rush. Personally I can’t stand them, but to each his own. However, if anybody got all their music knowledge from SDMB, they would think that Rush is the most famous band of all time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-every-thread-about-xxxx-someone-always-posts-yyyy/947462.md?page=4)