I would respectfully request a reconsideration of the closing of this thread regarding the term “wit brain” and the ban on Reza posting threads about usage in English, due to the fact that he is tutoring students and thus this is homework.
I don’t agree that this is “homework.” I agree with IvoryTowerDenizen that these threads are interesting, and that they are rather seeking “some help in understanding English peculiarities, of which there are legion.” Not homework at all. Please reconsider this sweeping ban and the thread closure.
It appeared to me that Reza was fighting ignorance, not writing a term paper and not exposing the board to liability. If the latter is a concern, perhaps a move to IMHO might be for the best.
I agree. Reza doesn’t pose such a question out of laziness. Rather, this is one of the few arenas where potentially obscure language can be surveyed in a fruitful manner. In fact, it’s more like due diligence, akin to checking a corpus.
Came here to post the same thread. Reza is not absuing the board anymore than anyone who posts about something they’re not sure of is. If I’m doing a statistical analysis of some data and ask for some advice setting up an Excel spreadsheet to help me, am I getting help with a professional, off board project?
I’m glad this thread was posted - I’m of the same mind as the others - it as very interesting and in my opinion wasn’t a violation as they’re (the rules) intended.
My guess is the vocabulary list or whatever it was included something like “wit/brain” - i.e. they were asking about two words that are loosely synonymous in some uses.
If a poster asks questions that lead to interesting discussions who cares about why they are asking them anyway? I can see limiting legal and medical advice to opinion forums for liability reasons but homework questions? Why does it matter if someone seeks a factual answer to a question because of a scholastic or professional interest in the subject? Are we only to ask factual questions that are born out of idle curiosity?
Asking for homework *help *is permissible. Asking someone to do your homework for you is not. Thus, it is fine to ask for clarification of a particular point in the subject you didn’t quite follow.
That is not what **Reza **did. He’s charging someone else to do their homework for them, and asking us to do part of it for him. Closing it is absolutely appropriate.
Well, not his homework, but someone else’s homework, which he was being paid to do for them.
As I said in the thread in question, I believe this part of the Registration Agreement is relevant:
Aside from the homework aspect, Reza is using the board for his personal commercial benefit. It’s not just one thread, it’s a large number of the threads he’s started. This is also not what the board is supposed to be for.
I sent a message about this issue to the rest of the moderation staff before I saw this thread. If the consensus is that Reza’s activities are within the rules, I’ll be happy to reopen the thread. I have not had any feedback as of yet, however.
So if one of my students comes to me with a question from another class I’m stumped by, something I’ve never heard of before, and knowing there are doctors, immunologists and other biologists on this board, I can’t start a thread asking to see if anyone is familiar with the topic?
Close enough to me- what if I was a tutor in the department, instead of a professor? And yes, part of my salary goes to meeting with and supporting students in my department. So I do get paid to talk to students who need help if they want to see me.
IOW, he’s not trying to get us to do the homework, but to educate himself on a topic he’s confused by to acquire knowledge to bring back to his client. He’s still doing the work, not us.
He clearly comes here to acquire knowledge about specific English grammar and idioms to inform the work he does. If that’s against the rules, then I think many of us skirt or cross the line.
It looks to me like there’s no problem with the information itself that Reza is asking about. The problem isn’t the information itself, but why he’s asking for it. Us doing a poster’s homework for them is bad enough. Us doing homework for a third party because a poster is getting paid to do it for them is way over the line.
The commercial aspect is the most significant aspect for me, as well as the large proportion of such posts, especially recently. At least 27 of his 62 threads started are on usage and grammar, which include a large majority of the threads he’s started in the past year.
