He was seen again: he bumped a zombie thread to ask the same question then posted a hissyfit complaint thread when that one was closed too.
You have to remember that every student at one point does some kind of project that in theorie would benefit from the input from as many respondents as possible. Most people have come to accept that in practice that means your mom, your sister and your imaginary friend “Hans”.
If the research is being done as some kind of school project, that is good enough. More serious research tends to have acces to better resources.
If we start to accept requests to fill in questionnaires, we could fill 1% of the requests and still spend 40 hours a week doing it.
I would propose a sticky in IMHO where would-be researchers can post their requests and really bored dopers can get their fix of badly spelled surveys.
Good. Either it was a blatant phishing expedition, in which case fuck them…or they should have known it *looked *like a blatant phishing expedition. If the latter, they’re stupid–not a crime. But they also registered for the sole purpose of solicitation, and have no other history. Stupid + not reading the registration agreement + not an existing board participant? Fuck them.
In summation, gentlemen, fuck them. Good close. Deserves an instaban AFAIC.
Moderator Note
The poster in question is still a member in good standing of the board. Even if you think they are not coming back, let’s refrain from insulting other members outside of the Pit.
That totally isn’t the point. Even if this was 100% for certain, which it isn’t, my suggestion would still have been the better way to go. Close the thread - absolutely, at least pending proper request and approval, and point them to the relevant rules - but no need to be curt to a new poster even if they misunderstood the board’s culture or purpose upon arrival.
I know. That’s why I was able to confidently say they were resentful about their reception.
The internet has changed a lot in the 17 years you’ve been on the SDMB. It isn’t unreasonable, stupid, or blatant to go to a public forum and solicit help with some project. It is an idiosyncratic rule of the SDMB specifically, and not many other online places.
In this particular case, particularly given the subsequent nature of his/her behavior, I think we actually had a complete asshole on our hands. But that is not the point. Everyone is a newbie at some point, and having a general policy of being polite when modding them costs us nothing (or I don’t think it does - maybe the mods are required to sacrifice a kitten every time they are actually gracious on line). And responding to newbie posters with a modicum of kindness could indeed lead to the addition of a new poster.
We all have to start somewhere. Not that I’m such a valued poster here - I wish to go on record that I’m not! - but take me for example: my first encounter with the Dope was centuries ago when I submitted a Weird Earl’s candidate. I don’t think it got used, but TubaDiva thanked me and encouraged me to try again. If she’d written “We don’t use sites like that here” and nothing else, I’d never have given the Straight Dope another look.
Which only means that the internet is wrong.
Whaaaat? :eek:
Yes, I said it. The internet is wrong. And has been since September '93.
So you’re not gonna get any traction here with any argument predicated on “the rest of the intardweb does it this way.”
Now get off my lawn!
I was gonna say the same thing as gnoitall, only much better. Won’t bother now though.
Then why are you on a board that has, as it’s number 1 rule, “Don’t be a jerk”? Sounds like you want some place more like 4chan.
So banning a jerk is being a jerk? This complicates things.
We have lots of idiosyncratic rules here. We like it like that. Why would we want to encourage people who don’t like it like we like it?
This answer, I like it.
I hadn’t seen the thread being discussed before, but I just looked at it and it sounds incredibly fishy to me.
While it’s pretty common for high school students to have an assignment that involves interviewing someone, the topic is typically something like personal recollections of a time period that almost anyone of the right age could talk about. I have difficulty believing that a high school teacher really required students to interview three people about as specific, unusual, and sensitive a topic as custodial kidnapping, or that the place of business (rather than just the occupation) and phone number of the interview subjects would be required.
So aside from violating the rule on homework help/soliciting input for off-board projects, this particular request seems suspiciously scammy to me.