Maybe it was. I sure hope people don’t see it that way, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hesitate before hitting “send” on that first post. I tried to keep it non-pit-worthy, however, and my subsequent posts in that thread were dedicated to helping the OP by pointing out handy’s misinformation. If the OP had taken handy’s answer at face value, he might have ended up going and buying a new printer or just giving up entirely.
You guys usually call what ntucker did “fighting ignorance,” so why should Handy get a handjob?
handy can do that himself
Searching on handy’s posts finds that I’m rarely even reading most of the GQ threads that he’s posting to (mostly computer questions). However in this thread on gnats, six hours after I post a link with scientific info that clearly answers the OP, handy comes along with an “I think…” bullshit of a post.
It is annoying that after doing the research for the OP, that a follow-up post ignores it and increases ignorance rather than fights it.
From what I understand, purposely posting false info is a jerk offense. I hope a warning goes out.
Peace.
It’s been done. In fact, handy has been instructed that he’s no longer allowed to post in threads with medical questions because of exactly this type of behavior. If he does, he’s banned.
And here’s manhattan’s original warning (bolding mine):
Right, except that obviously doesn’t solve the problem. He simply increases the amount of misinformation he posts on other subjects. I’m not going to claim that the plethora of wrong computer-related answers he’s giving are “potentially dangerous” or anything – I just think they’re worth discouraging due to the fact that they lessen the quality of this otherwise excellent source of information (the SDMB, not handy :)).
Here’s a thought: Somebody could prepare a “handy” disclaimer
The disclaimer could then link to a thread in which a couple hundred users have posted their assent to the above disclaimer. Or perhaps the disclaimer could be in the linked thread itself.
That way, nobody has to waste time responding to his nonsense, but new users are warned.
Since the only forum that requires dealing primarily with facts is General Questions, isn’t there a way to ban handy from just that forum?
lucwarm, I think that’s a great idea. If you start the thread, I’ll post my assent to it. If you don’t want to, I’d be happy to start it. Perhaps it would be most effective if people were encouraged to simply post their assent (or dissent, I suppose), rather than rehash all the arguments.
Can’t we just let him post “…” for all his posts. He gets to increase his post count. Nobody is confused by his piss poor advice and really it’s not much different from the content he seems to offer anyway. Everyone is happy.
How 'bout if the board just does away w/ the post counter all together? I don’t know for sure, but I think it would save a lot of wear and tear on the Hamsters.
Probably do away with a lot of ignorance as well. Reduce the traffic, speed up the board. Somewhere along the way, someone got the idea that MORE posts = More respect or something? I’m not quite sure what. Sounds contrary to several examples I could mention.
I don’t need to know what the individual count is do YOU?
Well I think it can be useful. Helps me identfy the old timers and the newbies.
Maybe just have it freeze at 1000?
Not really, post count isn’t a reliable way to tell how LONG someone’s been here. Their registration date is posted. Besides Cecil has fewer posts than most of us and he’s not what you’d call a “newbie” is he?
Oh, I went ahead and started a thread for this OP.
Sorry about the HIJACK. 
Darkhold
Man, I miss manhattan. There has never been, and likely will never be another Mod that can lay down the strong pimp hand like him. Even Lynn in all her glory is a distant second place.
Is doing the things you mention handy doing in this “disclaimer” somehow different from being a jerk?
Honestly, I’ve never run afoul of handy (I don’t go into GQ much, having usually not much time for reading long threads). But he’s been pitted so many times, and allowed so many excuses, that it makes one wonder.
If I posted a bunch of misinformation about medicine in GQ, over and over, after repeated warnings, would I be told “not to post about medicine anymore,” or would I be banned? I don’t know, and I don’t aim to find out.
I have no idea what the reasons behind all his may be, nor am I making any guesses; I am simply pointing out a situation that looks strange to me.
Maybe he’s a real life version of those brainteasers.
You mean handy at a crossroads. One road leads to certain doom, the other to a golden palace. You are allowed to ask only one question. What do you ask?
Yes, but I doubt that the admins would be willing to expend the effort to customize the board for the sake of handy.
I think we should change his sig to:
and force him to use it with every post.
In all seriousness though, couldn’t we do something about his post count like Colibri suggested.
Thanks, I can’t take credit though. They used to do stuff like that on USENET in response to some of the kooks.
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Go wild.
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Agree; it shouldn’t be a thread to debate whether he should be banned; it shouldn’t be a thread to bash him. It should be like a petition.