I’ve tried this before and it was less than successfull. Thankfully, it died an early death. Instead of re-living that thread I’ll try again in this thread.
Is stealing a thread, or at least looking as if you had, considered in bad taste for these boards?
I’ve run into this more than a few times now and think it can’t all be explained away as coincidence. As someone else mentioned earlier, “B.F.D.”.
Well, I think it is. To post someone elses thread as your own, to me, seems wrong. You should at least say “I saw it here and they can’t figure it out, how 'bout you guys”.
Its trying to be witty and smart while all along it’s not the poster’s question. Right?
The best example:
From the EuropeanGuardian
“What is the tiny ‘‘pocket’’ at the base of a cat’'s ear, created by two folds of flesh?”
And from the SDMB
“What are those little flaps of skin for behind their ears?”
Seems too damn close to me. Especially considering the people posting these questions are fairly new and have no distinguishing profile.
How do you feel if someone post’s another boards question as their own?
I’m not going after this one particular poster. But it does seem odd that the questions I’ve found there are repeated here by new posters to the SDMB.
What the fuck? Just me?
What? You’re happy the old one died, so to celebrate you start a new one.
I think Steven King wrote something similar to this in Pet Semetary. I wonder how he feels about you stealing his ideas.
{frantically attempting to conceal his complete leather-bound set of the European Guardian beneath the carpet}
Beer, har har. The old one died because I butchererd it within three or four posts.
I see this one will go the same way.
I tell 'ya, I know I’m one to something and no one seems to care.
Oh well, on to MPSIMS!!
My impression was that you cared little for intellectual property, Cnote Chris. Surely the newspaper people would sell more newspapers because of this. :rolleyes:
If you think that people who gain “inspiration” from the Guardian’s Notes and Queries or the New Scientist’s questions column are stealing, I don’t see why you fail to argue in this current thread that Napster users are thieves and Napster itself exists solely as a fence servicing those thieves.
(I recommend the Guardian Weekly BTW: you get the Guardian, The Washington Post and Le Monde highlights).
picmr
Shit. I knew someone was going to catch me on that.
Picmr: Thanks for the cross reference and all. As if I don’t look stupid enough already.
However, I’ll still to try and save my ass here.
There is one big difference: I don’t claim that the music I download is my own. It’s owned and created by whoever recorded it. The fact that I have it doesn’t make it my own. I don’t play it and say “Hey, look what I made”.
No. Instead I say, “Listen to this. I screwed the fuck out of the artist who recorded it. No royalties for him because I use Napster!”
Subtle difference, but different all the same.
Why does it bother you if people even really are stealing threads from other MB’s? State some reasons buddy.
Know one is jumping to your side, so i think i can say that no one cares (i know i don’t). So why do you?
The thread’s you stated as in question aren’t anything special. What do you think the person has to gain by stealing “what are these ear flaps on cats?” I could maybe see if they were stealing threads that were short stories, poems, funny stories, personal experiences etc. But these OP’s in question are just mundane questions.
So why are you getting your panties in a bunch? Are you the message board police scanning every site to compare OP’s?
By the way UncleBeer, I’m downloading his latest book while I post and I’m not about to send him a dollar.
Up yours Steven King.
I on a mission.
So what should a poster say then, CnoteChris?
“Hey, I have the same question somebody else asked on this message board over here, but I don’t want to take credit for someone else’s ignorance, 'cause that would be wrong! I want all you Dopers to fully understand that I’m not claiming I came up with the inane and trivial question with which I’m about to bother you. As a matter of fact, let’s all give a hand to Mr. Pommy Q. Nutbakker of Wrrnghxxia, Wales who actually posed the imbecilic query in its original form. Laudatory comments can be sent to the ignorant bastard at pommy_nut@whoisandycapp.com. Thank all that’s holy we have heroic nitwits such as Mr. Nutbakker (‘The Great Q’ as we call him) so that I never have to waste time pondering the gaps in my own knowledge.”
Lunapark
Panties in a bunch?
Sorry, I wear boxers. That’s kinda fitting seeing as I’m a guy.
I can see no one cares about this thread. Nothing new.
I just want to be the first to point out what I think will become an issue down the road. Then I can say, ‘See, I told you so’.
Interestingly enough, the person who directed me to the ‘Guardian’ site was a poster of questionable means. That is, I’ve noticed, while checking on references and whatnot, that a whole herd of new poster’s are coming in and posting questions posted somewhere else. They post and leave, never to be heard from again.
Seeing as everyone in the Pit goes nuts when they smell a troll or sockpuppet, I’d think they’d pick up on it long before I tumble across it.
No dice. But that’s O.K… I’ll resurrect this thread sometime soon, when it becomes more apparent to the troll hunters that there’s something fishy going on.
Oh, I see. You wanted a trophy.
Putz!
Here’s something else to chew on Chris. Many of the questions Cecil answers have been asked elsewhere. Here’s a list of links to Straight Dope columns that Marilyn vos Savant has also taken up. Now, I’m making no claims to which author dealt with these inquiries first, I’m just telling you that they’ve been discussed by more than one person.
Why are manhole covers round?
Monty Hall and his stupid doors
Why is the night sky dark?
The vile -GRY question
And I’m sure there are many others, but you get the picture.
I know Beer. That’s a good argument if that’s what I had brought up in the (two) original posts.
What I brought up was the ‘strange’ factor behind these posts.
Now, I don’t spend all day looking around for other boards threads being posted here. Like I said, I stumbled across them looking for a reference to a thread posted here. I found it and referenced people to where I found it and how to get there.
As I looked through their boards I noticed how closely they resemble questions asked here. More than one. More than two. A whole shittload of similar questions. A word changed here. A word changed there. Same damn question in my opinion. Add to that the fact that many of the posters posing those questions here are new and seem to disappear straight away, and I think I have a valid point.
But seeing that people are coming down on me instead of the main question here, I must be the only one interested. Fine. I can live with that.
I’m not dense enough to think each and every question asked in this forum is original. Far from it. But when you add up the points I’ve mentioned, I think there’s more to it than just simple coincidence.
Besides, I asked whether or not people objected to this, not ‘hey, I’m on to something you should flame on about’. Just a question of whether or not this was appropriate. Obviously they don’t seem to care and I’ll let it die a simple death.
Xenophon! LOL!
Okay, Cnote, I think I see what you’re getting at (although my initial reaction of BFD still stands, OK? Life’s too short, you know?)
You think you’ve spotted a Puppetmeister hard at work, and in this particular manifestation he’s using his sock puppets to post questions that have already been posted on other MBs. Is that it?
Well, what in the name of tarnation do you expect us all to DO about it? Do ya wanna post a list of suspected sock puppets and have us all stick out our tongues at them and go Neener Neener? Shall we all agree to refuse to post to any of their threads? Do you want a medal from Ed Zotti? A date with TubaDiva? (Mark Hinckley shot the Prez to get Jodie’s attention, is that what this is about? Catch a troll and win the hand of the beautiful princess?)
Just tell us what you want, OK?
Note to anyone following this thread (If there’s actually anyone left). I’m running a number of programs and don’t always see posts made earlier.
Lunapark:
The reason that it bothers me is that people claim these as there own. Shit, I’ll cross reference all over the place if I see a post that can’t be answered somewhere else. I really don’t care.
What bugs me is people that post other boards unanswered questions here, as there own, because their too damn stupid or unimaginative (sp?) to come up with their own questions.
I’d think a board that goes after people who resemble trolls and sock-puppets would be all over it. ESPECIALLY considering that these people are all new posters AND referenced me to the Guardian site in the first place.
One further example of where I’m coming from: Certain posters have been/are currently going after a poster that seems to take posts from other boards (Porn shop worker boards, IIRC) and making them his own. He’s being ripped a new asshole as I type.
It’s a same kinda issue I didn’t see mentioned anywhere around here.
Seeing as I’m about to be raked over the coals here.
Xeno-
Yes. I think they should include in their post that they’ve seen it somewhere else and it wasn’t answered. I’ve seen this done countless times before.
The fact that they omit it makes me suspicious, like their trying to pull one over on me. Trying to be witty when they are too dense to understand the meaning of it.
Duck Duck-
Once you stop laughing maybe you can re-read my original post. I didn’t say ‘let’s go after the poster’. I said, does anyone else think this is wrong.
Okay, Cnote, my official response is, “No, I don’t think this is wrong.”
As if you hadn’t noticed already, the SDMB is already host to a sizeable percentage of the human race who could fairly be characterized as “stupid and unimaginative”, but without necessarily being sock puppets or trolls. We all just deal with it, overlooking the obnoxious ones, and being kind to the well-meaning ones.
Also, not everyone is scrupulous enough to admit, “I saw this posted on another MB and I thought it deserved an answer.” We live in a society full of pirates and plagiarists. So what else is new?
The mods and admins have enough to do without chasing around after all suspected sock puppets and trolls. It’s my understanding that they only unleash the full force of their mutant troll-exploding powers when a troll or sock puppet becomes disruptive. Remember, they’re all volunteers, not getting paid for this or nothin’. Just the coffee mug, the T-shirt, and the endless gratitude of Teeming Millions like me who realize that this place couldn’t exist without them.
So far, it seems that whatever you’ve spotted isn’t terribly disruptive. So, chill, 'kay? If it does turn out to be Jurassic Park later on, and we realize that you were the one who saw the glass of water vibrating, then we’ll see that you get full credit on your tombstone:
CnoteChris
He Saw It Coming
CnoteChris, I’ll pretty much take any opportunity I see to be a smartass, so don’t take offense.
I agree that it looks funny for a “whole herd” of new posters to throw questions from other boards at us, never to be seen again (wish you’d provide links, though, since no-one else seems to have noticed this — take a look at how Drain Bead went about it in the O.P. here).
I have to agree with DDG and others that it’s really no big deal. Here’s why I think so:[ul][li]the questions have not been disruptive[]on a message board devoted to “fighting ignorance”, a certain number of unanswered questions from other venues are to be expected[]most posters of these questions probably don’t consider their lack of knowledge to be “witty”from a purely personal p.o.v., I don’t usually waste the time of someone I’m questioning by listing everyone else to whom I’ve posed the question already[/ul][/li]Of course, if we’re soon to be assaulted by a trollish onslaught of frivolous questions in GQ or bogus debate topics in GD, then I’ll be the first to post kudoes to your prescience and perpicacity.
Ughh. I’m fighting an uphill battle here.
While it may have stopped me before, it won’t now.
From the original post, Bear_Nenno Said:
“Stealing other peoples; threads huh? You bastard!! You trying to see if we will get the answer right, or are you just to dull to have a question of your own. Fuck you!!”
Now, would Bear Nenno be pissed off if I took his comment, changed a word or two, and made it my own on another message board?
I think so. And I wouldn’t do it to even to try and find out. I’d reference the damn thing. I think it’s common courtesy. And I think it shows an utter lack of intelligence on behalf of the poster to post other boards unanswered questions.
Now then. I do think there are trolls/puppets running around now posting these for the… well, I’ve never understood their purpose.
A thought I had earlier and am now reconsidering:
“The mods and admins have enough to do without chasing around after all suspected sock puppets and trolls. It’s my understanding that they only unleash the full force of their mutant troll-exploding powers when a troll or sock puppet becomes disruptive. Remember, they’re all volunteers, not getting paid for this or nothin’. Just the coffee mug, the T-shirt, and the endless gratitude of Teeming Millions like me who realize that this place couldn’t exist without them.”
After I thought about it for a while, I thought to re-read my original post and realized I was going off in a direction I never intended. Silly me.
Well, I for one am still curious as to what you want us all to do, exactly. Suggest a course of action, please. Seriously. When somebody spends an entire day fighting an uphill battle trying to convince me that there’s a glass of water jiggling, I will at least go over there and look at it. It’s the polite thing to do.
Also provide some links?