# what are these posters after? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 7, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003 "2017-04-07T19:25:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/1 "2017-04-07T19:25:03Z")
maybe this has been a ongoing dilemma here, but ive just noticed it. some posters seem to join the board, make one post and never return again. ie: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823408](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823408) [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823421](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823421) what is their endgame? they dont seem to be trolling, or “just asking questions” but they do seem to be fishing for something. the questions read to me as if theyre mining for some sort of data; theyre doing some sort of polling. but i cant quite put my finger on it. maybe i’m reading too much into it. mc ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/2 "2017-04-07T20:08:31Z")
I don’t think there’s anything behind this. People will idly surf the net, come across a link to this board, maybe read some posts, and then figure they’ll register and ask a question themselves. Having posted they might never come back here, their attention having been taken by other sites they may even forget they ever posted here. Some of course may have more sinister motives but they tend to be pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/3 "2017-04-07T21:40:51Z")
I’ve done it once or twice on other boards. It’s typically on specialty boards (welding, electrical, HVAC etc). I try to reply at some point, but just because I don’t appear to return back doesn’t mean my account wasn’t simply logged off and I didn’t check the thread from time to time over the next few days. Now, on some of those boards, instead of being helpful, they’ve been kinda…we’ll call it uninviting. In those cases, I’ve just gone back to lurking and gathering up the info I needed that way, or just found a different place altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/4 "2017-04-07T22:18:33Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Now, on some of those boards, instead of being helpful, they’ve been kinda…we’ll call it uninviting. And what’s up with that? They get to be the masters of a board no one goes to? I don’t understand people sometimes… ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/5 "2017-04-07T22:20:20Z")
all right, i guess its nothing. i’ve just noticed it alot lately. and something didnt sit right. my spidey sense must be on the fritz! mc ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/6 "2017-04-07T22:33:40Z")
Not the guys in the OP but I was thinking about ‘boiler room’ sock puppets the other day and remembered a couple of threads from maybe last summer. Iirc, posters took them at face value but that stuff is definitely happening now. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/7 "2017-04-07T22:42:14Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Not the guys in the OP but I was thinking about ‘boiler room’ sock puppets the other day and remembered a couple of threads from maybe last summer. > > Iirc, posters took them at face value but that stuff is definitely happening now. i’m not sure i know what you mean. please elaborate. mc ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/8 "2017-04-07T22:49:42Z")
I do agree that this does sometimes happen naturally. But, in these cases, I’m pretty sure they are spammers checking how active the board is. Neither seem to be written by people who actually understand English all that well, and the second one reads like a bad translation of a preexisting question. I would not be remotely surprised if, eventually, both of those accounts come back and start spamming stuff. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/9 "2017-04-07T23:06:28Z")
and another: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823466](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823466) [QUOTE=BigT] . . . seem to be written by people who (dont) actually understand English all that well. . . [/QUOTE] maybe thats it. i was gonna say they sounded like test questions for ai programs. mc ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/10 "2017-04-07T23:15:47Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > all right, i guess its nothing. i’ve just noticed it alot lately. and something didnt sit right. my spidey sense must be on the fritz! > > mc If you search this board, you’ll find tons of “I’ve been noticing it a lot recently” in regards to drive by posters. It’s nothing new. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/11 "2017-04-07T23:15:52Z")
i cant be the only one noticing these. . .something is going on. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823496](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=823496) mc ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/12 "2017-04-07T23:25:34Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you search this board, you’ll find tons of “I’ve been noticing it a lot recently” in regards to drive by posters. It’s nothing new. if it is just a phenomenon of msg boards (and i admit it could be), then the follow up question is what do the drive by posters get out of it? do that many people just have one random question they need to ask and then never return? if, as **BigT** says its spammers testing the waters, how does that work? i have to admit, any scenario i come up with in my mind just leads to more questions. . .i’m fascinated! mc ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/13 "2017-04-08T09:30:45Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > And what’s up with that? They get to be the masters of a board no one goes to? > > I don’t understand people sometimes… Actually ---- pretty much yeah; they get to be masters of a dead board. I took part in two related to bad horror movies. One was down to the Dirty Dozen before the owners (a local TV show) shut it down and the other was a HULU board where it can down to three members left after they drove everyone else away. It still exists and gets about 10 posts a year. I don’t understand people either but you see enough of them and their behavior here on the wen not to be very surprised. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/14 "2017-04-08T10:03:06Z")
youre all forgetting that unless its been deleted or they dropped the ones who joined about 40- 60 percent of counted members are based on an 15 year old lord of the ring parody thread that had 20 people or more a day joining just to join that thread … and never posted anything since… ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/15 "2017-04-08T17:33:01Z")
I’ve been lurking on this board for at least 10 years and this one question and out thing is not new. I think people are googling info on their question and they come across a board thread that is related. They see factual info posted, not the usual Yahooanswers(?) stuff. So they ask their question. They then read the answers, I assume. They aren’t interested in the whole message board thing, just their one question. **mikecurtis** the cataract surgery surgery question seemed legitimate to me, and he did in fact come back to clarify his question, which doesn’t always happen. (The OP came back _after_ you had pointed it out as an example). ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/16 "2017-04-09T16:54:01Z")
I notice that the second thread that **mikecurtis** references (on electrical plug safety) has been quite active. (I’ve posted in it.) But if you look at the OP’s profile - there is one post, and the activity time shows he hasn’t visited since posting, and hasn’t seen any replies at all. Of course he could view the thread without logging in again, but most browsers will keep the login running. So it really does look like a proper drive by. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/17 "2017-04-09T17:13:52Z")
I wonder if some of them are posting the same thing on multiple boards, and only respond to the ones that tell them what they want to hear? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/18 "2017-04-09T18:20:30Z")
That one about the electrical plug is something I’ve wonder about for years. Unfortunately the guy who posted it seems to be a real troll. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/19 "2017-04-10T16:11:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I wonder if some of them are posting the same thing on multiple boards, and only respond to the ones that tell them what they want to hear? This is close to what I was going to say, which is “validation”. They have a problem and want strangers to tell them what they want to hear. When we (usually, lol) don’t, they bugger off and are never seen again. Probably so they can live in the boards that DO give them validation. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003/20 "2017-04-10T16:14:58Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > This is close to what I was going to say, which is “validation”. > > They have a problem and want strangers to tell them what they want to hear. When we (usually, lol) don’t, they bugger off and are never seen again. Probably so they can live in the boards that DO give them validation. Sympathy trolls. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-posters-after/784003.md?page=2)