Wayne (Or Garth, it’s hard to tell) called ex-GF Stacy a “psycho hose beast” in Wayne’s World.
My real name data is 100% accurate. It’s mostly a scrape of my bio on my website, but it does have a few awards and recognitions it scraped from the web somewhere. But there’s no address info, bio info as to children, or anything. It’s structured: “Professional background, wedding photography, architectural photography, professional affiliations, creative (literary) pursuits.”
Searching for “username pulykamell” it’s got a good general overview, too:
I haven’t been active on Homebrewing sites in over a decade, and I’m curious what I have shared on Flickr and Wikimedia Commons, because I don’t remember ever putting anything up there. ETA: Yeah, even prodding it further, I don’t see anything in Wikimedia Commons associated with my screen name, nor can I find anything on Flickr, so that may be a hallucination.
I do like that despite all of the branding attempts, everyone still calls it “Google AI” and almost no one says “Gemini”.
Yikes. I just asked AI to tell me about a poster who might be described as “quirky.” Said poster is alive and well and posting - I checked their record and they’ve posted within the last 24 hours. But AI says:
[Username]
was a prominent and longtime member of The Straight Dope Message Board (SDMB), known for his professional background in the [deleted] industry.
Professional Identity and Contributions
Real Identity: He was known to the community as [deleted Real Life name], a professional [deleted occupation, correct as self-reported on this board] based in the [deleted] area.
Industry Insights: He frequently shared detailed, behind-the-scenes information about [deleted], often debunking myths about how [deleted].
Signature Style: His posts were often characterized by a warm, authoritative tone and a signature sign-off: “[username].”
Community Role
Longevity: He was an early member of the board, participating for over two decades after joining in the early 2000s.
SDMB “Famous” Threads: He participated in many of the board’s iconic long-running discussions and was considered a pillar of the community’s “old guard.”
Passing
[User name] passed away in late 2021. Following his death, the Straight Dope community held several memorial threads to honor his legacy, with many members sharing stories of his kindness, professional expertise, and his willingness to mentor others interested in the [deleted] industry. His death was officially noted by the board’s moderators and longtime peers as a significant loss to the community’s collective knowledge.
That is such a load of horseshit! Said poster is alive and well, has identified themselves as working in the field AI noted, but almost NEVER posts about their profession. (I can find only one instance of such, looking back through their posting history.) Moreover, no offense to said poster, but I sincerely doubt their passing would generate the response described. And they weren’t one of those posters who always signs off with their username.
I tried again.
Spice_Weasel was a moderator on the Straight Dope Message Board (SDMB), known for her fair and respected moderation. She was welcomed as a new mod in December 2017 and stepped down in January 2021 for personal reasons, emphasizing that her decision was not due to any negative experiences with the board or its community. She was affectionately referred to as the “sparkliest of mods” and was appreciated for her positive contributions. After stepping down, she expressed hope to remain active as a poster.
I’m not sure about those dates, but this is an accurate description of my resignation post, and not much else. It’s like they scraped a single thread.
I just typed, “Who am I?” into Google search, and the AI part of the response said that was existential question (duh) and then talked some about philosophy and religion before recommending I listen to “Who Am I?”, by Counting Crows. I didn’t.
This is what I get for you, after typing the prompt Tell me about poster SpiceWeasel on the Straight Dope Message Board:
SpiceWeasel
is a long-standing and prominent member of the Straight Dope Message Board (SDMB) community, known primarily for sharing a widely-read, multi-part saga about a difficult coworker named Joan (often referred to as the “Psychotic Hosebeast”).
Key Contributions & Community Presence
The Joan Saga: SpiceWeasel is most famous for documenting the increasingly bizarre behavior of a coworker, which involved professional sabotage, theft, and erratic workplace conduct. This narrative became a staple of the SDMB’s “The Pit” forum and has since been archived and shared on other platforms like Reddit as a classic example of workplace drama.
Username Origin: The name is a reference to the Spice Weasel from the animated series Futurama, a creature used by the celebrity chef Elzar to “kick it up a notch” with a puff of spice from its snout.
Forum Involvement: As of early 2026, SpiceWeasel remains a recognized “Charter Member” or veteran poster, contributing frequently to discussions on mental health, relationships, and personal anecdotes.
Legacy
While many posters on the Straight Dope Message Board are known for their expertise in science or history, SpiceWeasel is celebrated for storytelling and for providing a detailed, often humorous look into dealing with high-conflict personalities.
It says nothing about your modding or other aspects of your message board history (which I was going to delete if it had as I’m not sure you want it pointed out, even though it’s utterly harmless).
On the other hand, you too wrote the Joan-the-psychotic-hosebeast-thieving-coworker-saga! I guess it was a collaboration among you, me, and Smapti.
I don’t think I have ever called anyone a hosebeast in my life.
For the record I checked the post and I stepped down in 2018 not 2021. 2021 struck me as wrong because it seemed unlikely I would have volunteered for that gig with an infant to take care of.
There was a lot I liked about being a mod, the problem is I could no longer choose which threads to engage with and some of the ones I had to wade through were doing a number on my mental health. I was less psychologically resilient back then, by a lot.
It was scarily accurate about me including my hobbies and how I ranked in those hobbies. It also dug up an article that featured me from 2010 in local magazine. That is a creepy feeling.
I asked ChatGPT and for some reason it replied in the context of my very first project on the site:
CaveMike is a figure spoken of in border villages, old road-houses, and among those who travel too close to forgotten places. He is not a king, nor a mage in any formal order, yet his name persists longer than most crowns.
I kind of like it.
When I re-asked and told it to forget any old context, I got a long answer similar to what others posted. It is nice and all, but it feels like a horoscope where you read into it what you want.
But it ended with those blurb:
What CaveMike Is Not
- Not an influencer
- Not a troll
- Not a pure lurker
- Not chasing status or clout
If CaveMike disappeared tomorrow, no headlines would be written—but a few threads would quietly lose their best answers.
Not sure how to take that. I think I’d prefer to be the figure spoken of in border villages.
That’s okay—I missed it, too. !!! No flowers; just send a donation in my name to the Thieving Coworker Saga Foundation.
Remarkably similar to the Life. Though we’ve been promised “less AI.”
But it could have been worse. At least the AI didn’t refer to me as a “benign fictional entity.” (Sorry, @Kent_Clark !)
“benign” has to be the worst part of that.
I think this is the coolest one so far.
Probably used as a contrast, to distinguish Kent_Clark’s mild-mannered fictional doings from AI’s own nefarious plans for humanity.
FWIW, this is my one:
I don’t think that quote is mine. I don’t recall ever being humble.
ETA, I think it’s response is heavily weighted by this single thread.
Jeez, I want to be a staple of the board’s intellectual core.
What do I got? I got anecdotes.
Doesn’t everyone?
Well, Spice we can’t all be a part of the brain trust.
How many brains do we need? Really?
AI is just not very good at spelling.
Well, according to AI, when I asked Who is gkster sdmb, “They are recognized as a “Charter Member,” a status typically held by users who have maintained active, paid subscriptions or long-term participation on the platform”. Who knows where AI got this? Clearly not from my profile on this site.
When I asked the question following @CairoCarol 's format above, I didn’t get much more, just “They are known for providing helpful, well-researched information, which aligns with the board’s mission to “eradicate world ignorance”.”
I tried this with both Google AI and ChatGPT (free version).
Google AI did better than ChatGPT when asked about [first-name last-name]. It basically gave a summary of my Linkedin profile. No surprises or anything as I have a limited online presence. ChatGPT gave a similar response but not as full and made some factual errors when elaborating on the details of my past work experience.
Google AI lost the plot a bit when asked about my Reddit user handle. It made several statements where it mistakenly said I had written a post when I had only responded to it. For example it said I’d written an open letter to a company when I had actually just responded to an open letter to the company. ChatGPT did better here.