Everybody knows that code_grey is a problem poster. Always has been. He rated a pit thread Code_Grey, quit spamming GQ with Bullshit. In 2009. When the thread got revived as a zombie everybody thought it was brand new! Heck, he’s started 140 threads in GQ since Jan. 13, or more than one a day. (That doesn’t include all the threads he started in GQ that the mods had to move because they didn’t belong there.) The same thread over and over. With people teaching him the same basics about consumers and economics over and over.
That’s so far within bounds you can’t see the border with a telescope. We’re always telling people who don’t understand science to do some reading before posting their uninformed theories.
I know these were reported, a day ago. No mods have been in GQ for a day?
What’s the deal here? Where’s the line for insults? Why hasn’t code_grey be given a warning like jinx or ralph that spamming GQ with bullshit questions has to stop? Does GQ not have enough mods to check in more than once a day?
Hey, at least these aren’t questions that could be answered by entering “line printer” into Google.
Let me preface this by saying that you are one of my favorite GQ posters and that I usually find your thread reports right on the mark, and downright helpful.
In the United States, this is what’s referred to as a holiday weekend. Memorial Day - Wikipedia So, yeah, folks are busy celebrating, traveling, and imbibing.
The only thread report I saw about the ascii texts thread referred to a “scolding” that the reporter received. It didn’t refer to the thread in which the scolding occurred, and I wasn’t familiar with the incident, so I thought I ought to leave it to the moderator who did the scolding. I’d be unlikely to overrule the original scolder, in any case, unless I discussed it with them first.
I’ll repeat what I’ve said elsewhere: Moderation seldom occurs in real time. If you are experiencing a true emergency, call the appropriate authorities or go to the emergency room at once.
I’ll check out the thread in a while and respond accordingly. Sorry for the delay.
I’m probably the target of Exapno’s ire. I “scolded” him for a snarky response in the thread.
He’s also one of MY favorites in General Questions. Solid factual posts, right on the money almost all the time. And his “report this posts” are usually correct. Doesn’t mean I will always agree with him, but he’s got a great batting average.
And, yeah, code_grey IS a problem poster. I’m not sure how this one gets resolved. It’s an ongoing process. I’m sure it’ll work out. Maybe not to everyone’s satisfaction. Remember, our mills grind slow.
There IS a bit of the holiday weekend involved here. I had bad computer problems the last week. Still do tonight. Don’t even want to talk about it.
Colibri is away for a long weekend, IIRC, and we just got back the Wombat.
Take a deep breath, enjoy your holiday weekend, go outside, and remember, this is just a messageboard in cyberspace. You didn’t lose you house/loved ones in a tornado this week.
I find the 2 questions in the OP interesting. I thought Exapno Mapcase gave a decent response, though incomplete (why is there not a greater price-over-lifetime market?) Industrial anthropology is a legitimate topic, as is industrial organization. Furthermore, code-grey would probably have to take coursework in intermediate economics or business to have his questions addressed: introductory courses may not cut it.
That said, there are a total of 7 GQ threads by code_grey on the front page, which seems a little high. Does he regularly post more than 2 threads per day? I’m also reluctant to encourage the guy, as doing that can lead to train wrecks.
I don’t know about regularly, but he definitely has had that many threads or more on the front page at the same time.
BTW, my first solution would be to ask him to put all questions on or about the same topic in the same thread. I’d try that before limiting him to X questions a day, as it wouldn’t feel stifling, and might be enough to reduce the threads to a tolerable number.
Sometimes you don’t want to hijack your own thread. As a guideline, I’d say that posting more than 1 thread per day raises a flag. But sometimes posing a spinoff thread is appropriate.
One thing I don’t see by code-grey is hit and run behavior. He asks followup questions and responds to inquiries. I don’t think they are bad questions: sometimes it’s best to ask a simple question to shed light on a deeper one. AFAIK, the questions are of a proper length and have a useful title. Finally, the front page of GQ isn’t as valuable as it used to be: extending the number of threads to 150 provided 24 hours + for all inquiries.
Objectively speaking, he’s a problem poster in that he annoys people. I think “People” are over-reacting. But I am wary of enabling problem posters, since that tends to end with wrecked trains.
I think the problem is mainly that the question he wants an answer to isn’t the question he asks. Then when posters answer the question he asks, they get ignored and/or he gets snarky.
In the ASCII printers thread, he eventually gets around to the actual question in post 35, saying he’s discussing ways to lower costs in low-quality on-demand printing. But he’s never actually asked, “what are the cost components in on-demand printing?” (and there’s a new question asking how much trimming, packing and the like costs)
He’s done this a couple other times as well. It’s as if someone asks about how casinos ensure slot machines are random, and then three pages later it turns out what they really want to know is the best strategy for beating the house using any game. You’re not going to get useful answers that way.
For example, in this thread he asks “how many people use mind maps seriously”, when it seems like what he really wants to know is DO people use mind maps seriously, or are mind maps taken seriously, or even perhaps, how do people use mind maps seriously.
When asked “how many”, people (including me) skipped right over the “are they taken seriously” part (since it wasn’t asked) and jumped in with A) the correct answer, “it’s probably impossible to accurately know” and B) anecdotes about mind map usage.
code_grey comes back with, “ok maybe one form is useful, but they should rename the software to get rid of cultish associations”. Wait, what? He completely abandons the “how many” question, and never either acknowledges that it’s probably unknowable or tries to figure out other ways of tracking it down.
It really seems like he’s trying to start an open-ended discussion about a large topic by asking one very specific question, and then getting upset with people who don’t understand the end goal. That’s not really what GQ is for, IMHO.
They have? Those two are STILL problem posters. If the mods have warned them and their current output is “moderate”, then I’m flabbergasted at those decisions’ ineffectualness.
Your memory must be really bad. “Google is your friend” was probably invented for jinx. Every question was one that could be answered by clicking on “I’m Feeling Lucky.” He’s much better now. Really.
With that precedent I’m asking the mods to rein in a poster who’s started yet another thread on printing, without bothering to research one single thing on printing that would make his questions answerable.
The annoyance level is growing with each mindless thread. They look seemingly legitimate on the surface, enough to draw people in, but the questions are misleading since they’re all variations on a conspiracy theory that businesses don’t know their own business. “I’m just asking questions” doesn’t work here any more than it does for Glenn Beck. GQ isn’t the place for them.
At least in this case it’s only taken eight posts to go from the question as presented in the OP title, “what does cost of book folding and book binding depend on?” to what he’s really asking, “why do you suppose a whole bunch of new companies have not yet entered the, as you claim, blatantly gouging industry and have not yet knocked the price down closer to the production costs?” (notwithstanding the fact that the previous poster didn’t even come close to claiming that the industry was blatantly gouging)
Interesting thoughts, Garfield226: I find your POV plausible.
Er. Such a stance isn’t too far off from the basis of any number of industry studies. Such a stance is commonplace in the economics classroom.
Businesspeople face an evolving environment: they know their business well, but there’s reason to believe that they don’t know it perfectly. Furthermore, many practices are at bottom attempts to rein in competition: for example ink jet manufacturers don’t produce easily refillable cartridges partly because they would face competition in the ink market, while they can charge a higher markup in the cartridge market. His followup questions involving potential entry by firms are standard in economics.
I take issue with the contention that the threads are mindless, though I concede that their repetitiveness may get annoying after a while, at least for some. FTR, I find the economics of the print industry to be puzzling as well.
