The internet has spawned some obnoxious fads in the past. One was people posting "First!" on forum pages. Society squashed that for the most part but there's a new one that begs to have a derogatory name attached to it. I propose "Squids". Like a squid, they throw ink around that makes it harder to find things. In this case the ink is virtual as it's typing on an internet post.
The culprits are those who post responses on question forums like Yahoo Answers telling people they don't know the answer. It's rampant and as Shakespeare might have said, it pisseth me off.
Questioner: "Hi. Does anybody know if a Holly 950 CFM four barrel carburetor power valve provides further enrichment to the main metering system under load (low vacuum) conditions?"
Answerer: "Hmm. Sounds like a car question. Maybe you should look at a book on cars, or take it to somebody who knows about cars. Sometimes people at garages work on cars and they might be able to help. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."
Questioner: "Thanks for that squidly advice. Really appreciate your help."
Not a rant, a proposed term, method of use for said term and associated course of action to deal with a legitimate problem.
Ok, it's a rant.
PS. The obscuring virtual ink part (the clever part) is Spidermother's.-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 First!-- spidermother, Jul 09 2011 DOH!-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 This does not sound like a rant.
It looks like it would be more suited to a page on net ettiquette. Are you sure you do not wish to make one? Or ask the editors of one to add this to the page?-- neelandan, Jul 09 2011 Naa, the editors are too busy sifting through the hundreds of "marked for deletions" this site generates every day.-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 Showing results for "squills" Would you like to see results for "skids" instead ?-- FlyingToaster, Jul 09 2011 I like some of the weird stuff Google auto suggests when you type in it's search window.
There's a show called "American PIckers" where the guys go around finding antiques and collectibles. So of course, wondering if they were gay, I typed: "Are the A" and that's as far as I needed to go. Try it sometime when you're really bored. If you're as easily amused as I am you'll have a good laugh.
That actually relates to the squids thing. Everybody answering the "Are the American Pickers Gay?" question chimed in with "I don't know" making me wonder why they thought anybody would want to know that a complete stranger doesn't know something.-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 'Cause squid squirt ink everywhere making it harder to see what you're looking for?-- spidermother, Jul 09 2011 Maybe. You should probably be asking a cephalopodologist that question though.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 09 2011 Squids _do_ squirt ink; the question mark reflects uncertainty as to whether this is the reason for the name choice. [Edit] Damn. You got me.-- spidermother, Jul 09 2011 The subject is contributions to technical discussions based on near-total ignorance of the subject at hand. I'd like to make such a contribution to this discussion, but, unfortunately, I'm highly expert in contributions to technical discussions based on near-total ignorance of the subject at hand.
(//Ok, it's a rant// Naw. It skirts "word invention" and "lets all," but the idea here seems to be "coin an insulting epithet to discourage this particular behavior" which is a practical approach to a perceived problem. e.g. "scab")-- mouseposture, Jul 09 2011 I like the squids squirting obscuring ink thing.
Honestly I hadn't thought of that but I'm taking Spidermother's idea and putting it up on the original. It's by far the most clever part of this idea. (Credit will be given of course)-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 Thank you. It seemed appropriate, as text on the internet is equivalent to old-school writing, which sometimes used ink, if I recall.-- spidermother, Jul 09 2011 Credit where due.
Squid could also stand for: "Squirting Query Undermining Incoherent Drivel"-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 If one's unhelpful response is flagged as SQUID, one should claim to have been ironically pointing out that the original post was a Stupid Question Undeserving of Intelligent Discussion.-- mouseposture, Jul 09 2011 I suppose, but is there such a thing as a stupid question?-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 (Obligatory) No, just stupid people.-- spidermother, Jul 09 2011 That would be a funny line for that movie "Bad Teacher" which I understand could use a couple of funny lines.
Student: "Teacher, can I ask a dumb question?"
Teacher patting kid on the head: "Aww, come now. There are no dumb questions, only dumb students."
And thank you for not saying "Sure there are stupid questions. Like that one."-- doctorremulac3, Jul 09 2011 A friend of mine has an Edelbrock 1027; he hasn't had any problems with it.-- FlyingToaster, Jul 09 2011 random, halfbakery