MetaChat - Testing the Gullibility of MeFites

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11 March 2006

Testing the Gullibility of MeFites

post by: ericb at: 19:16 | 21 comments

*looks sheepish*

posted by loquacious 11 March | 19:31

I read that thread and I have one question. Is a billion in America really not the same as a billion in Britain?

posted by amro 11 March | 19:33

I could believe that a 9-year-old boy might think he could print the Internet. I couldn't believe the rest of it.

posted by kmellis 11 March | 19:33

Hmph, it is different. (Should have googled before I commented.) You learn something new every day.

And yes, it was clearly a fake article. If I wasn't sure at first, the lame quotes from Cody and his family clinched it.

posted by amro 11 March | 19:35

This angers me! Garrr! Smash!

posted by ColdChef 11 March | 19:38

I could see a 59 year old AOL user think that they could print out the whole internet, but c'mon, 9 yo's are less clueless than that.

As for the "experiment," well, I'm kind of at two minds about it. However, ~~all~~* most traces of taint would be washed away if he had cleared it with mathowie and other site-owners first (but I doubt that this was the case).

*Well, ethically he was conducting the experiment without informed consent and assent but the procedure was non-invasive and probably caused little more than a modicum of embarasement.

I'd exonerate him based on the quality of the findings/analyses (and the quality of said presentation).

If it turns out to be some half-assed piece of wankery slipshodily presented, then hang 'em.

posted by porpoise 11 March | 19:53

He's a dick.

posted by ColdChef 11 March | 19:56

I think it's totally a hoax.

posted by iconomy 11 March | 19:56

Oh I just read the whole thing. Yep, a dick.

posted by iconomy 11 March | 20:00

It's the advertising that makes him a dick. Dick dick dickhole.

posted by ColdChef 11 March | 20:01

I love the whistling sound the banhammer makes as it arcs toward the head of a miscreant.

posted by killdevil 11 March | 20:11

I read that thread and I have one question. Is a billion in America really not the same as a billion in Britain?

Yes, but the american way is, of course, the correct way.

posted by delmoi 11 March | 20:49

Billions and billions.

posted by arse_hat 11 March | 21:21

huh, I didn't know that about 'billions'.

posted by puke & cry 11 March | 21:55

And now the thread is dead.

Sad. I was just starting to have fun.

posted by ColdChef 11 March | 22:08

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national
deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. -- Richard Feynman

posted by knave 11 March | 22:41

I've never seen somebody use a British billion. At least, I hope not

posted by flopsy 12 March | 02:42

ditto flopsy. it sounds like the sort of thing lexicographers have debates about when in fact the day to day usage amongst the population has moved on to the american version.

posted by dodgygeezer 12 March | 05:30

I didn't realise it, but most people use the American system now. Up until a year ago, I would have used the old british system.

posted by seanyboy 12 March | 06:03

Funny how the "American" version of the billion is more metric than the "British" version of the billion...

posted by porpoise 12 March | 09:13

I use 'billion' to mean 'a thousand million' like the Americans, and like the BBC and other news sources here. I think the old 'British' usage is dying out.

posted by altolinguistic 12 March | 16:22

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