MetaChat - Does this seem legit?

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19 March 2007

Does this seem legit? →[More:]Last week I got an e-mail from someone claiming to be a reporter from a newspaper in the Philippines. They wanted to interview me about my polyoramas.

I said sure, what do you want to know? They finally got back to me this week, but the questions are weird and robotic:

Here are the questions. I hope they're not overlong.

-What was the inspiration behind "Polyorama?" Can you define it for us?
-Who are the creators currently working on the field?
-How did you get into it?
-What makes you passionate about Polyorama?
-Where do you get your creative insights and inspiration from?
-What are the common errors that beginners may encounter when working?
-What kind of materials would you need?
-Does having a background in art help or hinder the process?
-What are the skills required to be able to make a series of disparate
panels fit together to still form a unified picture?
-What is the most exciting part of the project? The most daunting?
-What project are you currently working on?
-What limitations have you had working with the art form? How were you able
to get past that?
-How do you deal with critics?
-Is there a criteria to determine what's a good polyorama from another?
-What advice can you give to teens wanting to make their own polyoramas?

That's it, Mr. Ralston
Thank you so much!

It almost looks like a form filled in "polyorama" in different places. Is this a known spam trick or phishing thing, or am I being paranoid?

post by: interrobang at: 16:11 | 15 comments

Looks like your generic arts'n'culture reporter's questions to me. Still, it does have a form-letter quality to it. It could be that the person doing this is new at reporting; perhaps it's some sort of school assignment for a school publication? In that case, the teacher may have provided sample questions.

You could certainly write back with something like "Can you tell me more about this publication? Can I view it on the web? What else have you reported on? Will you send me a copy?" etc.

posted by Miko 19 March | 16:19

Good idea with the questions, Miko--I hadn't thought of that at all, and *of course* I'd want my own copy of anything that comes of this. Thanks!

posted by interrobang 19 March | 16:21

Did you check out the name of the newspaper?
Doesn't seem weird enough to be spam.

posted by ethylene 19 March | 16:24

Well, miko's covered it but maybe there's a language barrier thing too making the language seem so formal.

posted by ethylene 19 March | 16:26

She didn't give me the name of the newspaper. I googled her name and came up with three hits, "proving" she's a real person with *some* ties to reporting, but it wasn't convincing enough for me.

posted by interrobang 19 March | 16:28

ethylene makes a good point about the language thing, too.

posted by Miko 19 March | 16:32

Yeah, I agree with everyone. I'm doubting it's some weird form of spam, but it does sound like the questions people used to ask me for high school newspaper features.

posted by muddgirl 19 March | 16:56

Politely tell her that if she is unwilling to give you the name of the publication, you are unwilling to answer her questions.

posted by Specklet 19 March | 17:40

Okay, thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm definitely going to ask for the name of the paper, and if I can get a copy.

posted by interrobang 19 March | 17:51

Polyaroma?? What, you have multiple smells??

posted by Doohickie 19 March | 22:57

so, interrobang, do tell us, how do you deal with critics?

posted by taz 20 March | 00:27

"so, interrobang, do tell us, how do you deal with critics?"

Zing! Zing! Zip! Zing!
Stabby! Stabby! Stabby! Stabby!

posted by arse_hat 20 March | 00:36

The weird thing is getting all those questions in one lump, but it doesn't sound illegit to me. As a reporter I'd start with a few and make up the new ones in response to what I got.

I've had a couple of e-mail interviews, two for the NYT (I must not quote well, didn't make it!), and they were more like that.

posted by stilicho 20 March | 00:40

Looks like your generic arts'n'culture reporter's questions to me.

Yeah, I've sent squillions of emails like that, though usually with longer/more precise human-sounding questions to begin, and the more cut 'n' paste stuff at the end - the idea is to cover all bases and so force as much quotable copy out of the interviewee as possible, to safeguard against the dreaded 'Oh shit! The fucker just sent me two one-line sentences and I have 1,000 words to write on him by three o'clock this afternoon!' syndrome. (Also, general, seemingly obvious questions often prompt the most useful responses.)

posted by jack_mo 20 March | 08:11

Man. That reminds me of a weird out-of-the-blue blog comment I got a month or so back. Legit? Not? Scattershot bid solicitation?

Author : Hamidreza Akhlaghpour (IP: 217.218.68.20 , dnscache-dci.pezhvakisp.net)
E-mail : panizpars@gmail.com
URI : http://panizpars.com
Comment:
Dear Sir,

This is an Iranian company as named PanizPars. I need lot animation movies.
Would you please tell me how you can make animation for me?
Let me know some information about you to make animation, if I give you some animation storyboards.
How about 2D animation (give some samples)?
How about 3D animation (give some samples)?
How much is your cost for short cartoon and long animation movie (US$)?
How many minutes animation can you make for me in each week?

Thanks for your attention.

Best regards,

Hamidreza Akhlaghpour
PanizPars Manager Director

posted by cortex 20 March | 10:59

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