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hmm... (Reply to this comment)
by ChromeKiller
Strangely enough, I recently read a letter about that same article involving the screwy letters, which was sent into Game Informer (the game magazine). And I agree: it is easy to read the letters even when they're shuffled, and harder once capitalized (like in your example).
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Dec 29 '03
10:15 pm PST
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Hwody! (Reply to this comment)
by trust12345
Adny-
My brohter snet me an artilce abuot the smae stduy, and I nveer thuohgt to aplpy it to the caps quetsion.
The Epinoins slpel chcek msut hvae had a flied day with tihs esyay!
-Jhon
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Oct 16 '03
2:00 am PDT
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Re: MHMM.... (Reply to this comment)
by Andyman
rcok on, aoahsk!
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Oct 03 '03
10:28 am PDT
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MHMM.... (Reply to this comment)
by aashok
DAER ADNY,
I MA GALD YUO TKOO TEH TEMI OT BINRG TSIH OT ORU ANETTITON. I HEVA IPMORDEV MY WTIRNIG SLIKLS, SA OUY NAC EES.
TAKNH OYU,
OKSHA.
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Oct 03 '03
3:04 am PDT
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Thanks Grace (Reply to this comment)
by Andyman
I appreciate the 2nd look and your thoughts. It is a neat parlor trick all unto itself, but I wasn't trying to impress. I would never abuse Epinions just to make myself look clever.
I tried to use the passage to illustrate a point: that ALL CAPS is not necessarily the most useful way to get attention on Epinions. Since any similarly mangled block of text will serve the same purpose, I just didn't think about it.
But I should have. Your points are well taken and we should all be incredibly vigilant about this kind of thing. It's an area where we can't afford to just be "good enough", because, as you point out, these things can cascade, and all it takes is one error of omission to allow everyone else to run wild in ignorant bliss.
Thanks for keepin' it real.
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Oct 02 '03
9:47 pm PDT
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Re: Re: hey there (Reply to this comment)
by gracef
Snopes.com has a page dedicated to this little experiment along with links to other pages that discuss it.
http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/cambridge.asp
Tracking through the endless links to links, you get to this page:
http://blogs.salon.com/0001092/2003/09/15.html#a464
My problem with the original version of this editorial is that there was no reference at all that indicated that some of the content did not originate with the author. It has become all too fashionable on Epinions of late to treat the Writer's Corner and the Member Center categories as "The Repost Corner"... Repost any old tidbit that one receives in an email chain letter to the Member Center, and readers will line up to VH the article and proclaim the brilliance of the "writer".
What's worse is that lots of members see these VHd reposts and then think it's perfectly OK to repost anything that they can find on the Internet. Short of a thought of your own? Well, then just string together some thoughts pasted together from a number of other sites. Heck, everything on the Internet is fair game, isn't it?
You may think, "Hey, this has appeared all over the Internet. What's the harm?"
Let me tell you the story of one of Epinions' own members, file13. In the wake of the 9-11 attacks, file13 posted an editorial to Epinions. Some people saw it and thought it was pretty funny. They passed it on to others who in turn passed it on to others. Somewhere along the line, the credit to the author was lost. Before long, the writer received his own editorial as one of those chain emails. IIRC, in one version, the editorial was credited to an anonymous writer. And in another, it was credited to some other person.
As with this case, someone was smart enough to come up with this idea first. Whether it's a real report or one that is just a nice bit of satire, the original author deserves credit. If you don't know the original author, then maybe it's better to paraphrase or refer to one of the existing online versions.
I changed my rating here because you have modified it to be clear what part of the content wasn't your own. It would be better if you would include some URLs that show where the thoughts came from.
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Oct 02 '03
8:02 pm PDT
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Re: hey there (Reply to this comment)
by Andyman
I'm sorry for the mistake. I did use quotes, and I've added a very clear notation now. If anyone can authoritatively trace the source, I will be happy to note it. But it's on so many websites now that I can't tell where it originated.
It honestly never occurred to me that anyone would think I was claiming authorship. But I agree, something was needed in addition to the quotes. I certainly didn't discover this phenomenon myself, and did not whip up this example off the top of my head.
As noted below, I used a webtool for additional scrambling help.
Humbly yours,
Andyman
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Oct 02 '03
4:54 pm PDT
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hey there again... (Reply to this comment)
by sleeper54
..
OK. A quick google search finds hundreds of occurrences of the basic scrambled text. But nowhere did I find the text in CAPS as a counterpoint. And nowhere did I find his additional explanatory text.
So I'll consider it like an ingredients list...:smilie moment:...
...tom...
http://www.metacrawler.com/info.metac/search/web/Aoccdrnig%252Bto%252Ba%252Brscheearch%252Bat%252BCmabrigde
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Oct 02 '03
4:53 pm PDT
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hey there (Reply to this comment)
by sleeper54
..
Ahh the moral dilemmas we face...
Perhaps simply substituting some other text might make this less . . .problematic than some now find it?
I also had seen the scrambled word paragraph in lower and capital letters. But I had not seen it 'all in CAPS' like the second paragraph of example text.
If someone, anyone, cares to drop an URL of where this content came from I would be glad to drop the 'NH' also. Well, perhaps 'glad' is too strong of a word... (If it is circulating in e-mails surely it is on someone's website by now...)
...tom...
"There is no dilemma compared with that of the deep-sea diver who hears the message from the ship above, 'Come up at once. We are sinking.' " —Robert Cooper
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Oct 02 '03
4:39 pm PDT
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Re: Are you aware... (Reply to this comment)
by Andyman
The first block of sample text about the Cambridge research has not only made the rounds on email, but been posted to countless blogs, message boards, and academic sites as well.
I did use a webtool at the following URL to do the scrambling of the second block for me:
http://www.lerfjhax.com/funky.php
I hope you don't see my use of this demonstrative text as any kind of plagiarism. Since the content of it is arbitrary, I didn't hesitate to use it. I will note in the review that I did not compose it myself.
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Oct 02 '03
2:56 pm PDT
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Are you aware... (Reply to this comment)
by gracef
that some of your editorial was lifted from an email that has been widely circulated lately?
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Oct 02 '03
2:18 pm PDT
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That was really educational..... (Reply to this comment)
by iluvbirds
for me and made a lot of sense too. Very nice review!
Just my thoughts,
Savanna
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Oct 02 '03
1:26 pm PDT
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You know... (Reply to this comment)
by ggrimes1221
I got an email about this the other day and had never really paid that much attention the fact that you can read words that are jumbled easily if the first and last letter are in the right place. I highly agree putting it in all caps makes it much more difficult.
Great advice...
GG
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Oct 02 '03
1:17 pm PDT
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