Questionable Threads

[parkie]

Guys, please tell me if you think I am being cynical, but we've had a number of threads on here recently which have been asking advice and are, in themselves, very complicated and involved. Certain phrases appear to be repeated in each thread.
Each one, when I have checked their history, shows the questioner is posting their very first thread, sometimes do not give their gender, and appear to be similar in certain other ways. and we tend not to hear from them again afterwards.
Is there something suspicious about these, do you think, or is it just me getting old and cynical?

[Canary42]

Both.

[jno]

there are a lot of them about, aren't there? But people who have a particular problem do come here to seek advice and then have no need to return, so they're not necessarily phoney.

And what the heck. Advice stays on the site whether the OP is real or not, so it may be useful to others regardless. You don't have to respond if you think your leg's being pulled, but personally I treat every user as legit until it's proven otherwise.

[Mick-Talbot]

.. and incidentally Canary shares your suspicions.

[Canary42]

Thanks Mick.

[Sammy48]

I think the giveaway is 'Hi I am new here'. lol lol. Most are banned users trying to get their foot back in the door, I suspect.

[Zacs-Master]

I think i know the ones you mean. Oooh, I fancy a curry for some reason.

[Mick-Talbot]

http://dalje.com/slike/slike_3/r1/g2007/m04/x80138302042585632.jpg


Threads don't come much more questionable than Avrils.

[pastafreak]

If the threads in question stimulate discussion,and also result in advice that could be helpful to anyone,or benefit another reader,then I have no problem with them. It doesn't matter if they are real or not.
I'd much rather give a poster the benefit of the doubt.

[ChillDoubt]

I stay away from them as most would be better posted in the problem pages of Jackie (if it still exists!).

[magsmay]

Some people seem to think AB is a social club -it actually exists for members of the public to find out answers to questions -when anyone does a search for just about anything AB is usually up there on the Google first page and this does not change whether you are a pensioner looking to find out a question on gardening or a teenager with boyfriend problems. Often people will make a first post without reading other questions or realising that AB is much more middle-class middle England than they perhaps are used to.

[sandyRoe]

Middle-class? Oh Dear.

[Psybbo]

Middle England? Oh dear

[Bazile]

I shouldn't be on here then - o dear

[woofgang]

sometimes if you google a subject, what comes up as a high hit is answerbank...this might explain a rush of similar questions.

[DTCwordfan]

I didn't know that Cornwall was in Middle England - really the standard of Geography teaching these days leaves something to be desired.

[magsmay]

These are typical middle class retorts . We are educated, we are witty and we are clanny -and you are not allowed in our Village (hypothetical of course).

[atalanta]

I can't help wondering, with some of these complex and wandering questions, if the writer is actually trying to write a book, and has got into a dead-end in the plot.