Volunteers wanted `'Reseach project about Ereaders`'

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Kama Sutra is apparently one of the most pirated ebooks,

How can you pirate something that's in the public domain all over the world?

Originally Posted by Fat Abe

Danes have no sense of humor. Proof: Hamlet. I abhor survey methodology that is invasive. Is that too difficult for you to understand?

Hey now, I think I have as much of a sense of humor as the next guy. Of course I am only a pretend Hamlet.

I have to admit that I have never heard of this method of research. I have to wonder how valid results can be with the subjects aware that they are being photographed. There is a rule in an area of science I am more familiar with (research in 'hard' science; specifically chemistry) that the very act of measuring a property of a system effects that system. The method proposed here seems especially intrusive in that sense.

I also would not be comfortable with sending off photographs of myself either. There's a reason I use a fake screen name and an avatar instead of my real name and photograph, even on a presumably benign group like this.

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by TGS

What I don't understand is why people on the forum respond to a student making a request like this by ridiculing it

Probably because to anyone who isn't learned in these fields it IS a ridiculous request.
It is like asking me about my dietary preferences and requesting a copy of my local train schedule.

We're on the internet here - it isn't too farfetched to assume that someone is making a weird request just for the sake of it.

I still don't see the relevance of pictures.
Or how I'm supposed to take a picture of myself while reading. (Unless you mean a picture where see at best me minus one arm, which again should make the picture rather useless. Or is it assume that I have my personal photographer? :-)

Where is the difference between telling them "I usually read on my way to work, in train and subway" to me somehow taking a picture while doing so?
Is my word not credible? Then the picture is even less so, it can be staged without problem.

[Kevin2960]

1st of April tomorrow RIGHT ???

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

There's a reason I use a fake screen name and an avatar instead of my real name and photograph, even on a presumably benign group like this.

You mean that's not really you!!!?

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Soldim

How can you pirate something that's in the public domain all over the world?

Not really pirated (hence the "apparently"), but yeah:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55339

Didn't mean to suggest it is a commercial publication (though there are plenty of commercial versions, even on DVD)

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Soldim

How can you pirate something that's in the public domain all over the world?

By wearing a headscarf and saying "arrr" and "avast" while you download it?

[Vienna01]

deleted, wrong thread

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

Probably because to anyone who isn't learned in these fields it IS a ridiculous request.
It is like asking me about my dietary preferences and requesting a copy of my local train schedule.

Until I saw the request I was clueless about the research methodology, so I asked the OP about it. They gave me a bit of info, which I followed up. Now I know a bit more than I did - and so the request doesn't appear as ridiculous to me. Though I do think the OP could have done more to explain what they were talking about. As you say, (well, actually you don't, but it's implied by what you say), given what you know about the research methodology, the request appears ridiculous. But that's as much to do with what you know about the the methodology as it is to do with something intrinsically ridiculous about the request.

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

We're on the internet here - it isn't too farfetched to assume that someone is making a weird request just for the sake of it.

Well, there's a choice I guess - assume that something I don't understand is in some way suspect and respond accordingly, or assume that it's in good faith. Maybe we just disagree about what it is reasonable to assume.
My other point was that if what you assume is that the request is suspect then you have the choice to just ignore it - there is no necessity to ridicule the OP.

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

I still don't see the relevance of pictures.
Or how I'm supposed to take a picture of myself while reading. (Unless you mean a picture where see at best me minus one arm, which again should make the picture rather useless. Or is it assume that I have my personal photographer? :-)

Where is the difference between telling them "I usually read on my way to work, in train and subway" to me somehow taking a picture while doing so?
Is my word not credible? Then the picture is even less so, it can be staged without problem.

There was an email on the OP. Anyone could have asked these questions of the student making the request.

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by TGS

But that's as much to do with what you know about the the methodology as it is to do with something intrinsically ridiculous about the request.

Certainly.
However, I think the debt lies within the writer, not the reader. After all, he wants something from us, so it is his duty to provide enough information to convince us.
(Generally speaking, not just this thread.)

Well, there's a choice I guess - assume that something I don't understand is in some way suspect and respond accordingly, or assume that it's in good faith. Maybe we just disagree about what it is reasonable to assume.

Quite likely - see your point above - what seems ridiculous to one may seem normal to another.
It also depends on what kind of forum you're used to. On some you could have philosophical discussions on the color of blue, others'll roast you alive for saying the sky is gray today.

My other point was that if what you assume is that the request is suspect then you have the choice to just ignore it - there is no necessity to ridicule the OP.

I certainly agree with that. But I can also understand those who do. I'd have clicked the topic away and mostly ignored it, but I wanted to answer to your post.

There was an email on the OP. Anyone could have asked these questions of the student making the request.

To do that, there would have to be a spark of interest. One doesn't have to be interested in something to make fun of it.