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Fragrag
Aug 3, 2007
The Worst Admin Ever bashes You in the head with his banhammer. It is smashed into the body, an unrecognizable mass! You have been struck down.
That conference actually accepted a paper that was written entirely with autocorrect

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Original_Z
Jun 14, 2005
Z so good

Fragrag posted:

That conference actually accepted a paper that was written entirely with autocorrect

This has got to be one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

many johnnys
May 17, 2015

Fragrag posted:

That conference actually accepted a paper that was written entirely with autocorrect

quote:

A bogus research paper reading only “Get me off Your loving Mailing List” repeated over and over again was accepted by the International Journal of Advanced Computer Technology, an open-access academic journal, in November 2014.
yes

MightyJoe36
Dec 29, 2013

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:
Reminds me of the paper that was co-written by the guy's cat and was submitted to a scientific journal.

Collateral Damage
Jun 13, 2009

There have also been multiple papers written by markov-chain text generators accepted into these kinds of scam conferences.

Beet
Aug 24, 2003
The best part is that the group student registration costs $50 more than five individual ones would.

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer
I'm sure these conferences don't care about accepting bullshit, because plenty of people are probably happy to pay them for the resume padding, because academia is full of bullshit hurdles like that.

Jeb Bush 2012
Apr 4, 2007

A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

Thanatosian posted:

I'm sure these conferences don't care about accepting bullshit, because plenty of people are probably happy to pay them for the resume padding, because academia is full of bullshit hurdles like that.

Scam conferences are worthless for resume-packing, putting one on your resume actively makes it worse

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

Shawon Dunston posted:

The best part is that the group student registration costs $50 more than five individual ones would.

Well tables aren't free ya know

Teriyaki Hairpiece
Dec 29, 2006

I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.
I've had this idea for years: a service that helps you stage photographs of you doing wonderful things that you could use for the purpose of getting a job or for your social media profiles or whatever. Our guarantee: no Photoshop, only honestly fake pictures. There would be a sliding scale of costs: you helping an old lady across a street would obviously be a cheaper picture than you teaching a class of third-world children how to read.

goatsestretchgoals
Jun 4, 2011

Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:

I've had this idea for years: a service that helps you stage photographs of you doing wonderful things that you could use for the purpose of getting a job or for your social media profiles or whatever. Our guarantee: no Photoshop, only honestly fake pictures. There would be a sliding scale of costs: you helping an old lady across a street would obviously be a cheaper picture than you teaching a class of third-world children how to read.

How much for a 'selfie' of me wiring 10k to the Nigerian Secretary of Educating White People from Overseas.

froward
Jun 2, 2014

by Azathoth

Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:

I've had this idea for years: a service that helps you stage photographs of you doing wonderful things that you could use for the purpose of getting a job or for your social media profiles or whatever. Our guarantee: no Photoshop, only honestly fake pictures. There would be a sliding scale of costs: you helping an old lady across a street would obviously be a cheaper picture than you teaching a class of third-world children how to read.

can you get a picture of me riding a bear, leading a cavalry charge onto ISIS trenches?

Guest2553
Aug 3, 2012


I'm like 50% sure I might have been taken by someone earlier this year, but walked into it anyways. Someone in an online community I visit made an odd comment, and the resultant line of questioning led to them describing what was clearly an abusive relationship. People naturally flocked towards it with advice to help them :sever:, and I reached out to one-on-one to offer a few bucks to facilitate the process after they committed to leaving. After transferring some money the person's account was deleted in what was either or a don't-doxx-me-bro or get-out-of-dodge move.

I figured I could live with knowing I gave someone 50 bucks who didn't need it than passing up the opportunity to really help someone out. The account was a few months old and I didn't offer money right away, so at worst it was a long con bordering on performance art. Maybe I'm the idiot, but we're all goons here so :iiam:

Josef K. Sourdust
Jul 16, 2014

"To be quite frank, Platinum sucks at making games. Vanquish was terrible and Metal Gear Rising: Revengance was so boring it put me to sleep."

Here's one for Britgoons: I see around on the street (and have seen on trains) some ex-meth addicts collecting for charities to help addicts. They have the tabards (those day-glo tunics - is that what they are called?) and ID cards. I feel conflicted. If they are genuine I don't mind giving a £1 or 2. If they aren't then I wouldn't give. The thing is if you engage in conversation and check the ID you have pretty much committed to donating. Also, how am I supposed to check the ID? Write the name and number and check it by i-net later? The men themselves seem straight while collecting but are clearly ex-addicts (often they tell you this). The charities are all for recovery and rehabilitation of addicts - pretty worthy - but I don't want my money actually going towards drugs.

Suggestions/responses?

Do you get this in the US?

Imaduck
Apr 16, 2007

the magnetorotational instability turns me on

Thanatosian posted:

I'm sure these conferences don't care about accepting bullshit, because plenty of people are probably happy to pay them for the resume padding, because academia is full of bullshit hurdles like that.
Anyone in academia knows what the relevant journals and conferences are in their field, so publishing in some wonky journal or going to a bogus conference would be a definite red flag.

My guess is that most of the people that publish in these things are crackpots or people that are very detached from academia that want to break in but don't know enough to know better.

Imaduck fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Oct 26, 2016

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

Google the charities?

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

They also prey on young academics/grad students who are desperate for some publications on their CV and either don't look into them or are just that desperate. Watching your career die because you didn't hit the right publishing milestone is awful and short circuits critical thinking.

See also those laughable history conferences in Hawaii

Snow Cone Capone
Jul 31, 2003


the publish or perish mentality is a cancer on STEM academia as a whole tbh, this is just a side-effect

Teriyaki Hairpiece
Dec 29, 2006

I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

froward posted:

can you get a picture of me riding a bear, leading a cavalry charge onto ISIS trenches?

No request we can't fulfill.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

Also, how am I supposed to check the ID? Write the name and number and check it by i-net later? The men themselves seem straight while collecting but are clearly ex-addicts (often they tell you this). The charities are all for recovery and rehabilitation of addicts - pretty worthy - but I don't want my money actually going towards drugs.

Suggestions/responses?

Do you get this in the US?

I've seen this (in the US) a number of times. Every time I've seen it, it's looked like a scam. I once was drinking a beer at a restaurant's sidewalk patio, and a dude who approached me eventually pointed out that he was still wearing his work badge from his new job, then ask if I could buy him a beer. Pretty solid ask, right? Except that the badge was a real lovely hand-laminated thing, and he said it was for working at the Salvation Army, an organization which I think is almost totally run by volunteers.

Another time I saw a guy hawking candy bars, standing on a corner right in the middle of a local college bar area, on Saturday night. Dude also had bad lamination skills, but his were for the piece of paper explaining the "charity" of a local park program for kids. Funny part about this one is that the guy was trying to hawk to all of us standing there waiting for the crosswalk, and in response a dude by me turns around and asks "really, this program is at so-and-so community center?". The scam guy answers yes, and then the dude says "That's weird, I just finished my term on the parks board this year and I've never heard of it" :xd:

stringball
Mar 17, 2009

I would mostly figure the people that have setups outside of Walmarts and other stores are at least slightly legit because they would be kicked off promptly if they didn't have permission

But doesn't exactly mean the thing is doing good or not and hopefully they researched them before allowing then to setup

Pilsner
Nov 23, 2002

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

Here's one for Britgoons: I see around on the street (and have seen on trains) some ex-meth addicts collecting for charities to help addicts. They have the tabards (those day-glo tunics - is that what they are called?) and ID cards. I feel conflicted. If they are genuine I don't mind giving a £1 or 2. If they aren't then I wouldn't give. The thing is if you engage in conversation and check the ID you have pretty much committed to donating. Also, how am I supposed to check the ID? Write the name and number and check it by i-net later? The men themselves seem straight while collecting but are clearly ex-addicts (often they tell you this). The charities are all for recovery and rehabilitation of addicts - pretty worthy - but I don't want my money actually going towards drugs.

Suggestions/responses?

Do you get this in the US?
I don't understand why you are so hellbent on donating to people like this. It's simple: If you're the slightest bit in doubt, don't donate, save your money for something else. I am certain you can find 100 other causes that are more likely to be legit that crackheads on the street. I never donate to anything or anyone, because you never know when your money is going into a scam organization, being spent frivously on employee benefits within the org, or ending up in the hands of corrupt officials in a third world country.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Naive 20-year-olds walking around a supermarket parking lot selling car wax while-u-shop. Probably on commission. The main victim is the employees getting pepped up to be told gtfo in the sun all day.

Lutha Mahtin
Oct 10, 2010

Your brokebrain sin is absolved...go and shitpost no more!

Pilsner posted:

I don't understand why you are so hellbent on donating to people like this. It's simple: If you're the slightest bit in doubt, don't donate, save your money for something else. I am certain you can find 100 other causes that are more likely to be legit that crackheads on the street. I never donate to anything or anyone, because you never know when your money is going into a scam organization, being spent frivously on employee benefits within the org, or ending up in the hands of corrupt officials in a third world country.

--an awful human

Yngwie Mangosteen
Aug 23, 2007

Lutha Mahtin posted:

--an awful human

No, but you see, s/he has never lost (amount equal to about a dollar) to a SCAMMER.

CountFosco
Jan 9, 2012

Welcome back to the Liturgigoon thread, friend.

Pilsner posted:

I don't understand why you are so hellbent on donating to people like this. It's simple: If you're the slightest bit in doubt, don't donate, save your money for something else. I am certain you can find 100 other causes that are more likely to be legit that crackheads on the street. I never donate to anything or anyone, because you never know when your money is going into a scam organization, being spent frivously on employee benefits within the org, or ending up in the hands of corrupt officials in a third world country.

http://www.givewell.org

roffels
Jul 27, 2004

Yo Taxi!

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

Here's one for Britgoons: I see around on the street (and have seen on trains) some ex-meth addicts collecting for charities to help addicts. They have the tabards (those day-glo tunics - is that what they are called?) and ID cards. I feel conflicted. If they are genuine I don't mind giving a £1 or 2. If they aren't then I wouldn't give. The thing is if you engage in conversation and check the ID you have pretty much committed to donating. Also, how am I supposed to check the ID? Write the name and number and check it by i-net later? The men themselves seem straight while collecting but are clearly ex-addicts (often they tell you this). The charities are all for recovery and rehabilitation of addicts - pretty worthy - but I don't want my money actually going towards drugs.

Suggestions/responses?

Do you get this in the US?

Don't donate on the street and find/donate to the charity directly.

Watermelon Daiquiri
Jul 10, 2010
I TRIED TO BAIT THE TXPOL THREAD WITH THE WORLD'S WORST POSSIBLE TAKE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID AVATAR.
Ha, it seems phone spammers can and are prosecuted-- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dozens-individuals-indicted-multimillion-dollar-indian-call-center-scam-targeting-us-victims. Of course, I'm sure some of the fire that was lit under FBI's rear end was the fact that they were impersonating the government, but still.

thrakkorzog
Nov 16, 2007

Lutha Mahtin posted:

I've seen this (in the US) a number of times. Every time I've seen it, it's looked like a scam. I once was drinking a beer at a restaurant's sidewalk patio, and a dude who approached me eventually pointed out that he was still wearing his work badge from his new job, then ask if I could buy him a beer. Pretty solid ask, right? Except that the badge was a real lovely hand-laminated thing, and he said it was for working at the Salvation Army, an organization which I think is almost totally run by volunteers.

Yeah, I'm fairly certain the Salvation Army has a pretty strong prohibitionist stance. After a hard day's work for the Salvation Army, you're not allowed to grab a couple of brews, kick back, and watch the game to blow off some steam.

Josef K. Sourdust
Jul 16, 2014

"To be quite frank, Platinum sucks at making games. Vanquish was terrible and Metal Gear Rising: Revengance was so boring it put me to sleep."

I checked the website on the guy's tabard and couldn't find it but maybe I misremembered it. I'll update you.

Here is another for Britgoons (but might apply elsewhere). Just had an email from "HM Revenue & Customs" headed "Council Tax Refund". Basically:

"Dear email address
You are entitled to £219.67 refund on your council taxes.
Click here [link to fdhgsdhgasuyieyiue.com website] to fill in your claim form."

Red flags are:
a) If you know my name from my tax records, why are you calling me dfghjkdfghjk.gmail?
b) Why is your link not to a website ending "gov.uk"?
c) Why, if I pay my council tax to my local council, is central government offering to refund me the money?

Answer: big fat scam, maybe?

Slime
Jan 3, 2007

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

I checked the website on the guy's tabard and couldn't find it but maybe I misremembered it. I'll update you.

Here is another for Britgoons (but might apply elsewhere). Just had an email from "HM Revenue & Customs" headed "Council Tax Refund". Basically:

"Dear email address
You are entitled to £219.67 refund on your council taxes.
Click here [link to fdhgsdhgasuyieyiue.com website] to fill in your claim form."

Red flags are:
a) If you know my name from my tax records, why are you calling me dfghjkdfghjk.gmail?
b) Why is your link not to a website ending "gov.uk"?
c) Why, if I pay my council tax to my local council, is central government offering to refund me the money?

Answer: big fat scam, maybe?

It's a scam for sure. They'll be all like oh hey turns out we need your banking details! you know, to give you your money, totally not to steal your account at all

Namarrgon
Dec 23, 2008

Congratulations on not getting fit in 2011!
Of course it's a scam.

Snow Cone Capone
Jul 31, 2003


Slime posted:

It's a scam for sure. They'll be all like oh hey turns out we need your banking details! you know, to give you your money, totally not to steal your account at all

:aaaaa:

Josef K. Sourdust
Jul 16, 2014

"To be quite frank, Platinum sucks at making games. Vanquish was terrible and Metal Gear Rising: Revengance was so boring it put me to sleep."

B-b-but why didn't tell that before I gave them my bank details????

No, I figured it was a scam but it took me about 20 seconds to figure it out. Usually I can do it in less than 5. It would be mildly plausible to some people as "HM Revenue & Customs" is an official name - shame the sender address is actually "manageacc@dgdgdgdwhateverfhfhfhf.edu" though. Points deducted for that. Most householders in the UK pay some form of council (local) tax and while refunds are uncommon they are not implausible. But there are obvious red flags which show it is fake. I wouldn't be surprised if a reasonable number of people fell for it though. And not greedy, want-earn-money-for-nothing types, just ordinary taxpayers. :(

mossyfisk
Nov 8, 2010

FF0000
They also don't generally refund your council tax since the sum is per year, they just adjust your payment scheme so you give them less for a while.

Jeb Bush 2012
Apr 4, 2007

A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.

mossyfisk posted:

They also don't generally refund your council tax since the sum is per year, they just adjust your payment scheme so you give them less for a while.

They definitely do refund it if you move out of the area, though.

Brofessor Slayton
Jan 1, 2012

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

shame the sender address is actually "manageacc@dgdgdgdwhateverfhfhfhf.edu" though

I was getting a lot of these a couple of weeks ago. It might have been more convincing if I didn't get four of them with wildly varying amounts listed in the same day, all from what looked like personal hotmail addresses.

Teriyaki Hairpiece
Dec 29, 2006

I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

Josef K. Sourdust posted:

B-b-but why didn't tell that before I gave them my bank details????

No, I figured it was a scam but it took me about 20 seconds to figure it out. Usually I can do it in less than 5. It would be mildly plausible to some people as "HM Revenue & Customs" is an official name - shame the sender address is actually "manageacc@dgdgdgdwhateverfhfhfhf.edu" though. Points deducted for that. Most householders in the UK pay some form of council (local) tax and while refunds are uncommon they are not implausible. But there are obvious red flags which show it is fake. I wouldn't be surprised if a reasonable number of people fell for it though. And not greedy, want-earn-money-for-nothing types, just ordinary taxpayers. :(

What a waste of council tax
We paid for your hacks

many johnnys
May 17, 2015

I dunno if the UK is like Canada, but I have never received anything from any tax authority ever that wasn't through the actual mail. With a return address that is a real tax office.

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PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

many johnnys posted:

I dunno if the UK is like Canada, but I have never received anything from any tax authority ever that wasn't through the actual mail. With a return address that is a real tax office.

I got a phone call once in Canada. I had misdated something on the return and they wanted to verify that they should correct it for me.

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