Whoops
Posted on May 31, 2005 Posted by John Scalzi 5 Comments
It’s been pointed out to me that the quote I use here was taken from an online area where the house rules forbid outside posting. I’d note I checked the house rules prior to posting and missed the part that forbade outside posting, so I didn’t intentionally act maliciously. Regardless there was error and it was mine, and I naturally regret it and apologize to the posters in that online area for breaking that trust. It won’t happen twice.
I was about to say that I didn’t understand what you meant by “outside posting.” It seemed illogical; if the post was published, why couldn’t you comment on it?
Then, it occurred to me that your excerpt might be coming from sites like Yahoo Groups, where members exchange posts that are not harvested by Google or Yahoo. Not easily accessed by non-members. Sort of like “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
I’m not intending to start an argument. I hadn’t run across that restriction before and want to make sure I understood what’s happening here.
Anyway, now that the cat’s fled the ziploc, I read something in “Freakonomics” that pertains to the quote “I believe that 99% of the customers are cheapskates when no one is looking.”
The story’s too long to retell, but in brief, there’s a businessman who distributes bagels to offices in D.C., leaving behind honor boxes for payment. He found that, on average, roughly 82% of the people were honest. They took a bagel and dropped a buck in the box. The rest stole.
Depending on your world view, this is either disturbing or reassuring. Either way, check out the book; it’s great.
Indeed, it’s a private group; they have rules regarding postings and the extraction of which I read, but apparently missed the part that said “don’t do this.” When pointed out to me, I had a “d’oh!” moment and immediately apologized in the group itself and here. I think there’s value in moving immediately to rectify an error, especially when it’s on one’s part.
Having said that, I hate the expression “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
Yeah, but you gotta love “now that the cat’s fled the ziploc…” I get the best phraseology from this joint. That one actually made my head twitch for a moment until the visual collated itself in my brain stem.
I’m just finding it deliciously ironic that you pirated a quote about pirating.
If only that was from a forum about piracy and not from say, a fiction writer’s forum (just a guess). ;)
“Having said that, I hate the expression “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.””
Sorry. I’ve been reading The Comics Curmudgeon, which has been following the small-time gambling bust in Gil Thorp, but I thought saying, “What happens in Milford stays in Milford” to be too weird, even for this site.