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I tracked down my impostor

theguardian.com

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Re: I tracked down my impostor

#121

Post by TimTheTinker »

bombcar wrote: post #72
vletal wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice burn. Joking aside, I agree. There is so many things you could achieve while successfully impersonating someone. Seems like the best you can do in academia is to ruin someone's career. In this case it seemed fortunately "harmless" though.

Academia is one where the chickens won’t come home to roost - as in you won’t actually be called to DO what you’re impostering to be able to do. Fake being a surgeon and they’ll assign you to surgery, etc.

Literary criticism in particular.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/451/

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#122

Post by okamiueru »

worker767424 wrote: post #85
cortesoft wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a Reddit bot a few years ago (aptly named 'trappedinreddit') that would automatically post the previous top comment on reposts. Predictably, those comments would get upvoted again, and trappedinreddit would end up with the top comment on most posts. It lasted a few months before the bot was outed and it went away.

Sweet, sweet karma. And then you go sell the account.

Interesting. Do you know what the marked value is for karma? Is the value tied to something practical, e.g. easier to pass spam filters with an account?

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#123

Post by cammikebrown »

worker767424 wrote: post #84
ajcp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given he's a UK prof if he was told the paper was given an 'A' in the UK that can be anywhere from 70-100, while in the US it is 90-100. He might have initially split the difference, and then corrected it/was corrected for the article.

> in the US it is 90-100 In a science or engineering class, it might be everything above 40%.

I really did not enjoy getting 40% on every test in math and physics and receiving a B. I do not feel like I learned the material that well. My very first freshman mechanics midterm grade, a 67, was an A+, and gave me a false sense of adequacy. Maybe they could figure out how to teach better?

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#124

Post by luckylion »

irscott wrote: post #108
luckylion wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was thinking. The picture reminded me of that one story about a Hipster going after some website over an article claiming all Hipster look alike that he found used his picture without permission ... only to find out that it wasn't him. From the pictures of him and his colleague it seems that the people who study tattoos are into getting tattoos as well, I find it absolutely plausible that the guy got th…

He had both a flower on his hand and the letters tattooed on his knuckles. Know More isn't a particularly common knuckle tattoo and to also have the same style of flower on the hand is definitely suspect. Even that type of flower as a hand tattoo isn't very common.

I wouldn't know how common it is, it just looked somewhat cliche to me, so I figured it wouldn't be rare. Like stickers on a mac book.

Somebody should create a registry where people can lay claim to their tattoo's originality. Add blockchain, call it TATS, instant hit.

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#125

Post by spfzero »

worker767424 wrote: post #84
ajcp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given he's a UK prof if he was told the paper was given an 'A' in the UK that can be anywhere from 70-100, while in the US it is 90-100. He might have initially split the difference, and then corrected it/was corrected for the article.

> in the US it is 90-100 In a science or engineering class, it might be everything above 40%.

Boy it sure wasn't when I was an undergrad EE.

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#126

Post by redler »

bombcar wrote: post #72
vletal wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice burn. Joking aside, I agree. There is so many things you could achieve while successfully impersonating someone. Seems like the best you can do in academia is to ruin someone's career. In this case it seemed fortunately "harmless" though.

Academia is one where the chickens won’t come home to roost - as in you won’t actually be called to DO what you’re impostering to be able to do. Fake being a surgeon and they’ll assign you to surgery, etc.

“Is anyone here a marine biologist?!”

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#127

Post by longshui »

Veen wrote: post #111
disabled wrote: post #106

I have been a victim of this, and it is still an ongoing matter. If you don't want to find yourself a victim of these kinds of people, then you better keep these two links as a reference, and always take them to heart: Narcissists Online: http://www.issendai.com/psychology/narcissism/narcissists-on... What to Remember When Dealing with a Narcissist: http://www.issendai.com/psychology/narcissism/narcissists-wh... Peop…

> Regardless, these people tend to masquerade as "entrepreneurs", "researchers", "thinkers", "doers", or as "authors" And activists.

when it is in a circle where the people know more or less who is who, its unlikely to happen any masquerading

sometimes there are misunderstandings and some in the circle may have the impression that there is some masquerading going on

sooner or later, I guess, things naturally clarify as time flows and the views are prettier

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#128

Post by baud147258 »

squarefoot wrote: post #13

"We never contacted the police, because we didn’t think he’d done anything illegal. It was really an issue of academic misconduct." He should have contacted the Police immediately. What if a crime was committed nearby where the impostor was located under false identity, and he was later taken into custody instead? I don't know if it qualifies as a crime, but assuming someone else's identity can lead to very dangerous…

I'm not sure the impostor was using the academic's identity, just his (and other people's) work

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#129

Post by anoncake »

brandonmenc wrote: post #119
autophagian wrote: post #19

For the curious: this emerged as a twitter thread back in Jan https://twitter.com/mattlodder/status/1350192856154198016 . In it, Dr. Lodder posts a comparison between his tattoos and his imposters, as well as a talk his imposter gave based on his work, while dressed as him. Creepy.

> a comparison between his tattoos and his imposters There is nothing very special or original about his tattoos. Just about everyone has tattoos that look like this nowadays. Anyone can walk in and select these out of a flash book. This is like complaining that someone is wearing the same t-shirt. Yes, I realize the imposter is mimicking other aspects of his personality, but I see a dozen copies of this guy walking…

Where do you live that just about everyone has a hand tattoo with some sort of rose and the word "more" on the knuckles?

Re: I tracked down my impostor

#130

Post by spfzero »

niels_bom wrote: post #118
VectorLock wrote: post #65

So this guy just got found out, got kicked out of school, changed his social media profiles and then just... evaporated? Just running around out there doing whatever with another guy's tattoos?

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d just started copying someone else.

Or even if this wasn't the only guy he was copying at the same time.
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