interesting...
Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
141–150 of 215 posts
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#142As is often the case with these "I'm so smart and other people aren't" posts, the author makes what I bet is an unintended mistake. I assume they want each option to have only one solution. The last example ("It is poor form to ____ you temper in a discussion group"), either option (lose or loose) works. The verb form of 'loose' means 'to set free', and temper has come to mean an agitated state of mind. So you can sa…
I don't think anyone would ever use loose in that manner without preceding it with "let"? Feel free to correct me, but to me that sounds very wrong.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#143I think, This seems to weaken the captcha for bots, since a simple Google search for (for instance) 'do you know we are going' completes the sentence. No need to defeat the obsfucated OCR test.
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know people smarter than the vast majority of HN users (how can this really be judged, sure, but I'd place money on it, certainly far, far smarter than me) who wouldn't know those, and I know many, many people who are damn smart (just not fitting them into the "smarter than most people here", but definitely smart enough to belong here if they wanted to) who also wouldn't know them.
I beg your pardon, I was trying to crack a funny. It seems it is impossible to parody an extremist belief without somebody mistaking it for the general article. I was attempting to parody the fundamentalist debating pedant point of view. Poe’s Law strikes again: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poes_Law
I laughed - don't worry.
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#145As is often the case with these "I'm so smart and other people aren't" posts, the author makes what I bet is an unintended mistake. I assume they want each option to have only one solution. The last example ("It is poor form to ____ you temper in a discussion group"), either option (lose or loose) works. The verb form of 'loose' means 'to set free', and temper has come to mean an agitated state of mind. So you can sa…
One would loose one's temper \ on\ a discussion group, not \ in\ it. I enjoy the perspectives of the ESL folks on HN, though, so I don't want to see any filtering by grammar nitpicking.
I like the ESL comment: that's cute. But to your broader point I ask, "Why?" If I can comment in an online discussion group or I can post on an online discussion group, why is the relation of my temper any different than the relation of my post?
The OED is useful here: it literally defines in as equal to on in the second definition of the prepositional form of 'in'. There's an extended history of the relation between 'in' and 'on', which includes the Latinate source of the Saxon term, its evolution in Old and Middle English, and its use today. Suffice it to say, the distinction is not a trivial one, and 'in' and 'on' are often interchangeable.
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#146Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…
is this a trick question?
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#147Hands up if you were especially careful when commenting on this post?
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
One would loose one's temper \ on\ a discussion group, not \ in\ it. I enjoy the perspectives of the ESL folks on HN, though, so I don't want to see any filtering by grammar nitpicking.
I like the ESL comment: that's cute. But to your broader point I ask, "Why?" If I can comment in an online discussion group or I can post on an online discussion group, why is the relation of my temper any different than the relation of my post? The OED is useful here: it literally defines in as equal to on in the second definition of the prepositional form of 'in'. There's an extended history of the relation between…
While "on" sounds much more natural to me, I think "in" works as well. But definitely not because on and in are interchangeable.
You can simply say: "He let loose his temper." so...
It is poor form to sleep in a meeting. It is poor form to scream in a meeting. It is poor form to loose your temper in a meeting.
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are homophones not homonyms - normally I wouldn't be so pedantic, but in a thread around the idea of people having prove they know meanings/spellings/etc, it seems suitible.
Don't you think it's ironic then that you misspelled "suitable"?
See Muphry's Law: http://www.editorscanberra.org/muphrys-law/ :)
edit: Why can't I use an apostrophe in a URL? HN seems to be stripping it out, so couldn't link to the Wikipedia page without a crufty "%27" showing up...
Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads
#150This IMO is something that Disqus or Quora or similar systems should jump on - automated techniques for knowledge base quality management. I can see taking some of the existing essay grading software, combined with something like these captchas, being used to produce customer support knowledge bases from input from technicians and discussion forums.