Yep, that's definitely Cunningham's Law [0] in action.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham#Cunningham.27s...
Ha! I never knew it had a name. I thought I independently discovered this phenomenon, but I guess it's so obvious others realized it too.
Wow, this is genius. Makes so much sense.
Re:Amazon’s New Customer
by nickpsecurity on Monday June 19, 2017 @05:54PM
(#14590746)
" Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice."
I've gotten some great information on forums like this doing exactly that. I usually pose it as a challenging assertion or question rather than a statement of a fact I'm sure about. Gotta balance using that for it's benefit vs effects on one's own reliability.
Re:Amazon’s New Customer
by lotsofcows on Monday June 19, 2017 @04:52PM
(#14590370)
Variation on that was to say something like, "Linux sucks! It won't do x." If the answers weren't sufficiently straight-forward, you could follow up with, "It's so much easier on MS!" Required a thick skin though.
Before Stack Overflow, the savvy knew that this was a great way to get help with anything Unix-related. If you just went to Usenet or mailing lists and asked "how do I X?", you'd be pummeled by uppity greybeards going "RTFM, n00b". Ah, but if you created a sockpuppet and posted the wrong answer in reply to your question, then you'd be guaranteed to get useful advice.