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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday May 14 2022, @04:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the pants-on-fire dept.

A new method of lie detection shows that lie tellers who are made to multi-task while being interviewed are easier to spot:

It is well documented that lying during interviews takes up more cognitive energy than telling the truth. A new study by the University of Portsmouth found that investigators who used this finding to their advantage by asking a suspect to carry out an additional, secondary, task while being questioned were more likely to expose lie tellers. The extra brain power needed to concentrate on a secondary task (other than lying) was particularly challenging for lie tellers.

[...] "Our research has shown that truths and lies can sound equally plausible as long as lie tellers are given a good opportunity to think what to say. When the opportunity to think becomes less, truths often sound more plausible than lies. Lies sounded less plausible than truths in our experiment, particularly when the interviewees also had to carry out a secondary task and were told that this task was important."

[...] Professor Vrij said: "The pattern of results suggests that the introduction of secondary tasks in an interview could facilitate lie detection but such tasks need to be introduced carefully. It seems that a secondary task will only be effective if lie tellers do not neglect it. This can be achieved by either telling interviewees that the secondary task is important, as demonstrated in this experiment, or by introducing a secondary task that cannot be neglected (such as gripping an object, holding an object into the air, or driving a car simulator). Secondary tasks that do not fulfil these criteria are unlikely to facilitate lie detection."

So if you think your significant other is hiding something from you, grill them when they're driving a car.

Journal Reference:
Aldert Vrij et al., The Effects of a Secondary Task on True and False Opinion Statements [open], Int J Psychol Behav Anal, 8, 2022
DOI: 10.15344/2455-3867/2022/185


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  • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:13AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:13AM (#1244902)

    So if you think your significant other is hiding something from you, grill them when they're driving a car.

    Don't forget the A1 sauce.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:54AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:54AM (#1244943)

      aristarchus always told the truth. He was a bastion of veracity. So sad that SoylentNews has lost him, and had to keep such lying sacks of shit as, well, you all know who they are.

      aristarchus
      Philosophers are lovers of wisdom, they may not know the truth, but they speak it.

      • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:40PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:40PM (#1245014)

        nah ari is but a halfwit who frequently goes full-retard

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Frosty Piss on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:49AM (9 children)

    by Frosty Piss (4971) on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:49AM (#1244911)

    It’s not a lie if *you* believe it.

    Preparing your “backstory” with small details and ennui are the key to competent lying. For example when I worked for the DoD, every few years I would have to do an *intensive* interview with some sorry sad random FBI guy, and occasionally sit for the massively debunked “lie detector” inquisition. But with proper preparation, all the lies (“Do you consume marijuana?”) roll off without so much as a secondary thought.

    • (Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday May 14 2022, @08:39AM (5 children)

      by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @08:39AM (#1244935) Journal

      "Lie detectors" are ludicrous. They measure skin resistance. Nothing more.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:45AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:45AM (#1244946)

        So do those e-meters used by scientologists.

        They are also called psychogalvanometers.

        The simple ones are just a whetstone bridge circuit, where your resting resistance can be nulled out using potentiometers on the instruments panel.

        More sophisticated ones will also measure respiration. The ones I knew of, the respiration sensor was basically a variable inductance measuring the change of length of a " spring" around the torso.

        It's enough to scare the heebie jeebies out of laymen.

        I see it mostly as a psychological fear tool to make a liar think the machine is onto him, and he's just digging himself in deeper and deeper.

        But from how I saw how they (TLAs) used it, it seemed more to me to be a way of getting rid of people they did not like, by saying their machine was saying that the testee was a loser.

        That way, the loser testee wasn't supposed to know who did him in. The machine said he couldn't be trusted, hence clearance denied.

        The machine can be diddled to show anything the operator wants it to. The machine appears to often be used just to give justification for terminations or denial of clearances to work.

        Or, in the case of religions, to demonstrate the testee still has problems and needs further auditing, hence more fees. Again, a theater prop for getting someone else to trust them, because the machine will back up it's operator in the presence of the sucker who doesn't realize he's getting one helluva snow job.

        I will post AC for obvious reasons.

        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @01:39PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @01:39PM (#1244969)

          One of my favorite quotes that Richard Nixon supposedly said about lie detectors was something along the lines of "I don't know if they work, but I do know they scare the hell out of people." My understanding is that they cannot be used in court as proof of lying if someone fails a test (though the defense will let the court know if the defendant passed a test). They most certainly do test something, but whether it is lying they are testing is up to much debate. My observation of how they are used is not a nefarious as yours (I can't comment on their use with religions). I am fairly certain they aren't used as reasons to terminate people, at least in the government where you have certain rights to challenge the reasons for your termination. If a private company wants to use it as an excuse to fire someone, I don't know how that works, or whether they even need an excuse, but this would provide them cover.

        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @04:48PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @04:48PM (#1244981)

          The simple ones are just a whetstone bridge circuit

          Won't that just keep the interviewee really sharp?

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @04:00PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @04:00PM (#1244978)

        >> "Lie detectors" are ludicrous. They measure skin resistance. Nothing more.

        That's because they're set up wrong in most cases. What you need to do is switch from 5 volts to 120 volts, and then attach them directly to the testicles. At that point, subject is likely to stop lying.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Saturday May 14 2022, @03:09PM (2 children)

      by Thexalon (636) on Saturday May 14 2022, @03:09PM (#1244974)

      It’s not a lie if *you* believe it.

      Or, alternately, do what many politicians and religious nutjobs do and just deny the existence of the concept of "truth". Then you can believe 6 impossible things before breakfast without any evidence whatsoever, because in your mind there is no objective reality to contradict you and everyone just says what they want to be true because it's advantageous to themselves.

      In this mindset, the concept of "science" is absolutely ludicrous: It's just people arguing, and you decide whether you believe your pastor or Neil deGrasse Tyson, you don't need to worry about evidence or observation or equations. Ditto for the concept of "law": You sit there and decide whether you think the defendant or the alleged victim is a good person, and decide to punish them or not based on that, regardless of whether they actually did the thing they were charged with.

      It's nothing new, either: Sophists have been teaching people to argue for literally any position with absolutely no regard for whether it accurately describes reality since at least the time of Socrates, because it makes those people sound like they're smart. And idiots have been believing people like that for a lot longer. Why do you think certain leaders are so insistent that people are never taught the skills needed to see through their bullshit?

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by stormwyrm on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:33PM (1 child)

        by stormwyrm (717) on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:33PM (#1244986) Journal

        Sad but true. I have heard some fools opine even outright that one man's truth is another man's conspiracy theory. So there is no truth or objective reality? And every time I find one of these people (depressingly common these days) I challenge them to demonstrate their belief by stepping out of my apartment window (I live on the 21st floor... yes, Alan Sokal, I am stealing that). After all, gravity has no truth, just like everything else, and you will walk on air when you step out the window if you believe hard enough, amirite? This usually results in silence.

        --
        Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:43AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:43AM (#1245054)

          > This usually results in silence

          What, no screams on the way down? What do you do before they "float" away, shove a sock down their throat?

          Do you have an undead woman living in your bathtub, too?

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by mhajicek on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:21AM (6 children)

    by mhajicek (51) on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:21AM (#1244917)

    And those with ADD will be classified as liars because they do not multitask.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:42AM (5 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:42AM (#1244949) Journal
      Or classified as truth tellers because they have improved ability to multitask.
      • (Score: 4, Informative) by helel on Saturday May 14 2022, @01:19PM (1 child)

        by helel (2949) on Saturday May 14 2022, @01:19PM (#1244968)

        That is not how ADHD works.

        • (Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:17PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:17PM (#1244991) Journal
          That is how some ADHD works. As I noted in my reply to the other poster, I knew someone with ADHD who thrived in a multitasking environment with a bunch of random, mostly low weight tasks, but would be climbing the walls, if you gave him a boring, long task to perform.

          I imagine the interrogation scenario could work either way. It might reduce liar tells of the interrogation, if the secondary task eases the ADHD needs, or make things worse. I can see it going either way.
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:08PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:08PM (#1244982)

        ADHD doesn't do that. ADHD is a lack of control over where the focus goes, not ability to focus. It gives a near super power to focus on something, just not typically the something that you want to be focused on.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:05PM (1 child)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:05PM (#1244989) Journal
          Multitasking isn't about focus. My point behind the comment is that I used to know someone with ADHD who actually functioned much better in a multitasking environment than in a focused environment. As I understand it, he could work just fine with a random workload that was varied, but not too deep.
          • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:03PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:03PM (#1245018)

            It is totally about focus, but I feel like there is something to your anecdote. Switching tasks more often might keep an ADHD brain engaged just by the novelty of different tasks. Will stop working if each task becomes boring and their brain switches to avoudance.

  • (Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:26AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:26AM (#1244919)

    So this is exactly how the Runaway convinced the admin that he was doxxed, by providing information that was plausible, but equally verified from public sources, like where Runaway lived and who he was and where he worked, all of which he provided copious information on. But, he lied. Lying liar lies in mendacity, as does the Runaway. We will honor him, with a bonfire on his lawn, roasting his dogs, and his anti-abortion testicles, properly tanned according to Tucker's regime. So sad, to be so wrong, and so stupid, and an ignorant moron, all at the same time.

    • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:26AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:26AM (#1244928)

      Freud used to have at term for this, when janrinok was denying the obvious truth: analysis resistance? The more you deny, the more true it is? You know you banned aristarchus for no reason, only because of his political positions! Admit it, janrinok! Confess! And the more you deny it, and the more Runaway posts his inane journal entries, the more true it is. Janrinok is in love with Runaway. But, Confero Azuma Hazuki's journal on the fascist man-love.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:40AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:40AM (#1244931)

        Squirrel!

        If that don't work:

        Hot squirrel brains!

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:03AM (9 children)

    by Mojibake Tengu (8598) on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:03AM (#1244922) Journal

    more cognitive energy

    Let's suppose for a moment the original paper is a science. How do we detect, compare and measure this cognitive energy?

    Never mind. It is not. Awareness is not energy. It is a process. The professor does not know what he's talking about.
    Anyway, this model of busy pace stacking usually applied by psy eggheads, bosses, lawyers or investigators in their funny attempts of manipulative operations on people works only on commoners.
    It is actually very easy to detect and counter[1] for an average self-esteemed programmer and absolutely ineffective on advanced hacker.

    If you have once been interrogated by enforcers you understand the model and know what to expect since that in any similar situation.

    True martial artists learn this from their clan masters in early childhood.

    [1] pattern interrupt

    --
    Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
    • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:31AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:31AM (#1244929)

      The professor does not know what he's talking about.

      And, of course, our Czech 怪獣 does not know who the professor it, or what his speciality is? American anti-intellectualism is bad enough, without Slavic Mysticism! You never go full Polack!

      • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:52AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:52AM (#1244932)

        We could always go full Sinic,
        With the Classic of Mountains and Seas [wikipedia.org], or the much more modern version, from the other direction, by Umberto Eco, Baudolino [wikipedia.org]. paints much the Orientalism from both directions. White Huns, and Tucker Carlson, seem to be a concern for both East and West.

        • (Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:45AM

          by Mojibake Tengu (8598) on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:45AM (#1244951) Journal

          You greatly underestimated me. Actually, I worship DáJǐ.

          Those nine tail foxes are the only race of celestials who are determined to hunt and kill angels, both satans and harpies, on the spot.

          --
          Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:46AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:46AM (#1244952) Journal

      Let's suppose for a moment the original paper is a science. How do we detect, compare and measure this cognitive energy?

      Say by measuring energy consumption of the brain? Time it takes someone to complete those secondary tasks?

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @12:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @12:38PM (#1244960)

      There seems to be a lot of "leadership" training going on among the management folks these days.

      It probably works on laymen.

      But highly skilled artisans, engineers, tradesmen, technicians, and other people experienced in the trade will get highly pissed if some manager tries to use that quickie leadership crap on them.

      They recognize that manipulative businesstalk.

      Bad as TV pitchmen. Look at this air fryer! But they won't say how to take it apart to clean it. You will find out after you have had it for a while, the oil laden air has deposited oil all over the innards you can't get to, and only the roaches can get in there.

      And the entity from whose mouth erupts such crap loses all credibility, however it will still be obeyed as long as it possesses an instrument of obedience, such as control of your paycheck, legal means, blackmail, threats of bodily harm, gun. The businesshead has already spoke of how dumb it considers me to be. Talk about demotivation!

      It's like that marketing crap they learn at school...how to say things certain ways to mislead people. Grandpa called 'em snake oil salesmen. Used-car salesmen. TV Preachers. People one shouldn't trust. People who speak with forked tongue.

      Yet people still get college degrees, even at the master level, to learn this kind of stuff. Marketing.

      It will flare tempers as much as a micromanaged engineer commenting to one of these leadership types that people that strive for these leadership positions simply lack the abstractive skills to realize that we are here to satisfy the needs of our customer, and our customer could care less if we brought a coffeepot in. But our customer won't like it at all if we deliver junk, even if it's ahead of schedule. And we need to focus on our customer, to hell with someone's ego, derived from all this ranking, compartmentalization, and getting all of us lower level people at each other's throat.

      I know a lot of people would enjoy a good dogfight or cockfight, but setting the workplace up, ranking us all like racehorses, doesn't do much to motivate for excellence. It only motivates for survival.

      Why are parents so attentive to treat siblings the same? Or maybe the parents want sibling rivalry?

      I can tell you if I do not treat my cats the same, there will be catfights.

      Maybe abstractive reasoning is absent in leadership types, and they actually enjoy being in a position to foment catfights among the worker bees.

      I would expect this kind of insight from the CIA Simple Sabotage Field Manual. Leadership training? This is more down the line of how to destroy a nation by demoralizing the workforce .

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by mhajicek on Saturday May 14 2022, @03:51PM (1 child)

      by mhajicek (51) on Saturday May 14 2022, @03:51PM (#1244975)

      Cognitive energy is often measured in spoons. As in "I don't have the spoons to argue with you right now."

      --
      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:12PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @05:12PM (#1244983)

      Typically, you'd watch the blood flow as a proxy to energy. It's a shame that spect scans are still so limited in terms of what the science backs them for. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/spect-scan/about/pac-20384925 [mayoclinic.org]

      But, generally, more blood indicates more available oxygen and glucose for activity.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:15AM (4 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:15AM (#1244925)

    I discovered something long ago: lying takes effort. Not really to tell the lie, but to remember what you told whom to avoid a faux pas.

    Being utterly lazy, I figured that was too much work. So I chose not to lie as a general rule.

    But for some things, I have to, because the truth would be too embarassing or too outrageous. So for those few, very important lies, my technique is this: reenact in my head the fake event, or the fake bit of my life that I'm supposed to have, over and over until *I* believe it for real.

    I could be telling those lies verbatim repeatedly and with zero mistakes even if I was drugged, drunk, distracted or under duress. To me, they really did happen and they really are the truth. After years and decades or retelling them, it actually takes me efforts to recall the actual truth behind them.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:32AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:32AM (#1244930)

      Like how the election was stolen from you?

    • (Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:51PM

      by anubi (2828) on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:51PM (#1245004) Journal

      Saw your comment and this came to mind...

      "Oh, what a tangled web we weave
      When first we practise to deceive"
      ----- Walter Scott

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmion_(poem) [wikipedia.org]

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:35AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:35AM (#1245052) Homepage

      More briefly, "A liar must have a good memory."

      There was memory research a few years back that found it only takes 3 repetitions of not-true for the brain to begin classifying it as a factual memory.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:09AM

      by driverless (4770) on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:09AM (#1245071)

      There's interview techniques used by (well-trained) law enforcement that take advantage of this to try and weed out lies. Two examples used by FBI interviewers are to have the suspect tell the events of the story in reverse order, and to jump back into different parts of the story later on and get them to repeat details. It's not that hard to run through a rehearsed script, but much, much harder to pick out events from your fable out of order. This is particularly effective when interviewing psychopaths, who can readily convince you that black is white if done on their terms but fall apart badly if done on your terms. It's quite impressive seeing this in action, both how perfect they are as liars and how badly they fall apart when you use the right questioning technique.

  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:52AM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @07:52AM (#1244933)

    Someone's been watching old 1980s VHS tapes, where the Hot Woman Police Officer with the Farrah-hair unzips her tight jumpsuit and gets the truth out of the suspect.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @08:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @08:41AM (#1244936)

      Huh, I thought the hero of the Police Academy series was Laverne Hooks with her pipsqueak voice.

      We must have been watching different 'movies'.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @08:43AM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @08:43AM (#1244937)

      Was it the Cannonball Run where the two attractive young ladies are driving the Lamborghini and use that technique when stopped for speeding, until they are finally stopped by a female police officer of the Women's Lib variety?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:48AM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:48AM (#1244942)

        But you forget the scene in "Little Miss Sunshine", where the motorcycle cop pulls them over, only to find uncle's stash of gay pron mags, which he has to confiscate for further investigation. And not to forget the really creapy biker dude at the end. Who even puts on these child sex shows, anyway? Arizonians? Arkansasians? Republicanians>

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:51AM (1 child)

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @11:51AM (#1244953) Journal
          Given that it was a movie and all, Hollywoodians. But maybe they come from Arkansas?
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @02:57AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @02:57AM (#1245049)

            Given that it was a movie and all, Hollywoodians.

            The ones responsible for sexualizing children in "Cuties" on Netflix?

        • (Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:14AM

          by driverless (4770) on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:14AM (#1245072)

          I'm thinking of the scene where the dude says "these aren't the droids you're looking for" to the cops and waves his fingers and they let him go, that one works every time.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:56PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:56PM (#1244993)

        Ahhh, Adrian Barbeau. And I was of an optimal age when that came out such that those scenes were burned into my brain! Just search "Adrian Barbeau cannonball run" and put yourself into a post-adolescent male frame of mind and you'll see why!

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:39AM

          by Reziac (2489) on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:39AM (#1245053) Homepage

          Ah, I've worked with her (me just an extra, but it was a small set). Nice lady, and a little slip of a thing, but looks just as good in person.

          --
          And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday May 14 2022, @01:18PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @01:18PM (#1244967) Journal

      Never watched it, but it does sound like it could be the same principle.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:43AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:43AM (#1244940)

    I have been informed by the powers that be, that if I post information that could be personally identifying, like, for instance, if I were to say, oh, that Runaway is actually Paul Frederich Barrelmaker and his SSN is 544-12-3569, then they would have to expend admin time and energy, to make sure that was not the actual Runaway doxxing information? This is interesting information, and something that should keep the so-called "admin" busy, since the actual SSN of the Runaway is 432-00-1956, because he has no social capital, and is totally on disability and MAGA support. Cain't even get out of bed, most days!

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:29AM (4 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:29AM (#1244945) Journal

      Doxing is not tolerated on this site.

      If you are quoting information that is, or appears to be, intended to identify another community member in real life then it has to be treated as doxing. As we cannot verify everything that someone may claim in a comment we have to protect our users. There have been numerous attempts by false accounts recently to repeatedly state specific 'facts' in the hope that if they do become well known they will not be treated as doxing.

      We cannot imagine when such personal information is relevant to the topic under discussion and we must therefore assume that any personal information regarding community members being divulged - whether the information is known or otherwise, accurate or inaccurate - is an attempt at doxing. By all means criticise other community members by their username if you think that it is warranted, but any attempt to link a username to a real person is doxing.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:59PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @09:59PM (#1245017)

        That may be, but ari has been posting obvioysly troll info which makes me wonder if he never doxxed real info. In that case Runaway is lying to you, something that seems likely given his history of sock puppeting and believing the ends justify the means. Not that you need to take action without evidence, but please keep the possibility in mind.

        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday May 15 2022, @05:19AM (2 children)

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 15 2022, @05:19AM (#1245057) Journal

          but ari has been posting obvioysly troll info which makes me wonder if he never doxxed real info

          How do you know? What about if 1 or 2 items of that quoted in the GGP [soylentnews.org] are accurate and he is actually phishing for confirmation? How do you know it was always aristarchus posting it?. Was the GGP aristarchus? Or was it the account that we have just exchanged several emails on the subject before the account was blocked? Or are they actually the same person using another of the 8 or so sock-puppets that we have blocked over recent weeks for this very thing?

          This is precisely what aristarchus is trying to achieve. He is hoping to spread doubt and he will then argue to be allowed to rejoin the community. We have the evidence saved. It has been provided in full to the target. It would be available to LE or a legal representative if they produce a judges order and warrant. He now wants you to believe that it was never really doxing - I can assure you that it was.

          It is wrong to expect us to approach each target of doxing to ask them to confirm personal information - that is not our job. They are entitled to have a username and a throw-away email address if they wish which means they cannot be contacted. They are also entitled to their privacy.

          We cannot imagine, as I pointed out earlier, that revealing a username's personal information will be relevant to any topic that we publish. What justification is there for such activity? It should not happen.

          • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:47AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 15 2022, @09:47AM (#1245074)

            I do believe that janrinok has been distracted enough. He has been totally taken in by Runaway, and those of us who know, know this to be true. If the admin does not confirm the doxxing allegation, and only relies on the averrances of the alleged "victim", how are we to know it was actually that? And, the cute threats of legal action, when Josh Dugger is being sentenced, are laughable. Arkansas is no state for honest men, as Clinton and Runaway both prove.

            And what emails are these you speak of, janrinok? Yet another innocent Soylentil caught up in Runaway's net of mendacity and iniquity? I hope you banned them, and banned them hard, with extra sparkles.

            aristarchus

            And, as a postscriptum, where I come from, an accusation of lying such as janrinok has done would be a matter of honor. And if the accusation were true, a matter for shame and resignation.

            • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Sunday May 15 2022, @10:46AM

              by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 15 2022, @10:46AM (#1245082) Journal

              At least 5 people on the administration have seen the doxing material. It has been discussed with a representative of the SN board. We are not going to do what you want - i.e. publish doxing material simply to counter your puerile arguments and accusations.

              Nobody has made any threats of legal action.

              The discussion is closed. You know our email address.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Zoot on Sunday May 15 2022, @02:18AM (1 child)

    by Zoot (679) on Sunday May 15 2022, @02:18AM (#1245047)

    In my experience the brain seems to have a limited number of functional units for specific tasks like driving (generally one). While driving find I can think about just about anything in my mind without degrading my driving ability *except* other driving experiences. For example, if something happens (near accident, witnessing someone do something stupid with their driving, etc.) that causes me to replay the events in my mind and imagine say what might have happened, then this can noticeably degrade my driving ability and attention to the actual task at hand because I'm preempting my single "driving evaluation" functional unit to make it think about something other than what's really going on.

    So, to catch liars we need to make them perform some task which actually conflicts with the creative "lie embellishment" functional unit.

    It might be interesting generally to do research on having people do two tasks at once and see which they're less able to do, suggesting competition for the same mental resources.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:44AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Sunday May 15 2022, @04:44AM (#1245055) Homepage

      Interesting point.

      With driving I'm the other way around; I completely lose the distraction in favor of concentrating on the road. "What did you just say? I was watching out for that crazy driver in the other lane."

      However, in my brain reading completely dominates over listening, to where if I'm reading, I stop hearing concurrent speech.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
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