Trial By Techdirt

Too Much Free Time

from the just-for-fun dept

So, we’re about to close up shop here for a few days for Thanksgiving (sorry to our non-US readers), but figured we’d leave you with something different to pass the time. A few months ago we posted a popular post about some of the more amusing ways that people find old posts on Techdirt via search engines and the bizarre comment threads they leave (we’re still curious why people keep showing up here and telling us their sob stories… if anyone knows where they’re coming from, let us know). However, two more recent extended comment threads have nothing to do with search engine visitors, but rather people arguing things out concerning certain stories directly in our comments as if we’re going to somehow solve them right here. We haven’t yet introduced our mediation/arbitration business, but reading through some of these threads, perhaps it’s something we should look into. First, we have the story of the Swedish programmer arrested by the Greek police accused of selling drugs via spam. The evidence is slim indeed (there’s nothing at all connecting him to the spam, other than the fact that he works in computers and has met some of the people who got spammed). However, the comment thread has turned into a back and forth about Greece and the Greek people. It’s degenerated to the point of silly name calling — and it’s not at all why people would keep coming back for more. The second one is our story from earlier this month about the world’s angriest eBay seller. He apparently found the story himself and showed up to rebut the arguments (in quintuplicate — and in great detail), claiming that the story is quite mixed up and it’s really the buyers who are the problem. The buyers, themselves, show up and start arguing with him as well — and the whole thing has a very Jerry Springer-esque feel to it, where you get the feeling that no one is really paying attention, they just want to fight. That one’s finally quieted down a bit, without much of a resolution (as if there could be a resolution). So, if you’re bored to tears hearing about turkey and holiday sales, enjoy these posts, and feel free to help the various combatants try to solve their problems using more constructive methods.