Published on 12, July, 2020
There were a number of posts yesterday which were 'hijacked ' by someone purporting to be doing research.
This research may or may not have been genuine.The links may or may not have been genuine links.I domt know.
What I do know is that they are an abuse of the forum, they are extremely annoying and that the person putting these surveys on would be aware that it is not allowed. The number of times it was posted makes me wonder of indeed it was genuine research, i wouldnt follow the link anyway.
Rather than humour people who do this by us posting a reply saying that it is against forum rules, perhaps we should just report as abuse and leave it at that.Hopefully the moderators would then delete the offending post and block the perpetrators.
Posting a research survey once may be a genuine mistake, multiple times looks like there is some malicious intent.
I am not a fan of surveys, so I keep my answer short, here... I think that all such Posters should open their own Thread. Then if they want, post links to that Thread in related Threads, relevant to the Host Thread. Note that I said that they Post links back to their own Thread, rather than directly to whatever they are promoting.
If their starting Thread is blocked, or ignored by its own starter, then that might give a good indication of maliciousness. Automation would post no replies or would ignore their own starting Thread, often... they are just eager to post a link leaving this Site.
...I am slightly braced towards having this idea greatly perforated, now that I have aired it, though... Please take it easy at me...?
I filled it in too. My curiosity overcame my irritation at the lack of consideration and rules 5 and 8 being broken (how sad is it that I didn't even need to look up those numbers?). The first page said it had ethical approval from UCL/Inst of Ed Research Ethics Committee, so in itself it's kosher, but you might wonder if said committee would specify no spamming.
I think researchers get a bit desperate sometimes. I've been a subject in a few legit experiments, and if I don't answer the first invitation for a new study, they send a second. Despite this coming from CRAE (Centre for Research in Autism and Education), which has a very good reputation, I didn't think this was very well-designed, particularly for alexithymics like me; it also asked about ascribing emotions to 'non-human entities' when it presumably meant 'non-living entities' (anyone who doesn't think dogs get frightened is probably a philosopher). It seemed a strange hypothesis too, about ascribing motivation to toys, weather and computers: I'm pretty sure anyone would find anthropomorphism related to INFP-type personalities, (high introversion, high agreeableness) rather than the stereotypical aspie (high introversion, low agreeableness)... Sorry, I seem to have this irresistible desire to review everything I experience, so don't ask me about the World Cup, or even the Doctor Who teaser trailer at half time .
Would I be hijacking this thread, by also mentioning Otis, a valued member of the forums who similarly without malice has posted the same or very similar messages, about open parliamentary petitions, to several threads as well as having started several of his own. I find this particularly annoying on the 'Petition to make neurodiversity a separate protected characteristic in the UK' thread, which is an well-considered and useful discussion about a petition that isn't open yet. That comment isn't really a comment, and might confuse a lot of people who visit the thread who would otherwise contribute to the discussion.
And I think this is why I support rule 5. Repeated declarative messages even with good intention aren't dialogue and add no new information. They are not what this forum is for, and shouting louder to be heard inconveniences others. I assume rule 7 'Recommendations are welcome' means I can for instance advertise the free Autistic Adult Choir in appropriate threads, or start one thread about it, if I'm open to questions on my experience.
I answered yesterday's survey. ( Because I enjoy all types of surveys. And I was curious).
It seemed harmless. They didn't asked for personal details. Or try to sell anything at the end.
But I understand your concern.