Corpus 2

[TokyoBouncyBall]

A summary would be good and I might do one later but Aston, data scraping, astonishing lack of contrition…

Have those gerbils joined Great British Sewing Bee? Those fab costumes look as if they might have been created in the Transformation Challenge but I'm not quite sure from what. Sponge cleaning cloths?

I've asked them for you, & they say they home-dyed some of these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vileda-Turbo-Classic-Microfibre-Refill/dp/B07BJQGV21/ref=asc_df_B07BJQGV21/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697306065299&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=255777801919642011&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045705&hvtargid=pla-432514702050&mcid=70e7ce5a11e537b98dc06f709e7f0891&th=1&gad_source=1

I think you'll agree they did an excellent job.

Some more snaps from the team's album; though I think top right is actually them at their fan-dancing class.

@ifIwerenotanandroid Such talent!

Oh absolutely! Multi-talented gerbils are the best thing ever.

Yep, I was right about the fan dancing class, the little minxes!

Dye presumably from foraged blackberries and nettles. Feathers from... um... indigenous white ostriches?

Or was it Dylon and Hobbycraft?

I think a sustainably farmed, cruelty-free, purple, green and white ostrich feather fan might be just the thing to get me through election night.

Gerbils are only little. They could be eyelashes salvaged from the bins at the back of RuPaul's Drag Shows.

I think that settles the question. And they're big fans of Dylon (aren't we all).

That is such a good idea. I'd forgotten about scale. I was too busy making plans to make election night more bearable.

@MinorDisaster 'I think a sustainably farmed, cruelty-free, purple, green and white ostrich feather fan might be just the thing to get me through election night.'

This you?

Oops, sorry MN. Just realised this is the real site stuff thread. I'll stop now.

Sorry from me too MN, didn't check before posting.

Apparently derails are to Aston what garlic is to vampires.

Where is the thread where we can talk about gerbils now? I'm disorientated.

Me too. I think the easiest way is to check 'I'm on' at the top of the thread. I don't think there's a Gerbils board (yet).

Mumsnet is, indeed, like herding gerbils.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5068974-aston-university-gerbil-merch-thread

I reread the Rozzers thread last night, from when Dawn Butler reported us to the Police. It was all over the place, but you could mostly follow the leaps, the changes in tone and subject, the humour, the references. It wasn't that difficult, just need awareness of our shared culture as women (mostly), Brits (mostly) and MNers (obviously), specially FWR.

I think that's the kind of stuff that, for now, AI will struggle with. Random ridiculousness could be our last line of defence against the machines.

I'm all for random ridiculousness.

Maybe that's why this place is hated so much. It's not just that men hate women laughing at them (whilst women fear blah blah) but that the random ridiculousness also stops those who can't follow due to blinkered thinking and thinks they are being got at (paranoia?).

I don't always follow but the images are so pretty 😍

Random ridiculousness preventing AI from producing the results they want all cleanly tabulated is the real problem for these 'researchers',

They want their results to be logical ridiculousness. GIGO and begging the question will get you that.

I found an interesting article about data scraping done by web crawlers and thought I’d post it here:

https://www.engadget.com/reddit-puts-ai-scrapers-on-notice-205734539.html

Hello all, I realise we're overdue an update on the situation with Aston.
We instructed our solicitors to send a pre-action letter (which we’ve been advised not to share here for various quite sensible legal reasons) - in brief we’ve informed Aston of our plans to issue legal proceedings due to unacceptable breaches of our terms of use and infringement of database copyrights.

We’ve also asked that Aston immediately cease use of all the 2019 and 2024 Mumsnet Data, refrain from publishing any materials based on the datasets, and prevent any third parties from doing so either. If the response is unsatisfactory, then we will likely take further action.

As always, we’ll keep you posted on any developments and we’d very much appreciate your cooperation in refraining from too much speculation and keeping any posts well within our Talk guidelines.

Thanks!

Thank you for the update.

Thanks for the update @JustineMumsnet

Where does that leave things with the PhD student though, and her presentation/thesis?