I think I should feel guilty about this, I think I -do- feel guilty about this, but at the same time I am cracking myself up with how wise and witty I am, and how I have struck a blow for academic honesty, sorta, or at least helped a cheater get himself in deep doodoo.http://answers.yahoo.com lets users post questions on nearly any topic, and other users post answers to the questions. It can be a good source of advice and a shortcut to research. It also attracts a ton of trolls and bigots. Users earn points for posting answers, and extra points when an answer is chosen as "best".Many of the questions seem to be from students asking others to solve their homework problems. The ones that annoy me are the folks who just want someone to tell them the answer. I don't have any problem with people asking for help understanding the assignment or help understanding the method.I saw this question: "What is an example of an allegory from Robinson Crusoe?"So I responded evilly. I wrote: "In the passage where Crusoe is watching the battle between the red ants and the black ants, the battle is an allegory about senseless wars between the various nations of people." Then I cut and pasted in a passage of text to support my argument.I was witness to events of a less peaceful character. One daywhen I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, Iobserved two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearlyhalf an inch long, and black, fiercely contending with one another.Having once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestledand rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I wassurprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants,that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races ofants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently twored ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered allthe hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was alreadystrewn with the dead and dying, both red and black. It was the onlybattle which I have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I evertrod while the battle was raging; internecine war; the redrepublicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists on theother. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yetwithout any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never foughtso resolutely. I watched a couple that were fast locked in eachother's embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now atnoonday prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out.The smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to hisadversary's front, and through all the tumblings on that field neverfor an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root,having already caused the other to go by the board; while thestronger black one dashed him from side to side, and, as I saw onlooking nearer, had already divested him of several of his members.They fought with more pertinacity than bulldogs. Neither manifestedthe least disposition to retreat. It was evident that theirbattle-cry was "Conquer or die."The person who posted the question thanked me, gave me a high rating, and chose my answer as "best". No doubt he is going to turn in the answer as his own. This could lead to trouble for him, because the passage I quoted is not from Robinson Crusoe at all - it is from Walden.Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, published 1719 - read it online here: http://www.deadmentellnotales.com/onlinetexts/robinson/crusoe.shtmlWalden by Henry David Thoreau, published 1845 - the passage I reproduced is from chapter 12, paragraph 12 here: http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden12.html .If the student has actually read Robinson Crusoe, he'll know that the passage is nowhere to be found in it.*daha*
