Short Survey - Patterns in UserIDs (need help)

[nitinjindal83]

Hi,

My name is Nitin. I am a graduate student at University of Illinois at
Chicago (UIC). I am conducting a few minutes short survey on "Patterns
in Userids" for my research project. We want to study patterns in
usernames or userids created by people when they register on different
websites, etc. I would be really thankful if you could participate in
this short survey. The link is:

http://www.cs.uic.edu/~survey/piu

The survey has been approved by Institutional Review Board of UIC.

I can assure you that this is not a hack or a spam. If you have any
doubts, you can also find the above survey link at the Department of
Computer Science's research page

http://www1.cs.uic.edu/CSweb/public/resear...&label=Research

Thanks,
Nitin Jindal
Department of Computer Science
UIC
email: njindal@cs.uic.edu

[Rhydderch Hael]

<_<For someone who is researching the intricacies of online communication, you seem to have made the major faux pas of posting your email address in true form text, making it susceptible to capture by any web spyders hunting for addresses to spam.

Well, I guess it is a learning experience. I'd take comfort if you (or a moderator) at least took the precaution of editing your post's signature to make safe the email address from the eyes of any mindless bots out there.

[DeeBye]

No, I don't think so.

[Mithrandir]

This is about as creditable as those emails I keep getting from Nigeria asking me to gamble at their online sites.

"zomg we have lots of money I sewarz"

Sure...

[Chaerophon]

The survey is actually on the UIC CS webpage (I found it via means other than the provided link), so I'm tempted to believe that this is legit. With that being said, I'm not about to submit my name as well as my userID's, etc.

Since I suspect that this survey will rarely be taken in good faith (and it seems far from being methodologically sound) I'm thinking that it may be for some purpose other than what we are being told...

[roguebanshee]

Since I suspect that this survey will rarely be taken in good faith (and it seems far from being methodologically sound) I'm thinking that it may be for some purpose other than what we are being told...

Well, my first thought was: "Someone is trying to make a better algorithm to guess email adresses/login names."

[--Pete]

Hi,

I would be really thankful if you could participate in
this short survey.

Sorry, but to echo what others have said (or implied), you are asking for too much information that is too sensitive for me to share. Even if you are who you say and the information is to be used for what you claim, we have no way to asses the security of your site. To put it bluntly, the risk is too high that the information will be misused.

Now, if you were to ask generic questions, like how we generated user-names and passwords, whether we used the same names and passwords at multiple sites, etc., then maybe I'd be inclined to take the survey.

--Pete

[Griselda]

The projet supervisor's area of expertise is data mining, so we can assume that the data collected will be mined for something. I don't know that they're very clear about the what.

[the Langolier]

I can assure you that this is not a hack or a spam.

I can assure you that this does, in fact, fit the definition of spam.

I don't really think it's fair to automatically assume spam is the goal here. It could just as likely be used for tracking online sex offenders, no?

Want one of my patterns? I WILL NOT use numbers in a username. If there so many people using something that you can't come up with anything but throwing random/sequential numbers at the end of your name, you don't need to register.

[kandrathe]

I'm sure to always use a userid that is non-algorithmic, has embedded hidden characters, and is entirely unguessable. I also have a close group of friends, who are psychics, attempt to crack it and if successful then I abandon that handle. Well, then to remember all my signons and complicated passwords, I need a password safe. My password safe is 5192 bit encrypted with an unspecified ("NSA" forbidden) algorithm here local on my triple DES encrypted hard drive and also weekly I burn a CD of the password safe and with the help of an escort of some former special forces buddies now in private endeavors, I put in the CD in my safety deposit box at a local financial instituition (in a really big safe). Of course, to keep that CD really safe at in that vault I have to use an alternate identity, which was set up for me with some relatives I have in the Swedish mafia.

Don't even ask about my password generation techniques.

P.S. This innocent request reminds me of another childrens classic... "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's gonna want a glass of milk."

[Taem]

P.S. This innocent request reminds me of another childrens classic... "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's gonna want a glass of milk."

I thought it was, "If you give a mouse a muffin" :P?

[Occhidiangela]

I thought it was, "If you give a mouse a muffin" :P?

The first children's book in that series was "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." The second was "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." I am not sure if the third book -- "If You Give A Moron a Computer" -- was ever published.

To nitin jindal: I was born at night, but not last night. :P Go Phish.

Occhi

EDIT due to strange double something or other.

[Klaus]

The first children's book in that series was "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." The second was "If You Give a Moose a Muffin." I am not sure if the third book -- "If You Give A Moron a Computer" -- was ever published.

To nitin jindal: I was born at night, but not last night. :P Go Phish.

Occhi

EDIT due to strange double something or other.

It's "If you give a pig a pancake". The pig is the poster child for ADHD.

[Archon_Wing]

Hi,

My name is Nitin. I am a graduate student at University of Illinois at
Chicago (UIC). I am conducting a few minutes short survey on "Patterns
in Userids" for my research project. We want to study patterns in
usernames or userids created by people when they register on different
websites, etc. I would be really thankful if you could participate in
this short survey. The link is:

http://www.cs.uic.edu/~survey/piu

The survey has been approved by Institutional Review Board of UIC.

I can assure you that this is not a hack or a spam. If you have any
doubts, you can also find the above survey link at the Department of
Computer Science's research page

http://www1.cs.uic.edu/CSweb/public/resear...&label=Research

Thanks,
Nitin Jindal
Department of Computer Science
UIC
email: njindal@cs.uic.edu

The hell? Could you at least feign intrest in this community before doing something like this? :/

Ok, well maybe that was a bit too coarse. But if you do intend to do research, you ought to become more familiar with the site and perhaps participate in it. Making a new account and using this as your first post is not a good way of ensuring trust, not to mention your results will be skewed.

Yes, it might take more effort, but quality work wasn't supposed to be easy.

Edit: Edited out knee jerk reactions