Editing Talk:2894: Research Account

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wasn't there a whatif that caused Randal to temporally loose the access to Wolfram Alpha?
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.26|172.70.175.26]] 19:40, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
:It was [https://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ the what if about balloons] [[User:Anonymouscript|Anonymouscript]] ([[User talk:Anonymouscript|talk]]) 02:02, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
Although Cueball is often considered to be Randall's alter ego in the comics, when writing explanations we refer to the character. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:16, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

I wanted to add something to the explanation saying that he's overthinking, and it probably doesn't matter what you write in the justification, since it's unlikely that anyone actually reads them. But I don't actually know this. If anyone knows what goes on behind the scenes at research institutions, add something. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
:That's my impression (it's very like an account-creation process, supplying free-text to be reviewed at leisure only after attaching the user to a UID with no more verification other than "click on this emailed link to confirm this is your contact details", rather than an application which can be denied or blackballed). But I don't delve into (or control) particularly privileged data-sources where it could be far more strict (yet not so much that it can't be handled by an easy to access web-form), so would also be interested in hearing the facts-of-life from beyond the more open-data side of things. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.60|172.69.194.60]] 22:32, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
:I suspect the "Institution" dropdown might be used for some marketing statistics. No one has time to go through all the free-form inputs, although AI may change that. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:58, 14 February 2024 (UTC)
::If the database is being funded by a grant (governmental or philanthropic), the "institution" data are likely reported back to the funder, as a means of assessing whether the database is reaching the targeted audience, as may be specified on the proposal. Not too far from "marketing statistics", I reckon. A larger-than-expected number of non-institutional users, especially if the database is targeted to a small number of highly specialized users, could trigger more scrutiny of "reasons for" comments. Such scrutiny could have more direct impact on the grantee (imposition of more restricted access, or grant termination) than on the individual user. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.21|172.71.142.21]] 05:53, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

I would say there's also some similarity to the classic [https://xkcd.com/386/ 386: Duty Calls]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.248|108.162.245.248]] 03:35, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
:Definitely. I didn't even recognize it by the title, but I just pulled it up in reference to my own behavior patterns... Cueball looks like he's barely moved since then!   
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 01:56, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Reading this comic, I feel attacked   
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:30, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
:You could probably get away with calling it "Combating public misinformation."   
:[[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.57|172.71.182.57]] 22:37, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
::[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/386:_Duty_Calls Duty calls...]   
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 01:56, 16 February 2024 (UTC)
::"Educational outreach". Might be funny with effectively "no organisation", if they have "university", "college", "high school", "elementary school", as actual choices. But, without seeing what the rest of the drop-down options are, might still be conceivably a valid reasoning to have "other" (get them wondering if you mean to educate a kindergarten class/a scout troop/a prison educational program/whatever). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.162|172.69.194.162]] 02:55, 16 February 2024 (UTC)