A reminder not to be an idiot

[LucidSplash]

Per the title, a reminder not to be an idiot.

To Catch a Catfish: A Cautionary Tale of Internet Unprofessionalism - PMC

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Gee, I wonder what the “anonymous chat board for medical trainees” could have been. It’s a mystery! No one can say for sure.

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[operaman]

Oof. What an idiot. Not sure what he hoped to accomplish by acting that way towards a program. I had programs I didn’t like as much as others; I just ranked them lower on my own list and kept my mouth shut. Would never cross my mind to anonymously email a PD to talk badly about their program. To what end?

The internet is forever and yes we can still find all your social media even if you change your name. Stupidly easy to do actually. I’m sure with AI it will be even easier.

 

[Tenk]

wtf residency program is this tracking all this down? 4chan???

 

[LucidSplash]

wtf residency program is this tracking all this down? 4chan???

Honestly, that was your takeaway from this? This is a prime example of play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

If you read the article, the chief and senior residents did a Google search with the email address. I’m sure this took all of 0.5 sec. Whatever the content of the email, it was sufficiently odd enough to make the program suspicious and start the process by having the dean call the med school.

As most employers do some kind of Internet background check these days, this is just an extension of that.

 

[eyeeye_captain]

Who knows what the motivation was here. Frankly it worked out for both parties, now they don’t have to deal with each other, bullet dodged. I will say that, considering it looks like this was around 3 years ago based on the author information, and that they’re still salty enough to put it in the literature after that long, I wouldn’t be surprised if the faculty reached out to other institutions and got the student blackballed.

Let’s be real - you’ve got to be pretty over the top to get a peds department that angry.

A little different, but last fall a senior ophtho resident at a brand name program (that has a reputation for less than ideal surgical numbers tbf) publicly posted their egregiously low numbers as some form of retaliation. It was so bad that they clearly had taken a leave of absence or were overly research focused or were actively dodging procedures, so it was a major self own. It was also fellowship interview season, so nice job telling programs you’re probably unprepared and maybe seeing your LORs disappear. Somehow they’re still listed on the residency website, and the now private instagram says they got a fellowship, but I suspect it’s for research.

 

[xDNA]

I just dont understand why the perpetrator felt the need to do this? They rotated on the service, and went through a research mentorship with the department. You'd think they would have some insight to the service. Some people really need to be saved from themselves.

 

[ACSurgeon]

Are we sure the student wasn’t sabotaged? An angry ex?

 

[LucidSplash]

Are we sure the student wasn’t sabotaged? An angry ex?

Seems unlikely unless the angry ex has the phone of the student. The article details that the research mentor reached out to “check in” and the applicant responded with the same information with the same phrasing in the email.

 

[Goro]

I just dont understand why the perpetrator felt the need to do this? They rotated on the service, and went through a research mentorship with the department. You'd think they would have some insight to the service. Some people really need to be saved from themselves.

Sounds like the student was acting out, but didn't realize that they did a major self-own in doing so.

 

[Tenk]

Honestly, that was your takeaway from this? This is a prime example of play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

If you read the article, the chief and senior residents did a Google search with the email address. I’m sure this took all of 0.5 sec. Whatever the content of the email, it was sufficiently odd enough to make the program suspicious and start the process by having the dean call the med school.

As most employers do some kind of Internet background check these days, this is just an extension of that.

Bro they used multiple emails from multiple sites and Facebook stalked this guy then wrote a freaking article and published the damn thing. Google search my ass.

If you’ve ever been on 4chan this is the exact kind of detective work they are capable of doing. What I wrote was actually a complement and you misinterpreted it.

 

[LucidSplash]

Bro they used multiple emails from multiple sites and Facebook stalked this guy then wrote a freaking article and published the damn thing. Google search my ass.

If you’ve ever been on 4chan this is the exact kind of detective work they are capable of doing. What I wrote was actually a complement and you misinterpreted it.

Lady, they told you how they did it in the article. 🤷🏼‍♀ I didn’t misinterpret it. You must not be a woman. Or else you’d have 5 girlfriends who could find out the complete resume and history of the dude you talked to last night at the bar with only a first name and hair color. 😂

I guarantee those residents were mostly women. I have excellent Google-Fu and I don’t even come close to touching the skill of my best friend. She works in corporate recruiting but you’d think she worked for the FBI.

Googling an email address does not even require that level of skill.

 

[Tenk]

Lady, they told you how they did it in the article. 🤷🏼‍♀ I didn’t misinterpret it. You must not be a woman. Or else you’d have 5 girlfriends who could find out the complete resume and history of the dude you talked to last night at the bar with only a first name and hair color. 😂

I guarantee those residents were mostly women. I have excellent Google-Fu and I don’t even come close to touching the skill of my best friend. She works in corporate recruiting but you’d think she worked for the FBI.

Googling an email address does not even require that level of skill.

You should use those google skills and go google “what is a joke?”

 

[SurfingDoctor]

No... the internet makes people smart.