mjp
Founding member
The Detective is almost always seen as an additional, or "bonus," aspect of another species of forum fauna. Though it can apply to any species, it is usually seen alongside The Rebel, The Dissident or The Projectile.
The Detective is an obsessive type who goes to what they think are great lengths to find personal information about a forum regular. They then "expose" the personal details on the forum, expecting a tremendous, explosive reaction. That no reaction is ever forthcoming is usually due to the fact that the "top secret" information that The Detective has "uncovered" is already commonly known.
The primary method The Detective uses to dig up their tantalizing dirt is the reading of old forum posts. On a larger forum this can be a time consuming task, as there may be thousands of threads to wade through until The Detective finds their nugget of gold. The fact that the information is readily available and not even remotely "secret" never fails to deter The Detective, and usually adds a welcome level of comic relief to their efforts. One can imagine The Detective spending successive sleepless nights obsessively clicking and clicking, murmuring congratulations to themselves whenever they come across something they did not previously know.
Perhaps not surprisingly, The Detective actually knows how to mine very few on line sources of information. Outside of the forum itself, they mainly rely on Google. Without Google The Detective would be at a loss, but a large part of The Detective's charm is the fact that they believe they are the only person capable of really using Google to plumb the murky depths of the world wide web.
The Detective is not dangerous or even annoying in and of itself, and is primarily seen as the humorous diversion it is.
The Detective is an obsessive type who goes to what they think are great lengths to find personal information about a forum regular. They then "expose" the personal details on the forum, expecting a tremendous, explosive reaction. That no reaction is ever forthcoming is usually due to the fact that the "top secret" information that The Detective has "uncovered" is already commonly known.
The primary method The Detective uses to dig up their tantalizing dirt is the reading of old forum posts. On a larger forum this can be a time consuming task, as there may be thousands of threads to wade through until The Detective finds their nugget of gold. The fact that the information is readily available and not even remotely "secret" never fails to deter The Detective, and usually adds a welcome level of comic relief to their efforts. One can imagine The Detective spending successive sleepless nights obsessively clicking and clicking, murmuring congratulations to themselves whenever they come across something they did not previously know.
Perhaps not surprisingly, The Detective actually knows how to mine very few on line sources of information. Outside of the forum itself, they mainly rely on Google. Without Google The Detective would be at a loss, but a large part of The Detective's charm is the fact that they believe they are the only person capable of really using Google to plumb the murky depths of the world wide web.
The Detective is not dangerous or even annoying in and of itself, and is primarily seen as the humorous diversion it is.