this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
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Science Memes

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Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

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See the pinned paper on Shitposting as Public Pedagogy if you want the academic case for why this works.

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Lemmings, please give us your info dump. (mander.xyz)
submitted 4 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 19 points 4 months ago (4 children)

For people who think they're winning by fucking with scammers, unless you are tying up hours of their time, you are doing the opposite by engaging with them. And even if you tie up hours, they aren't really losing.

Obviously, falling for the scam is their ideal outcome, but ANY engagement beyond silence, a generic VM, or a disconnected/fax line marks your number as 'active' which can then be sold to other scammers.

So they still get a profit, and your number winds up on more scamming lists.

We are also getting close to the point where it won't even be an actual human you're talking to, it'll just be some AI, making engagement even more useless.

If you get a call from an unknown number and you don't have call screening, answer and SAY NOTHING! Not hello, not "may I ask whose calling", mute your phone so they don't even get background noise. The only numbers they can't get anything out of are the ones that are brick walls.

[–] draco_aeneus@mander.xyz 7 points 4 months ago

Surely, if they're selling your numbers to other scammers, other scammers are losing that same amount of money?

[–] Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk 7 points 4 months ago

Is this what you say to scammers when they call you?

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Then why do scammers get so angry? This doesn't even make sense, except for the AI part.

[–] piranhaconda@mander.xyz 3 points 4 months ago

As scummy as it is, it's still how they make their living. Not at all taking their side, but I get pissed when someone wastes my time at work too. No idea how their pay structure is, but if it's commission based, yea, more anger for having time wasted make sense

[–] hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Just because tying them up doesn't hurt or stop the overall operation, you still wasted that one guys time and probably hurt his metrics 🤷‍♂️

Still not worth it to me