Odd encounter in dulwich park

[RosieH]

In all likelihood you're right El Pibe, but it's still a bit dodgy.

Not necessarily from an outbreak of paediatricians in our parks standpoint - but if this guys doing surveys with minors, then he should be getting parental consent.

Perhaps he's a local ice cream man and wants to establish which schools he should be targeting come summer with his delicious dairy goodness. And perhaps he has no budget for fancy-dan marketing companies so perhaps he is doing it himself, and perhaps he doesn't realise that the market research code of conduct says he needs parental permission.

Common sense should tell him that he might want to look into it a bit though, no?

[El Pibe]

A couple of days after 9/11 an American friend of mine said he was despairing of the country he was soon to return to.

He'd just got off the phone to his mum. She'd been recently interviewing people to rent out the downstairs apartment she owned.

There had been a couple of young muslim men wanting to rent it. She didn't really like the cut of their jib, being a bit different like, so politely declined them citing that young men like them would make too much noise.

"Oh no, not us, we're hard working medical students who study hard and quietly pray"

She mumbled further baseless excuses and saw them politely on their way.

Then two weeks later 9/11 happened and she reflects on all this piety and phoned up the police to describe their behaviour as suspicious.

The bit that truly galled my friend was that instead of humouring or rebuffing her, they agreed with her that that was suspicious and duly went off to feel their collars!

I can't help but feel, when reading every tired thread on this forum about how anyone who doesn't immediately tick every box of what a good east dulite should act/look like is worthy of a sharpened pitchfork, that our society has somehow eneded up a little fucked-up.

Our instincts to interpret our surroundings and spot danger are seriously badly wired, and I'm pretty sure have been rendered so by years of dramatic news reports which skew our view of the world and our ability to interpet it.

Much as this forum has been a part of my life I do think it's partly responsible. Far from helping to create community it ends up sowing fear and mistrust; too much credence is lent to every half-baked rumour, every second hand anecdote.

God knows there are enough real problems our kids have to face, peer pressure to resist, bad crowds to avoid, without seeing a paedophile in every street photographer, market researcher and care in the community chap who is just a bit different to you with less refined social skills.

 

[Huguenot]

Well, to be fair, he'd have been in breach of the code of conduct of any professional marketing firm on many levels: approaching minors, failing to ask permission of a parent or guardian, failing to hand over proof of identity, failing to offer a record of the conversation to the candidate, failing to explain what the data was to be used for, failing to inform them of their rights and data protection and much more.

Some things are unclear - where did this talk of money come from? It didn't seem to be in the OP?

Did the bloke actually ask for addresses and phone numbers - the OP only mentioned that they didn't give them?

Having said that, professional market researchers actually would have been obliged to ask the candidate if they would mind being contacted by an auditor to verify their contribution.

My guess is that he was probably a student of some kind, or perhaps a small business person, looking to get some fairly amateur data to back up some sort of project or business plan.

I tend to agree that approaching a pack of hungry wolves gaggle of 13 year old girls is a fairly inefficient way of trying to get up to no good.

[Huguenot]

On EP's point, was watching Bowling for Columbine once again last night - agree with this weird 'fear' thing infecting modern society.

[RosieH]

Hugo, did you just agree with everything I said? But say it, you know, after me...?

But El Pibe yeah, I can't disagree with a word of what you said.

I feel the same about the rage directed at chuggers, or people selling tat door to door. I used to enjoy a visit from the pop man - now people post on here because someone knocked on their door in a suspect manner. I'm inclined to think that we're no better, no worse, than we've ever been, just more paranoid. And while we may mock the Daily Mail a lot on here (and let's face it, what's not to mock?) oftentimes this forum makes a pretty good stand-in.

[El Pibe]

Huguenot/Rosie's interpretations on balance seem rather more plausible that a sexual predator with a clipboard fetish.

It is weird that because there was an Ian Huntley we treat all unknown men as paedophiles and throw up our barriers accordingly, because you know, it has happened so it could happen. Yet the chances of it actually happening are statistically significantly lower than, say the chances of them crashing in an aeorplane on our holiday, even though we know it could happen because we've seen it on the news.

I realise there's a more emotive element to the bogey man over dumb luck but when we do let it affect us and they we we interact with our neighbours and peers, surely we owe it to ourselves and our children to scrutinise ourselves and our behavoiurs a little more.

Or it really is just me and I'm a bit weird?

*ets - x posted with rosie, cheers babes ;) *

[Huguenot]

RosieH! You weren't there when I started writing it! i just got distracted by this appalling show called Gordon Ramsay Cookalong Live.

You've probably seen it and had it taken of air a few years ago, but first time I've seen it here.

I was shocked by how bad it was. Open mouthed.

*ets - Yes! 2008. Four years they've had to realise how cack this is. Shoot someone.

[VanessaPMR]

Just a quick point. Someone stated that the research was about social networks?

Most social network research does collect peoples names (which is not generally done in survey research to increase anonymity) too allow the researcher to show relationships between people.

Any serious researcher should have obtained a consent form from the parents of the teenagers as they are minors however.

So I think the protocol was dodgy, but not necessarily the activity.

[StraferJack]

How does this consent from parents happen then?

Approach a gang of youths and say "would you mind popping off home and getting permission from your parents? No.. Don't worry I'll do it. Just tell me where you live and I'll go and ask them. Meet you all back here in say... 60 minutes?"

[woodrot]

Im up for a lynch mob if anyone else is interested. Theres a bloke down the street with his eyes too close together - we could start with him

[maxxi]

woodrot Wrote:

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> Im up for a lynch mob if anyone else is

> interested. Theres a bloke down the street with

> his eyes too close together - we could start with

> him

I think we would need someone by the name of 'Lynch' to do it properly... though I'm not sure... will pop into local park and ask a few kids.

[Loz]

maxxi Wrote:

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> I think we would need someone by the name of 'Lynch' to do it properly... though I'm not

> sure... will pop into local park and ask a few kids.

You do realise the little sods want paying nowadays?