Splicing Cables for Dummies

This is what splicing means, Greyson

As our staffers wander the back roads of the 'net, specifically the niches into which the modern equivalent of Demand Media Studios¹ are stuffing old eHow.com content for SEO purposes, they come across some pretty hilarious bogosity. Some of the penny-hungry college kids were prone to the MSU² technique for answering questions when there was no good answer (or just because they were lazy). This time, we've caught returning DotD Greyson Ferguson pretending to be of use to whomever asked "How to Splice a VGA Cable" (now at ItStillWorks.com).

We googled that particular question, and there are a whole ten links; none of which says how. Most references say it might be possible, but isn't worth the effort. Ferguson, however, was having none of that – mostly because if he said it couldn't be done, he wouldn't get his DMS stipend. So Greyson (already an eleven-time DotD) forged ahead:

"If the TV/projector does not have a VGA port, you are forced to splice the cable connection to a component video cable."

Wait, Greyson, that's not "splicing" a VGA cable, that's converting a cable. Splicing cables means connecting the cut ends of two cables together. Let's see how Greyson proposed to "splice" a VGA cable:

"Connect the VGA end of the cable to the VGA port on the computer system. The VGA-to-component cable has a VGA cable connection on one end, and a component video connection at the other end. Component video ports are found on most new televisions and are made up of three connections: one green, one red and one blue... Insert the component ends of the cable into the television or projector's 'Component In' ports."

Here's what we think happened: Greyson couldn't find any references that explain splicing a VGA cable, so he decided to redefine "splice." He found a couple of references to fool the content editor (likely another fine arts major or a J-school grad) and submitted his post. No one bothered to search his references for the word "splice" – hell, one of them doesn't even contain the initialism "VGA"!
Although we know that fooling a DMS content editor with bogosity like this requires chutzpah, we submit that Ferguson wasn't supposed to fool a content editor; he was supposed to provide useful information. Instead, he contributed to the stupidification of the internet... again. Hence, Greyson is our Dumbass of the Day. Again.

¹ DMS changed its name to Leaf Group a couple of years ago, but it's still the same band of freelancing greed-suckers.
² Making Shit Up

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