Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Hey, I invented that!

A "me too" button for halfbakery articles
  (+6, -3)
(+6, -3)
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against]

How many times have you searched Halfbakery for prior art before posting your invention - then sat on your fingers and did nothing because someone had already posted something similar enough? I think these acts of independent reinvention ought to be both honoured and remembered.

So I suggest having a button next to articles, which you can press when you find yourself saying "Dammit, I can't believe someone already thought of that!", so that we can tally just how often a good idea is reinvented. This could be an alternative to a bun or a bone.

(And as we all know, the really annoying case of this is where you had the idea years ago but never mentioned it to anyone and now if you try to take credit for it after someone else posted the same thing, it looks very petty and whiney ;-) )

G

gtoal, Feb 13 2006

Ironic, Eh? Halfbakery_3a_20Precooked
Note: the link doesn't work any more (probably deleted from the HB). But it was a link to an idea that was basically the same. [Ling, Feb 13 2006, last modified Jan 02 2014]

Marked for Absorbtion Marked_20For_20Absorbtion
[theircompetitor, Feb 13 2006]

(?) [link5] Forever_20Vibrator
Forever Vibrator =note my link to Prior Art [csea, Feb 13 2006, last modified Feb 14 2006]

[link4] Battery-Shaped_20Shake_20Generator
Annotation on above "I'm particularly amused by the thought of shaking a (personal massage) vibrator in order to have it vibrate ..." [csea, Feb 13 2006]

I made this. https://gs1.wac.edg...w1qgbu2uo1_1280.png
[Voice, Jan 03 2014]

[link]






       I thought of this, and then I thought of Ian's annotation as well
hippo, Feb 13 2006
  

       I thought of this before IT annotated but I knew he would anyway.
po, Feb 13 2006
  

       "Who would've ever have thought?"
skinflaps, Feb 13 2006
  

       I just can't think right now.
xandram, Feb 13 2006
  

       If you care that much, just add anno to the idea. Chances are their exact idea is a bit different anyway, so add details about your improvements.
Worldgineer, Feb 13 2006
  

       Here's an interesting case:   

       [gisho] first came up with the idea of "shake to charge" batteries for everything back in November [link3].   

       - which I annotated to include shake-chargeable vibrators [link4].   

       - which then appeared as a separate idea by [willie333].[link5]   

       So where did the invention take place? I should like to think it was mine, but at the time, I didn't consider it worthy of a separate entry. Given [link5]'s 34 buns, guess I should have!
csea, Feb 13 2006
  

       I thought of everything here.
moomintroll, Feb 13 2006
  

       Something strange going on - I can't place more than 2 links without causing one of the first to vanish?
csea, Feb 13 2006
  

       Sounds strange. You should e-mail bakesperson about that. But then, you've probably already thought of that too.
Worldgineer, Feb 13 2006
  

       This is all starting to sound like that stupid thing about 9 degrees of seperation, or whatever.
blissmiss, Feb 13 2006
  

       I invented all these: fire, the wheel, baked bean models of famous buildings, sardines rowing balsa wood boats in a bottle, mothballs for Jesus religion, a microbe circus, pink coloured black holes, eatable mobile phones, elect a crab at Christmas, jewelry made from dental plaque, horror coffins with periscopes, onion powered aircraft, socks that get bigger when you wash them, and a talking, typing fly, who is at the keyboard right now.
xenzag, Feb 13 2006
  

       And the Scots invented everything else.
calum, Feb 13 2006
  

       I thought the French invented everything. Or did they just invent the Scots?
moomintroll, Feb 13 2006
  

       The Scots invented the French, and their inventions invented everything else, including the English.   

       ("Aye! We invented the English! We took all the poofs and bastards and deviants and said 'You live there and you can be the English and we'll come down and kick your arse every now and again" - McGlashan, from mid 90s sketch show Absolutely)
calum, Feb 13 2006
  

       I tried to bake up something worthy of "Elect a Crab at Christmas", appropriating it as my own. I could not. And so a bun, as my vote for a large but Christlike crab to preside over Xmas 2006.
bungston, Feb 13 2006
  

       AHAHAHHAAHHAAAHAAAA! HOOHOOHOOOHOOO! ROFHA HAAA HAA LAA! I can't write anything as good as all that. Oh dear. <wipes eyes>
wagster, Feb 13 2006
  

       No, I'M Spartacus !
normzone, Feb 13 2006
  

       What? Oh, yeah, sorry: I'm Spartacus.
moomintroll, Feb 13 2006
  

       The Irish invented the bagpipes and gave them to the Scots, who never got the joke. But I didn't invent that.   

       I thought this was going to be a way to get something out of any commercialisation of ideas that appeared here first. Sort of a de facto patent. But I'm sure someone's thought of that.
spidermother, Feb 14 2006
  

       I thought therefore I was.   

       "often screaming, jumping up and down, and yelling phrases that could only be decifered by removing the curse words such as 'I invented that!' and 'they stole it from me!'"   

       Welcome to the club.
Zimmy, Feb 14 2006
  

       I hear you [+] we need this
shinobi, Feb 14 2006
  

       I don't like that this makes inventing sound like some sort of a capture the flag game, with a clear winner. It's much more interesting to see what you can add, or what variations you've thought of, or what it reminds you of - or, who knows, maybe do some research and see which parts can be done, or how. Move something. Don't just turn the crank on the box that counts.   

       [Oh, and the link issue was resolved - the site interprets repeated links to the same URL as edits on one link, rather than dramatic expression of an author who wants to make a point about different parts of an idea. Thanks for recommending the right thing - go complain!]
jutta, Feb 14 2006
  

       I have often invented a new thing, and carefully searched for something similar in the site and in Google, and then posted my pride and joy.   

       The first person who sees my idea just annotates "We've alredy done this", without reference to the previous idea, if you challege them they will tell you it was probably deleted.   

       It doesn't make you feel good to be treated in this way, I find it disheartening.   

       Maybe there could be a way that a new idea (Often subtley different to the original) could be connected to the original to form a mini tree of connected ideas. This would allow a wider discussion of the merits of differences in designs and applications.
Minimal, Feb 16 2006
  

       I have often invented a new thing, and carefully searched for something similar in the site and in Google, and then posted my pride and joy.   

       The first person who sees my idea just annotates "We've alredy done this", without reference to the previous idea, if you challege them they will tell you it was probably deleted.   

       It doesn't make you feel good to be treated in this way, I find it disheartening.   

       Maybe there could be a way that a new idea (Often subtley different to the original) could be connected to the original to form a mini tree of connected ideas. This would allow a wider discussion of the merits of differences in designs and applications.
Minimal, Feb 16 2006
  

       I like the idea of a new icon for this very occurence. We have the croissant, the fishbone, and now, the copycat! A tiny black cat logo to indicate how insecure we are. I can just picture it: I post an idea for a custard-filled athletic supporter and within minutes I have 12 croissants, 31 fishbones and 120 copycats!
Canuck, Feb 17 2006
  

       And what about entering a idea only to find you had already invented it six months before. A bit discouraging as well. Are you a copy cat or just a fool?
popbottle, Jan 02 2014
  

       I don't see why I should have to choose - I could be both a copycat, a fool, AND Spartacus.
normzone, Jan 02 2014
  

       No, *I'm* a copy cat, a fool, and Spartacus.
spidermother, Jan 03 2014
  

       A copycat is too complex, a ditto mark is too simple. A simple but real object is needed.
Voice, Jan 03 2014
  
      
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