How to steal an Instructable

Stealing Instructables is a time-honored method of receiving acclaim and attention that lazy people would not otherwise receive. Plus, you can email your friends who would not normally visit the website and show them all the excellent work you've done, and they'll never know the difference. They'll be overly impressed and buy you dinner.*

There is a subtle art to taking that which isn't yours, and it all boils down to the golden rule: Do that which is the least amount of work. Now, on to acquiring your very own instructable!

^{*See step 5 to claim dinner prizes}

Step 1 Steal Original Ideas

Coming up with a good idea is often the hardest part of making a fantastic instructable. Luckily, you can just surf the forums and find plenty of mentions about instructables people are working on or think someone should make. If you choose an idea someone is working on, you should publish it quickly to support your case that you had the idea first. If they mention it in passing or otherwise indicate they have no intention of publishing it, you can procrastinate a little more. You may even want to wait until someone else does it, so you have something better to steal. The most important part is to make everyone think it was your idea.

~~In fact, this instructable idea was found while sifting through the forums.~~ I thought of this instructable entirely on my own. I know you're impressed.

Comments

[the.mk95]

yeah this is the stolen one, the original is the one that got featured. lol

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Steal-an-Instructable/

nonetheless great instructable

[yokozuna]

They were actually both featured, and his even got featured before mine did. :)

[zascecs]

 The perfect instructable to steal. Now, who do I give the credit to...


yokozuna for making the original instructable, or

you for making it a funnier instructable...*


*by stealing it,...

[Buzzsushi]

OOOOOOOOOOWNED!

[djr6789]

it would be ironik if someone stole this ible lol

[DJ Radio]

someone actually did steal this ible, and the stolen ible got featured.

[thefunktopus]

This ible is actually stolen!! down the comments someone pointed this out, and linked to the original!!

[thefunktopus]

i think....

[purduecer]

yes, that was the joke...

[everywhere]

my instructables are all copy righted

^_

[programedfiles]

so you pay 60$ for no one to "steal" your instructables?

[everywhere]

yes i do

[CybergothiChe]

Yo, you totally stole my idea, dude...not cool.

[purduecer]

Yes, well, I was simply following step 1, if you will ;-)

[frollard]

Having steps in the first place was my idea!

[Plasmana]

Haha! I knew it! I knew we'd get lots of spam!

[thepelton]

I don't have internet connection on my home computer, but I like to take stuff off this site, and transfer it to the flash drive I got at the Extreme Bargains Computer Store for all of seven dollars US. I can then take them home and study them to heart's content after transferring them to my home computer.

[Nastan]

does your computer at home have something that will open a PDF file?

[thefunktopus]

called adobe reader...

[mg0930mg]

Other programs can open a pdf file,too.

[thepelton]

Yes, I can open PDF files. I got adobe.

[Nastan]

alright since your a member u can download a pdf of different instructables Just look at the steps and look at end u will see a download like.

[thepelton]

That's what I've been doing. I have a bunch of instructables, and probably some I haven't even read, but they sounded neat enough to lift into my flash drive.

[Nastan]

if thats what you have been doing why did you ask!!!!! jk but why?

[thepelton]

Thought I would joint the discussion. 8>)

[lemonie]

Why was this one Featured? (I don't get it) L

[trebuchet03]

Because it's hilarious :p

[lemonie]

Is it that much more hilarious than Yokozuma's original for having been stolen? I get the joke, but I don't see it as being Feature-content. L

[trebuchet03]

No - but things don't need to be more hilarious than something else to qualify has humorous. That said, I'd be stepping on some toes if I un-featured a project featured by the big cheese :p

[lemonie]

Aye, I just think it a little unfair on Yokozuma - you must see the irony in this? L

[trebuchet03]

One doesn't even have to look for the irony - it's spelled out in the last step :p It sounds like issues of fairness and etc. were worked out before publishing :)

[yokozuna]

It was, no worries from this end.

[scoochmaroo]

No, I think it's way more hilarious that this was featured first! (also glad I had the chance to see yours first, or I wouldn't have gotten the joke!) I love Eric's sense of humor.

[sensoryhouse]

I was expecting this 'ible to be posted by lemonie or Kiteman.

[NuclearWinter]

OK call me stupid here, I don't know your work well enough to know - you say it's for irony but did someone so this to you?

Also you say "Plus, you can email your friends who would not normally visit the website"

Isn't that why they provide a link to email people your project who don't know about the site and get more members? That's how I found it. My niece has some articles here and while I couldn't find my way out of a paper sack to make one of these I have found lots of useful things.

Is this for fun or am I taking it too seriously?

[purduecer]

No no, just for fun ;-) (like Kiteman said, check the last step for details)

[NuclearWinter]

OK thanks I just wasn't sure being a teacher it's a touchy area for me and I thought someone was being nasty. LOL sorry for the mix up.

[Kiteman]

Waaaay to seriously.

Check the link in the last step...

[jaypal]

Oh!!! You guys just stole my Instructable!!!! :P Joking! Just to make one question: What's the point of doing this? I was hopping for some way to share complete Instructables with colleagues without having to send a PDF or the link to them. Otherwise funny, I see no point in it, but I might be mistaken, that's why I'm asking. ;)

[purduecer]

It was done mostly for irony reasons, and just in general to be funny. So as for the point...comedy I guess (everyone needs a good laugh ;-P)