As if fake blogs weren't "beyond lame" enough.
Now I think we've got... wait for it... fake comments.
You can think they're real if you want. Something tells me they're not. I dunno, they're all too "on message" or something.
Also, their huge quantities seems rather unlikely.
What a great scenario: Some twentysomething PR intern being told to write that crap hour after hour, from some gasket-popping "Creative" Director about to lose his job. Hysterical.
Posted by hugh macleod at March 28, 2005 8:42 PM | TrackBackReasons they are fake:
1. No spelling errors.
2. 95% of the comments use proper punctuation, and on the Internet, we know that's simply impossible. The Internet is like a black hole of stupidity, sucking in everything around it till it coalesces in a great big ball of dumb.
3. No profanity or slang. Not enough AOL speak. e.g. - lol, rofl
4. They *are* way too focused. It's practically a rule of messageboard discussion that every third post must be non-sequitur or irrelevant in some way.
5. Comments don't show up right away. They screen people from posting things like "This blog is fake and your comments are all posted by the same intern." Such as I just did.
Posted by: Brendan Thorne at March 28, 2005 9:13 PMFake Blogs? with FAKE comments? Shocking, just shocking. Next thing you'll see is like the blog offering T-Shirts or something...
Speaking of which, how we doing, summer is around the corner...
Posted by: Rick Segal at March 28, 2005 9:51 PMROLF! LOL!
You mean this crap won't make me fifteen again? (Not that I'd ever want to be ...)
Posted by: Ralph at March 28, 2005 10:37 PM1) Brendan, your comment IS posted and has been responded to. Which brings me to...
2) Doesn't making fun of these assholes just create the kind of (fake?) buzz they're looking for for their bull-log? Should we not just ignore them?
Posted by: Steve at March 29, 2005 1:18 AMIt hurts just to read them. It was the same pain I get when I hear ads on commercial radio, kind of a toothache behind my eyes. I think it's an allergy to boredom...
yeah, they must be fake. I don't think it's all the work of one intern though. It reads more like an inbred focus group or brainstorm session. Lot's of short sentences that kind of bounce off one another.
Hugh,
Actually, they are real. You have to register to be able to comment on the Captain Morgan blog, but they're real. Stupid, mostly, but real. Mine showed up in pretty short order after I posted.
Posted by: Dana at March 29, 2005 6:35 AMGeico has a fake blog, written by the Gecko: http://www.geico.com/blog/
More commentary here: http://www.mostlymuppet.com/archives/2005/03/29/geico-blogging/
Posted by: Seth at March 29, 2005 5:01 PMfolks, stop fretting over fake blogs and comments. here's an analogy to help you.
like any great art style/philosophy, there will be "knock offs"...similar looking/feeling work that fools some of the people, some of the time. however, great art is great because it possesses a quality that captures a person's attention and invokes a feeling that did not exist before.
to me, it's not a stretch to see blogs in the same light. great blogs are like great art - they possess character and feeling that can't be found elsewhere. a great blog, like great art will attract people again and again. that's why we have museums - people are attracted to items that inspire and challenge us. a great blog does the same thing - not to kiss Hugh's ass, but we come back here to get something that no one else can give.
so, yea, there will be fake blogs and fake comments. and, like fake art, it will be looked at once, then forgotten. let the ad folks have their fun and just ignore them for what they are - people with weak imaginations that have to latch onto other ideas to extract money from weak minded customers....
damn, what insight! should have put it on my own blog....cheers!
Posted by: jbr at March 29, 2005 8:49 PMJust because they responded to me doesn't mean they're real. I still can't fathom what kind of people actually read that blog thinking it's clever or funny.
Dumber than a FOX sitcom.
Posted by: Brendan at March 30, 2005 4:51 AM