Lesson #125,343,654 of the web: Hosting remotely isn’t a good idea
Sometimes, we web people can do some really funny pranks. This one’s an ingenious, instant classic.
According to TechCrunch, John McCain’s staff used a “well-known template” to create his MySpace page, without paying for it. This happens all the time.
However, whoever decided to use this template didn’t realize that the images were hosted on the template’s server, and didn’t bother to replace it with their own image on their own McCain server. Pissed off by a) the extra bandwidth and b) the lack of payment, the template’s creator, Mike Davidson (also the founder and CEO of Newsvine) swapped out the original image with a fake image (created by TechCrunch, but hosted on my own sever, thanks to this lesson):
Lesson: not only is hosting images remotely extremely rude, but it has some consequences when people get a little creative.
To me this is sort of the bull in a china chop syndrome that plagues campaigns/companies participating in social networks. Participation without respect for the rules and culture of the community.
Hi Todd! Absolutely — which is why the role of the “online sociologist/anthropologist” is going to play an increasingly important part in any successful campaign.
Hello there, Happy April Fool’s Day!
A man in a bar sees a friend at a table, drinking by himself.
Approaching the friend he comments, “You look terrible. What’s the problem?”
“My mother died in August,” he said, “and left me $25,000.”
“Gee, that’s tough,” he replied.
“Then in September,” the friend continued, “My father died, leaving me $90,000.”
“Wow. Two parents gone in two months. No wonder you’re depressed.”
“And last month my aunt died, and left me $15,000.”
“Three close family members lost in three months? How sad.”
“Then this month,” continued the friend, “absolutely nothing!”
Happy April Fool’s Day!