Topic: BANNED

[gpw11]

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9849168-7.html%22

Good, but I really think they should probably ban the entire blog and perhaps Gawker media.

[Quemaqua]

 ... what?

[gpw11]

Some Gizmodo blogger went around CES turning off displays with one of those infrared clickers, which isn't really something you do at a trade show.  Whoever puts on CES has now decided to ban him from all further trade shows and is thinking on the matter of what action to take against Gizmodo and Gawker Media as a whole.

[idolminds]

Dude goes to CES and takes a TV-B-Gone with. The TV-B-Gone is a little universal remote with one function: Off. Press the button on the thing and it runs through every "Off" code for every TV manufacturer, and shuts off every TV within its range.

So he took this to a trade show where everything is shown on TVs and proceeds to cause some chaos, even during press events.

It would be a funny prank if he just did it to a couple TVs while walking around, but press event stuff? Grow up. He made the bonehead move of admitting to doing it so now he's in a bunch of trouble as well as his employers.

Or...you know, what GPW said in half the words.

[Quemaqua]

Sounds more like they should give him a medal to me.  But then, I find this sort of thing funnier than most.

[beo]

yeah, saw the original video on gizmodo yesterday and thought it was a bit odd that they were so nonchalant about it. their comments section was filling up with stuff along the lines of, "you're going to get blacklisted", or, "watch your advertisers disappear".

if they'd just posted this on youtube under an anonymous account, they'd probably of gotten away with it - so in that respect they were complete idiots to put a claim on the video and post it on their blog. regardless though, i'm with que - it's still fucking funny.

[gpw11]

It's the equivalent of walking into someone's office and overturning their desk, but about 3 times less funny because it takes no balls.  I find cruel pranks funny.  It'd be funny to do to Que through a window while he played video games, it'd be funny to do to fat kids during Burger King commercials, and it'd be funny to do in Hospitals during surgery, but at a trade show it's pretty gay.  You go and sit in a keynote address and turn off a few monitors.  It's so unimaginative that it's just straight up pointlessly disruptive.

And to do it when you're working and representing your employer?  That's just straight up retarded. 

[Quemaqua]

Pretty much everything involved in a cruel prank is pointlessly disruptive.  Isn't that kind of the point?  I find your reasoning arbitrary.  In any event, while obviously retarded, I still find it amusing.

[gpw11]

A good prank is point fully disruptive in that it's like yelling out "look how fucking clever, ballsy, or morally corrupt I am.  LAUGH"  This was just some fat nerd with a remote doing something that absolutely anyone could do or come up with, but no one does because it's the equivalent of unscrewing the top of the salt shaker.  I'm not looking down on the guy because I think it's immature, I'm looking down on him because it's fucking lame and he's proud enough of it to make a video out of it.  I imagine his next big move to be take a laser pointer to a presentation. 


Edit:  I should just point out that I think this could be funny if you did it to people in their houses, since you might see some good freak outs.  Yet, in public the entire concept is crippled because there are no good reactions:  everyone knows they are being watched. 

[Quemaqua]

I didn't see the video, so... eh.  Maybe I'm just imagining it as being funnier than it was.  Still seems like a good concept anyway.  Some business dude trying to make a presentation and his display keeps turning off.  What's not to like?  Did this guy just fail in the execution?  Or did he target the wrong people?  It would be a great deal funnier with certain companies than with others.

[gpw11]

A little bit of both.  The execution was pretty bad, and no one he targeted really seemed to care.  Beyond that, the video editing was pretty brutal, so even if they did care, we'd never know.

[Quemaqua]

Then perhaps the lesson to be learned here is that a decent prank can suck in the hands of a moron.