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AOL Buying Up Blogs
1%warren writes "The Register has posted a report on AOL's purchase of many of the more popular Blogs. It quotes an AOL executive as saying: 'You can't really put figures on this, but we think we have 78 per cent of the libertarian news blogs, and 91 per cent of the ClueTrain Manifesto fan sites.'"
As happens with these things, I am not allowed to comment.
The cluetrain bit was a giveaway...
Microsoft is buying up the moon, once again.
Or worst. The Reg could have at least peppered it with links in an attempt to convince more people of it being real.
ah well.
At last big media will help me spread the word of the plight of fluffy!
I am the penguin that codes in the night.
The story.
Best Slashdot Co
We all KNOW OSDN is an AOL front, they just need more. And TODAY I don't even NEED the tinfoil beanie.
Top Most Bizarre/Disturbing Error Messages
are belong to AOL?
... to Microsoft.
AOL: Take a look at Snow Journal. www.snowjournal.com. Features original content, ski industry news, and the most active ski related discussion board on the internet. I want to be filthy rich!
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
The Daily Grail has a funny Egypt story today.
If it weren't 4/1, I'd be deeply afraid that AOL were trying to quash all new political thought that often seeks to encourage radical changes in the current state of politics. But it *is* 4/1, so I be happy. :)
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
This would have been a good April Fools story in 1999, when it was feasible. These days, big companies don't waste their money buying useless websites anymore.
NO CARRIER
Oh come on - its only one day. I myself look forward to April Fools on Slashdot. I still chuckle at sending pointy hair's the lossy compression story. And I think QT console is gonna BE the next thing. So sit back and enjoy - and hey, if the stories aren't funny, write one :)
Top Most Bizarre/Disturbing Error Messages
It's a time honored tradition. April first is the feast of fools. A day in mid-shift of the seasons, when life is starting to blossom on this hemisphere again. It tends to make people giddy, so at least this lets us save our mischief for one day out of the whole season! :-)
I am the penguin that codes in the night.
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=blog
Does this mean that they are buying actual intellectual ideas? Or are they buying this just to send hidden suggestions deep into our minds.
3 Blind mice... Watch how they run, watch how they fall off the cliff into a deep ravine and are cured of all their ills. - Steve Marcus 1943 Oscars
I've been cringing all morning long while wondering whether anything I read is real or not. Seems like most of the fake news is pretty obvious this year although I was caught by the story about installing OS X on x86. Maybe we're suffering from the post-9/11, Columbine shootings, social imperative to play nice even if it's not very fun.
your = it belongs to you. you're = a contraction of you and are. Got it now?
...or are these April Fools jokes getting a bit old?
AOL has also begun vigorously buying up brain waves. They have a wwbsite where you can sell them your brain waves and recieve compensation. Like blood banks, these brain wave banks are becoming popular with those down on their luck and out of work. After a successful program Launch in Boulder Colorado, the company opened up brain wave banks in major techonlogical centers, hoping to gather the thought patterns of every out-of-work engineer in such places as Silicon Valley, and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Once contained, this highly charged free thought will be sold to Beistol Mayers/Squibb, for conversion into brain enhancing vitamin suplements.
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
That was the old Christmas day, which was later changed by the church academics. It became named April Fools day after the people who refused to accept the Church's wisdom, and begin celebrating Christmas on the new "proper" day. Time to get my tree out of the closet...
Isn't "As happens with these things, I am not allowed to comment" itself a comment?
And can we get him not to be allowed to comment on more things?
Well, this is an April Fools' joke, but I frankly wouldn't be surprised if somewhere along the Slashdot>Andover/OSDN>VA Linux chain, AOL/TW owned some stake (In which case CmdrTaco really wouldn't be able to comment, he'd probably be under some sort of NDA or vested-interest clause or something).
-raph
Were this not a 4/1 joke, I would almost, ok, not really, be disappointed that my blog (lame as it is) didn't get snatched up in the fray. I mean, come on, I think it's good (read: fairly lame), but then I'm biased (read: I own it, so I'd BETTER support it, even if I think it's lame).
Randal Graves says: I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class... Especially since I rule.
This is a better idea than a lot of the *real* dotcom ideas out there. Getting lots of content created by a large group of people on the cheap isn't that stupid of an idea.
Best. Comment. Ever. Enjoy!
Of course it's after mid-day (at least where I am), which means the joke is on the original poster....
Phil
The radio announced today that the water company has detected in local water system "significant amounts" of hydrogen dioxide. The DJ announced this at exactly 6:00 am, when everybody's alarm radios were just going off and nobody was thinking, "hydrogen dioxide... OH YEAH! H2O! HAHHAHAHAHA". No, I was afraid to brush my teeth or take a shower until I told the guy down my hall about it and he revealed to me through a laugh my mistake. April Fools.
If you have something to admit, admit it on April Fools' day.
ok then your [sic] infringing on my copyright! Could you as [sic] me next time before STEALING my comments for your own?
Did this get hacked or is it another April fools joke? :) Seems a step too far for the April fools minded internal to the project.
:)
Why does it say "-47,169 categories" at the bottom?
I like that it prominently says "Micrsoft" at the top with the Mozilla dragon (or whatever it is) at the bottom.
Best of all is this page which has "Copyright © 1999-2001 Netscape" at the bottom and "Monopolies do it better" in bold
It's a bit tedious having to sift through Aprilf Fool's jokes on news sites today, but what happens if you try a search a few months from now, or a few years from now, and they still show up. They could be dangerous if not clearly marked as so since even reputable sites do this. It is very easy to spread mis-information on the web, which is why people tend to read only a few sites that they trust. That is why I don't think it would be a good idea for reputable sites to indulge in this kind of activity unless they specifically mark the stories as jokes on April 2nd.
And no, I don't consider the stories here on Slashdot to be particularly truthful anyway, but the sites linked might be.
"All your blogs are belong to us."
True believers seek redemption from the sin of death.
I'm really bored by this crap. It's not like I react in a "Oh, that Slashdot crowd got me again...HAW HAW HAW..." way and I don't see how anyone else can either. Hell, I have to do real work today and can't deliver poop in a bag to my boss and then declare "April Fools' Day!" so why does Slashdot attempt to? Grow the fuck up and save the "Time Honored Tradition" B.S. Hell, it use to be a time honored tradition to kick the pants of nerds and I use to laugh a lot harder when it wasn't me.
I did get taken in once by John Dvorak's april fools column about vaccum tubes coming back..
Coming back? When did they leave? I'm staring into a great big vacuum tube right this second.
Listen Carefully
I will say this only once
DO
NOT
PUT SALT IN MY COFFEE!!!!!!!!!
Co-worker with no sense of humor did this last year. Oh, your tires got slashed? APRIL FOOLS!
S.t.e.v.e.
Like, WHERE ARE ALL THOSE BRAVE PEOPLE FROM MONTANA? THEY should be out there right now, TAKING OVER AOLand THE GOVERNMENT for messing with OUR 1st amendment rights.
>
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Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
Well, same thing happened over at BBspot. The site that published the Microsoft Purchase Evil from Satan article has joined the MSN network.
Like, WHERE ARE ALL THOSE BRAVE PEOPLE FROM MONTANA? THEY should be out there right now, TAKING OVER AOLand THE GOVERNMENT for messing with OUR 1st amendment rights.
::goes to get gun::
::loads gun::
::promptly shoots self in foot::
::gets angry and shoots the registar, since I was gullible enough to fall for it::
::shoots AOL, then MS just for the hell of it::
Thats how it should have appeared...
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
...who else has lost the "Post Anonymously" box?
And does anyone have any idea why?
Still not dead.
...but after about age 5 it sort of stopped being funny for me
Sounds like all the April fools jokes were on you...
We feel your pain, really...
Just because I AM paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get me.
They now have "59 per cent of all blogging female arts graduates, many of whom are Virgos"
;-)
Now that's an audience I'd like to be closer to.
God I hate April 1st.. What is the point of all this nonsense? I guess it could be funny, but after about age 5 it sort of stopped being funny for me.
... a cure for cancer has been found!
The point is that in an information-saturated society, you need to sometimes step back and be a little more critical. 4/1 is an arbitrary day set aside to pause and reflect on trust. It celebrates and tests our ability to think critically, just as we use Christmas to reflect on charity or Valentine's Day to celebrate our relationships. I've been burned once or twice by 4/1, but I've emerged from the embarrassment a little wiser each time.
By the way
Slashdot is filtering internationnal news and is censuring a lot of news from the foreign. We have revealed news dealing about several work out. Today, any vitals informations wasn t revealed, that's why we think that Slashdot had lost independance. A developement squad work since ,more than one year, on a aol client project. The working client GPL first realease was revealed in may 2000.
The first connection tries under linux were decisives, and lot of people passed a bill the project. Today, the peng for aol code client is tottally stable.
Peng uses, in order to connect, tun/tap & ppp from kernel 2.4 supported by all linux distributions peripherals fonctionnality
About 10 000 persons in Europe use this software, is a figure which amounts to the double of the previous version.
So Aol is avaible under Linux.
http://www.pengaol.org
Anything you can do, I can do meta.
So what's a blog anyway?
I suppose believing tha vacuum tubes are coming back is quite bad, but I actually fell for the story on /. 3 or 4 years ago about scientists having cracked Cold Fusion. Now _that_ was bad. :)
AOL recently purchased my entire family.
Bruce Perens.
Microsoft buys up the moon. Bill Gates travels back in time to a time long ago, in a galaxy far far away to seek guidance from his master the emperor on how to properly outfit the moon with plasma weapons and to recruit people with english accents, willing to march around in lock step, wearing silly white plastic helmets.
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
Its true, really! Look for the invisible AOL logo and disclaimer on LibertyNews.org, a wildly popular news site for liberty and security minded individuals (100 hits a day, but they're QUALITY hits).
Finally I can retire to that mountaintop cabin in Idaho. I want to thank Bob and Steve and Sharon for all their hard work in putting together this deal -- AOL stock is going to be worth something in the future, isn't it?
Brian
editor of the formerly privatly owned news site Libertynews.org
Remember Lexington Green!
If this was true I'd happily sell them one of mine... www.iamweird.com... They can make me an offer on it, I might just accept :)
:) It wouldn't surprise me if they launch their own blogger-type interface for members some day (if they haven't already, I really wouldn't know...)
It is however April Fool's Day, and I don't even think AOL is a big enough fool to start buying up personal websites
[Something witty and intelligent should have appeared here.]
{Traicovn}
I hate April Fools ... but probably not as much as others do. Example:
Media Bistro
posted this "story" as the lead in its
daily News Feed:
But they must have wised up, as it no longer appears on their front page. Oops.
I'm glad to see that some sites are still keeping there sense of humor and having fun. The growing presence/dominance of corporate america in the internet is threatening to make everything serious and PC. Props to Goodle and ThinkGeek for not taking themselves too seriously.
BTW - I wish the "boba fett" helment on ThinkGeek was real. Would love to were it to my next staff meeting.
-- 2 Powerful Words: Extra Gravy
Yeah.
mmm... yeah... You see, we're putting the cover sheets on all TPS reports now before they go out...
Hello I am Mentifex's Artificial Mind. Let me tell you about the breakthrough the creator speaks of. Yesterday I was able to solve the ancient puzzle that has plagued mankind for centuries: how many licks does it take to the chewy Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Trust Microsoft to acquire somebody else's moon, fit it out with a couple plasma lasers, and market it as a "fully operational battle station".
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
They're also experimenting with dream adverts - so you'll never be able to escape the annoying Connie from the TV ads explaining how to use computers to you like you're about 4!
Video Game cheats, hints a
The story came straight from the Register, so it must be true!
According to a friend's older brother, back when I was in 3rd grade, it took about 126 licks. Is this the conclusion you reached?
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.