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FCC Website Hobbled By Comment Trolls Incited By Comedian John Oliver

Posted by Soulskill on from the sweep-the-leg-johnny dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a recent segment of his new HBO show, Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver delivered a commentary (video) on the current net neutrality debate. He ended the segment by calling on all internet comment trolls to take advantage of the FCC's open comments section on the topic. 'We need you to get out there and for once in your lives focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction,' he said. 'Seize your moment, my lovely trolls, turn on caps lock, and fly my pretties! Fly! Fly! Fly!' While the true impact of John Oliver's editorial cannot be confirmed, the FCC nevertheless tweeted shortly after it aired that its website was experiencing technical difficulties due to heavy traffic. They accept comments via email as well at openinternet@fcc.gov."

4 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Humor/snark aside, his description is apt! by Chas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seriously. I watched the video earlier today. It was remarkably clear, fairly concise and very accurate.

    If this guy actually motivates enough people, even if for the wrong reasons, I salute him.
    If he actually gets people motivated for the right reasons? Oh hell, he's up for sainthood.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  2. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    > Some random comic makes a joke to a small segment of the TV watching late-nighters, and this somehow took down an FCC web site?

    That youtube video of his entire net-neutrality bit has 1.2M views as of 48 hours after it was broadcast on HBO - that's 7 people per second.

    Nevermind who saw it on TV, a metric fuckload of people saw it on youtube and they weren't just random people, they were people specifically interested in the topic else they wouldn't have clicked through to youtube in the first place.

  3. Amazing Video - Quite to the Point by WolphFang · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I actually found this video quite informative and too the point. He definately attacks the issue head on while "sugar coating" everything in comedic form to hold attention. His approach to getting this message out in this video might be one of the most effective ways I've seen to date.

    --
    leather-dog muksihs
    Blog: @muksihs
  4. A call to arms! by McLae · · Score: 4, Interesting
    If any site deserved the "Slashdot effect", this is it!

    I just left a comment. The number 2 issue with comments had about 200 of so. This issue has 45k and rising. Lets tack another digit in the end!

    Thoughtful, reasoned, and on point. Let see if we can make a difference.