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Fan Lists Himself As a Band's Family Member On Wikipedia To Sneak Backstage (theguardian.com)
AmiMoJo writes: A music fan in Melbourne managed to sneak his way backstage at a gig this week by editing a band's Wikipedia page on his phone. David Spargo was attending a show by Australian duo Peking Duk when he had a "lightbulb-above-the-head kind of moment." After editing Peking Duk's Wikipedia entry to list him under "family," he approached a security guard with his ID, saying he was the step-brother of band member Reuben Styles and producing his phone as proof. "I stood out there for five minutes and I started to think this isn't going to work," Spargo told The Guardian. "Then Reuben pops his head out and is like, 'hey bro, come on in.'"
So then, it didn't work. After five minutes of laughing they decided to meet the guy who thought it actually would. Then for some reason the Guardian ran a story about it (slow news day?) and for some even more inexplicable reason it ended up on Slashdot.
If you use Wikipedia as source, you get what you deserve
Yea, I tried that and they didn't let me into the White House or call me Mr President.
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Lots of Wikipedia editors do stuff like that, I always assumed most of them are paid to control a narrative and libel anyone who tries to change it.
Happened to me.
Many years ago, a guy got backstage at a Grateful Dead concert by doing a "Pizza for Jerry Garcia" bit. (It helped that he had a couple pizzas.)
Apocryphally, someone tried a similar gag with Richard Nixon when he was running for President, and the Secret Service was not amused.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
But I'm unmoved, and I go on translating poems in the style of Quevedo.
Captcha: paranoia
Mentos! The Freshmaker!
A fairly transparent publicity stunt, but a highly successful one given that a band that no-one has ever heard of have now been getting international press coverage. Well done, I suppose, but I hate what the media has become in its effort to get 'stories' out as quickly as possible. The bullshit filters seem to have been permanently disabled!
The encyclopedia that anyone can edit with information that may or may not be accurate.
I used to work for a mildly famous musician and for us at least if your name wasn't on thr list you were not getting in.
It happened to me too when I changed every instance of the word 'gasoline' to 'petril', as a nod to the Cheezoid robot from the Mitchell and Webb sketch. The bastards.
This was a stunt they pulled in the show "Mr. Robot" (highly recommended, BTW), except it wasn't to meet a band. They were trying to sneak into a secure corporate facility, and the main character, Elliot, just shows up asking for a tour. Of course he's told they only do that by appointment, so he just says "You should look me up." After the old dufus tour guide checks his tablet and finds a detailed Wikipedia post about the young technical genius entrepreneur worth billions of dollars, he runs after him and offers him the tour.
Of course that kind of stunt doesn't work when you have actual competent security, but every place has vulnerabilities.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
In other news, an Australian band has been caught red handed paying news outlets for advertising under the guise of a stupid as fuck news article with no content what so ever. Go kill yourself slashdot. Seriously.
Are they even worth sneaking backstage for?
I was talking with someone that when you have a large ENG shoulder camera (no, not some old thing from 1980s, but a new one like Panasonic with P2 cards), they will think you are with media. This person was saying he works at a TV station and one time he wanted to attend a concert but also get a good spot. So he borrowed a dead camera and also grabbed a mic. Him and his girlfriend approach the concert, guard was welcome to let them in. In fact the guard wanted to be interviewed so he can be on the news. So the both of them played the part, she as the anchor and he as the ENG guy, with a dead camera. And they had a great time at the concert.
Another I heard is this guy wanted to get into a swanky nightclub where you are either a celebrity or previous invite. So he went across the street into bathroom of a restaurant, saw a dispenser with a label PRESS. He peeled off the label, fashioned with some business cards a makeshift Press Pass ID card. He briefly showed the bouncer he is news media, and was let in. Few seconds later the bouncer just thought, "wait, something was not right about that badge." The guy was gone.
mfwright@batnet.com
He's lucky he could get an edit to stick! Try as I might, I have yet to make one edit to Wikipedia, legitimate or not, stick, usually bumped of by some guy with an Indian sounding last name.
I quit relying on Wikipedia as a reliable source a long time ago. Not just because of things like this, but because of things I had noticed like this, where someone's credibility was only listed on placed where wiki made it possible to make someone do or appear to be anything they wanted.
'Nuff said.
He who dares, my son, he who dares...
Never heard of this band before. Brilliant!!
I was in the Army in Korea in the late 80s. Two guys from my unit went to a Tiffany concert (don't ask me I don't get it either...) in Seoul and convinced the Korean security they were part of her entourage. So they're wandering around backstage, taking photos and suddenly an American guy walks up and asks "Who the hell are you two?" If I hadn't seen the photos I wouldn't have believed them.