Emerson Dameron - The Art of the Prank

August 7, 2014December 15, 2023

Life Cycle of a Wikipedia Hoax

Wikipedia is every undergrad’s best friend, and its community of editors works hard to make it informative and accurate. But it can still allow falsehoods to spread, as it did with a stoner prank… for years.

Had she not outed herself, EJ Dickson’s kiddie-lit misinfo may have spread even further. She puts a stop to it here, with “I Accidentally Started a Wikipedia Hoax” on The Daily Dot, adding some insights on Wikipedia’s many security holes.

As Wikipedia shenanigans go, Dickson’s is fairly innocent. A lot of Z-listers have obviously created entries for themselves by plugging in their PR boilerplate, and there’s some hardcore defamation out there as well. Rooting out falsehoods continues to be part of the heated discussion (one with the occasional hilarious digression) about Wikipedia’s future.

August 7, 2014December 15, 2023

Reddit Prank Becomes Irksome Mobile App

Reddit provides an essential newsfeed and discussion forum for those with all sorts of interests, particularly tech. Over the years, it has spawned its own internal logic and culture, including a perplexing array of inside jokes involving bacon, narwhals, and especially cats. And it’s also a controversial “content farm” for marketers, new-media types, and, now, at least one cheeky app developer.

Cat Facts prank now an app

As Sarah Perez details in “Epic Reddit Prank ‘Cat Facts’ Is Now An App That Lets You Text Troll Your Friends”, Kyle Venn, a web developer used this “Cat Facts” prank perpetrated by some guy on his cousin:

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He only did it to hone his dev skills, but now he’s released an Android app that you can use to befuddle your friends.
Continue reading “Reddit Prank Becomes Irksome Mobile App”

August 2, 2014December 15, 2023

Swatting Ringleader Meets His Demise

People do a lot of things with phones. Some are harmless and potentially amusing. Others can get you tossed in the slammer.

Photo by Eric Richardson

Swatting falls into the latter category. It involves providing an emergency service like 911 with a false tip that provokes an armed police raid on the home of an innocent (and likely terrified) person, be it a personal enemy, a celebrity, or just some guy. These hoaxes are a particular menace for the LAPD, since they happen so often to Hollywood stars.

On Tuesday, Jason Allen Neff pled guilty to running a ring of swatters in various locations. Neff, as it happens, has a long and storied career of hacking activities dating back to the ’90s. He awaits sentencing and faces five years in federal prison. The hostage faker seems poised to become a hostage of his own making.

photo: Eric Richardson, Creative Commons

August 1, 2014December 15, 2023

Sneak Peek at Burning Man ’14

What’s the fourth most populated city in Nevada?

It depends on when you ask. Number one is Vegas, followed by Reno and Carson City. There’s a long drop to number four, which, for one week each summer, is Black Rock City, home of the famous, infamous, otherworldly festival Burning Man.

The gathering is known for mammoth, eye-catching public artworks. HuffPo provides an exclusive sneak preview of the wonders in store this August 25th.

Sculpture of two figures embracing by Matt Schultz

July 31, 2014December 15, 2023

Toilet Talk In the News

For some mischief-makers of the old school, the internet will never compete with the thrill of a phone prank on a befuddled TV newscaster.

When a Los Angeles water main broke and drenched the UCLA campus, ABC7 News wanted answers. To that end, they fielded a call from one “Louis Slungpue,” who may have traced the flood to either a flushed cherry bomb or “a very large dump.”

Watch the video here:

This would be run-of-the-mill local-news tomfoolery were it not for anchor Ellen Leyva’s insistence on dragging it out, keeping her composure, and not getting it.

The sort of people who still make prank calls often share an affinity for poop.

Tom-Cipriano-200 In a related item, the Washington Post has an in-depth interview with Tom Cipriano, a/k/a “Captain Janks,” long-term member of an old phone-pranking pantheon based around alpha shock jock Howard Stern and his “nether regions.” After 10,000+ calls, Cipriano is still at it.

“They don”t just give you the news,” he says, “they give a dramatized presentation of the news. All I”m doing is ruining their sensational moment with my sensational moment.”