The Loony Bin
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loonies@bloodaxe.com
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Tue, 27 Jul 1999 13:42:20 +0100
Hiya All... It's amazing what goes on out in the world of the Web... Wishes & Dreams... - ANDREA xx *********THE LOONY BIN****loonies@bloodaxe.com********* *** *** *** Archive: http://loonies.net800.co.uk/ *** *** *** ************ANDROMEDA******Internet Goddess************ ------- Forwarded foolishness follows ------- April 1, 1999 Amazon's Not-Just-April Fools A new literary form has been born on the Internet: spoof book reviews. First the Internet changed the status quo in bookselling, and now it's creating a new outlet for reviews. Now, anyone with a computer and a modem can publish their own. Or write a spoof of one. Take the book The Story About Ping, a classic children's story about the experiences of a duck (Ping) who travels down the Yangtze River. Most of the reader reviews published on Amazon.com are straightforward "what a cute book" sorts of comments. But some clown with a lot of time on his hands added this gem: "Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's more venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized." (Check out the full Ping spoof on the "customer comments" page at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/book-customer-reviews /0140502416/o/qid=923249312/sr=2-1/002-4700117-3678425 Ping, if you aren't a geek, is a Unix command that checks on the status of computers on a network. The term ping has crept into the Silicon Valley vernacular, as in "Ping me later this week (send me an e-mail later this week)." Besides Ping, there are reviews for Daddy's Cap Is On Backwards by Bill Keane, creator of the Family Circus comic strip, found at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/book-customer-reviews /0449148165/qid=922991993/002-3519051-4478261 Take this one: "The REAL challenge in this insightful and philosophical text is looking past the obvious Masonic references and deep, secretive Objectivist undertones, so that we may apply Billy's dotted-line adventures to our own mundane existence. For example, when we follow Billy from the back porch, through the sandbox, down the slide, and back into the house for cookies, we must ask ourselves, 'Why did he not drink from the hose?' and 'Shouldn't I stop more in my day, and drink from the hose?'" Another delves into the supposed Masonic references and suggests that the book's disappearance from print has to do with a conspiracy. While these reviews can be funny, they raise a difficult issue: Should Amazon comb the boards and take down "offensive" reviews? It's hard to believe, but that seems to be what they're doing. When I first went to the reviews page for Daddy's Cap Is On Backwards, there was one that read like an academic treatise, but the topic was on the sexual undertones of the Family Circus strip. It's now gone. If a post is libelous, Amazon is right to take it down. Otherwise, what happened to free speech? After the spoofs began appearing, you could still read an official review on the Amazon site, written by Amazon staff. No more. Even Amazon's staff is writing tongue-in-cheek reviews. Check out Ron Hogan's review of Humor newspaper the Onion's upcoming book, "Our Dumb Century," at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/book-reviews/ 0609804618/qid=922992603/sr=1-1/002-3519051-4478261 Reader Reviews are already going up for the Onion's book, including one Amazon may be plucking from the site any second now. One such review talks about how its author is "devoted to one thing and one thing only: elimination of the Onion by any means necessary." Oops. He goes on to say the people who put out the newspaper are "a bunch of loads that should have been swallowed." Eeew. Anyway, check out the reviews. Or, just read today's newspaper. Is it a spoof or reality that Yahoo is buying Broadcast.com? And for how much??? Truth is stranger than fiction. by Jodi Mardesich Fortune Magazine http://cgi.pathfinder.com/fortune/technology /daily/0,3467,617990401,00.html Please include this information if you forward this joke: ********************************************************* This joke and others like it, can be found in: The Loony Bin http://loonies.net800.co.uk/ *********************************************************