Jump on the bandwagon

[VoldtaEngler]

Ok..ever since that guy who did the oneredpaperclip thing..where he traded his red paper clip for a house (well..swapped for other items and eventually led to a house) EVERYBODY seems to be doing it now.

People wanting to trade safety pins for whatever and so on. I just saw somebody saying they are willing to trade 500 gallons of gas for something else. Another was a ski resort package.

So question is... do copycats that see success of somebody else have a chance? Do you think they say they "started" with a safety pin and now have traded it since for this ski resort package that they probably had to begin with to entice traders?

Same thing with the million dollar homepage guy who sold blocks of advertising for $1 a peice until he had a million..and got it..
ever since then all sorts of copycat sites are popping up hoping to get a peice..Did they really buy ad space? or did the copycats just throw up some random free publicity for people to think they are becoming successful with their site in hopes that actual people will follow?

[Mindgames]

The Web is a place where good ideas breed but bad ideas are immortal.

The copycats' success depends on how good the idea was the first time, not really if they're the first to do it. Things that worked because they were a gimmick, and got press because of the pure novelty, won't work a bent cent the second time round - the paperclip idea is a great news item but realistically if lots of people try it, everyone soon realises it's a lose-lose except for the guy with the first item - the only way he can increase the value of his trades is for others to lose out on theirs.

A good idea (like eBay, Google, etc.) can be imitated as much as you want, there's always enough of a market for the idea to pay out for everyone.

People who are pretending to be copycats are a whole different issue - doing "million dollar homepage 2" is one thing, but claiming to do it by making 50% of the pixels yourself is just proving to yourself you need a life. In my world it's the same with fans - for an artist with a large following there's plenty of room for fan sites, blogs, communities, whatever.. they all run 90% of the same stuff but with an individual slant, and the fans pick the ones they like the most. The crap end of the stick are the fnerks who open blogs pretending to be us, upload the music, and play on a name to get attention.

mG

('fnerk' is a registered trademark of Amalgamated Roadkill inc.)

[mmmcherry]

i was wondering what a fnerk was... was thining... wtf.. .was that a typo? thats a wicked cool typo

i heard about that paperclip guy... i figured everyone and their fuckin dog would try to do the same thing... if someone tried to come up to me and be like "hey ill trade you this paperclip for..." id smack em. and call him a copycat dork... hehe..
it was pretty cool the first time, but just because it worked... everyone wants to get rich doing it. sad.

[sheramil]

i've got a few things here i could swap. shout out if you want to make a trade: a roll of duct tape, a couple of Endone and Clonazepam, a roll of black cotton thread, a jam-jar half-filled with Australian five-cent coins, one of those thingies you stick into a bottle of spirits so you can slosh out a single jigger accurately, a little wooden coffin with a custom Barbie doll inside.. well, "custom", she's got CFM boots and is wearing leather jeans and a ribbed top i sewed.

also: an A5-sized 40 page tract from the 1930s entitled "Problems", designed to help Anglican army chaplains explain to soldiers why they were traumatised in the first world war.

[VoldtaEngler]

haha i want the 40 page tract.

[sheramil]

haha i want the 40 page tract.

cool. what can you swap it for?




HINT: lsd is very hard to come by in Australia.

[VoldtaEngler]

hehe..well..i dont really go out and buy what your looking for..and have no idea who would around here..plus im sure customs would confiscate it unless its on a stamp hehe... but hrm.. lemme get back to you on what i might have of interest. do you have a picture of the tract?

[sheramil]

i can arrange one in the next 24 hours. it's by Major-General Sir George K Scott-Moncrieff, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.I.E., late director of Fortifications and Works at the War Office.

see also, his translation of the Song of Roland:

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/sorol10.txt

[sheramil]

it's by Major-General Sir George K Scott-Moncrieff, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.I.E., late director of Fortifications and Works at the War Office.

and the first page reads:

PROBLEMS: "Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." - St.Matt.xxiv.35



and here's a poor shot of that barbie i mentioned (you can almost see the circled A symbol on her ass):



and here's a little guy i made out of Sculpey:



... you realise that any value in thise micro-transactions will be swallowed up by the cost of postage, right? still. there is a fine tradition over in talk.bizarre of sending other people any crap that happens to be on your desk, especially if it's going to another country.