Comments on: When A Prank Goes Wrong, Gizmodo and The TV Blaster

By: lM ll lL lL S

lM ll lL lL S — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:21:23 +0000

yea, it’s one thing to shut off a few screens that are purely for display purposes…but shutting off screens being used during a presentation…come on…

the motorola guy handled it well…

so did the girl …

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:52:59 +0000

Gawker Media, and more specifically Gizmodo, have always and will always be pre-pubescent immature dolts. The amount of NSFW articles on the front page (*with* NSFW pictures… ON THE FRONT PAGE), pranks, gags, and other very unprofessional manners severely hold back the fight for major blog outlets to be thought of as press. The only redeeming blog out of the whole Gawker lot is Lifehacker… I hope Weblogs Inc or someone else snatch that property up.

By: Mike O.

Mike O. — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:29:34 +0000

While I tend to agree that most bloggers are indeed not professionals, what about those who ARE professionals?

Would I do something like this? Hell yeah, and I’d post about it on my blog, but I don’t represent the likes of Gizmodo, TUAW or UneasySilence. I have a couple of blogs that I write on in my spare time for fun. Should I be held in the same esteem as Dan, who runs a professional blog? Absolutely not! Professional blogs, like I used to consider Gizmodo to be, have a responsibility to hold themselves to higher standards.

In my opinion Dan’s point is spot on. I think the “big deal” here is that it was someone with credibility that perpetrated this action. An event like this indeed has the potential to cause major setbacks to professional bloggers who are striving for accreditation as mainstream media due simply to the fact that Gizmodo was involved. Mainstream media has become mostly crap these days (at least in the US), and I think pro bloggers could bring much more to the table and should be allowed the opportunity to have the same access to events, etc., as mainstream media.

In the end I hope that the casualties of this are limited to Gizmodo. This isn’t about the pretentious 50 year old white guy mentality (my views and physicality are far from that), it’s about being professional enough to understand that there is a time and place for everything. Screwing with someone playing Guitar Hero, as Jerry points out, is funny. Screwing with someone who has put a large amount of time and money into a CES presentation, not so much. Woah… that was longer than I had intended! I’ll jump off the soapbox now!

By: Mike D

Mike D — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:39:44 +0000

I can’t stand Gizmodo, I especially love the fact that they’d pull a prank like this but make their commentors audition. The TV walls were kinda funny but the presentation were terrible and anyone with half a brain would be able to realize its just uncalled for.

By: Jeremy Ricketts

Jeremy Ricketts — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:23:02 +0000

I hope they get banned from the event.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:10:49 +0000

Turning off someone playing Guitar Hero III is funny.
Messing w/ Motorola’s presentation repeatedly is bordering on sabotage.

By: JTB

JTB — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:23:57 +0000

Sabotage – This must be surely illegal; I saw no humour in humiliating the presenters. I would not be surprised if there isn’t litigation around the corner and if I was Gizmodo I would perhaps see a solicitor right now for an opinion and perhaps to prepare myself for what could happen.

By: JAMES

JAMES — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:32:12 +0000

Idols. I’ve not thought much about Gizmodo recently, and this is just the icing on the cake. I’ve now since unsubscribed from their blog.

By: Luis C.

Luis C. — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 05:34:11 +0000

I agree. It was destructive. It was also pretty funny. I think they should have used the device more wisely. They should have limited it to stuff that wasn’t as important as presentations.

By: Rurik

Rurik — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:18:52 +0000

90% Bloggers aren’t professional. Little emo billy and his mom can both have blogs and say whatever they want regardless of truth. there needs to be a better separation between ‘Blog’ and ‘News Blog with real journalists’