Gadzooks!! What in the name of H-E-double-hockey-sticks is going on here?

December 22, 2000 2:36 PM

Gadzooks!! What in the name of H-E-double-hockey-sticks is going on here? Check on the products and then visit this site. Then do a little WHOIS sniffing and try to wrap your mind around the fact that they are both registered to
Registrant: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
(E-COM-CON-DOM)
10201 W. Pico Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90035 US
sort of via memepool.
posted by donkeysuck (16 comments total)

"Suzanne Modeski Appointed Senior Vice President"...as in the X-Files? Hmmm....
posted by frykitty at 2:52 PM on December 22, 2000

I like how their books show them to be worth about $73 trillion.
posted by kmrtshppr at 2:53 PM on December 22, 2000

Here's a clue: Suzanne Modeski appointed VP.

Suzanne Modeski was the name of a supporting character who appeared in two episodes of The X-Files. The CEO of e-com-con is listed as "Daniel Pendrell"-- Pendrell was the name of another X-Files supporting character who appeared in several episodes; he got killed off in the fifth season. From the picture, "Daniel Pendrell" might be the older brother of that character.

If I had to guess, this is a tie-in for the new X-Files spinoff series based on the Lone Gunmen.

Wiremommy: dedicated to bringing you the insight that only hardcore fangirl geekiness can provide.
posted by wiremommy at 2:54 PM on December 22, 2000

I think it runs a bit deeper than that. Take a look at this picture.

Those are Pyra bricks!


posted by alana at 3:01 PM on December 22, 2000

So I'm wondering how this little bit of fantasy got around... It's on memepool, now here, who knows where else... How do things like this get started? Do the creators just spam their friends with it and hope it gets out from there, or what? How does one get people to look at a fake site without telling them it's fake?
posted by whatnotever at 4:03 PM on December 22, 2000

Yeah, kmrtshppr, they don't seem to have worked too hard on their numbers... They're completely random. They don't even bother to make them add up. (unless I'm completely misunderstanding how balance sheets work...)

Heh. More than three trillion in "goodwill and other unforseeables." That's a pretty big windfall, eh?
posted by whatnotever at 4:08 PM on December 22, 2000

Wiremommy appears to be right. Just as Fox did with the simpsons www.whatbadgerseat.com tie in, it appears that have created another whole website to follow a show. If you look at http://xfiles.stylicious.com/lonegunmen/index.php you can see the 'Octium IV' chip is part of the pilot of the new series 'The Lone Gunman'

StewDawg
posted by stew560 at 5:31 PM on December 22, 2000

http://xfiles.stylicious.com/lonegunmen/index.php too...

My bad...

StewDawg
posted by stew560 at 5:32 PM on December 22, 2000

I always liked how in that flashback episode, Mulder had a "brick" cell phone. Nice attention to detail.
posted by dhartung at 6:33 PM on December 22, 2000

X-files is still on the air? Man, I should get out more...
posted by ZachsMind at 11:36 PM on December 22, 2000

So I'm wondering how this little bit of fantasy got around... It's on memepool, now here, who knows where else... How do things like this get started?

Here's how those stories get around: companies hire people to become members of sites or groups filled with talkative, intelligent people. Then those members, with full posting privileges, post stories as "found" items.

This is not new, nor am I saying this story is one of those planted items.
posted by Mo Nickels at 12:27 AM on December 23, 2000

We've been infiltrated!

Speaking of fake-o sites, I saw that Lee Jeans fake site featured on some lame web tv show. They didn't mention it was fake. You could tell the hosts were hip insiders, tho, because they wore black and had sideburns and goatees.
posted by mecran01 at 7:46 AM on December 23, 2000

Wasnt "Ecom-con" the name of the fake war game scenario in the film "Seven Days in May"?

posted by paddbear at 10:26 AM on December 23, 2000

Hey, Mo?

Who's hiring shills these days, and how do *I* get one of those gigs? :-)
posted by baylink at 10:42 AM on December 23, 2000

Who's hiring shills these days, and how do *I* get one of those gigs?

Well, I'd ask some of your MeFi peers... I think we've got at least four here, but only Matt could prove it for sure.
posted by Mo Nickels at 2:26 PM on December 23, 2000

I wonder how long before companies start getting Random Joe Network Admin to get the URLs registered in their names to hide the fact that it's an advertisement one layer deeper.

I mean, anyone who's been online for any period of time (say, 2 years max) and partakes in almost any discussion or has looked up a domain for themself is aware of whois, and anyone who's ever read about investigating spam, or a prank, or a fraudulant site or countless other things is aware of using whois to find out company info or establish connections.

I like the concept of using a portion (obviously a theoretical seperation) of the web for meme injection. Sometimes the memes aren't as clever or Geek Approved as this one (how many geeks aren't looking forward to the Lone Gunmen seris?).
posted by cCranium at 6:14 PM on December 23, 2000