(Click to enlarge)
Odd. I was reading through my server logs this morning, when I saw that I had traffic coming from a page on The Big Blog Company. The Big Blog Company’s home page has a lot going on, so it’s a bit hard to figure out at a glance what they do, but partway down the page it explains:
The Big Blog Company is a one-stop shop for company blogs, a new tool for on-line communication for companies that want to strengthen their relationship with customers and their presence in the marketplace.
Ah, yes, another blog consulting company. (From my experience so far, good luck, guys.) Anyway, the page in question that was driving me traffic appears to be some page behind password protection. See Exhibit A.
There didn’t appear to be any way to register for the password-protected section that I could see. Looking around the page, however, I noticed in the upper-left corner there was a link for “Big Blog Company,” which I presumed would take me to the homepage, so I clicked it.
(Same to you, buddy)
In fact, it flashed a temporary page that then just redirected me back to the log-in page. Imagine my surprise, however, when I clicked again and looked more carefully at the message up in the corner of this temporary refresh page: “Yeah, fuck you. Log in.” I beg your pardon? I’m trying to log in, but it’s not exactly clear how, gentleman. Doesn’t seem like very businesslike language for a consulting company.
Meanwhile, I’m also getting a lot of traffic today from this post on a site called GoFuckYourself.com, but that would appear to be an unrelated coincidence. Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed in the morning.
UPDATE:
Big Blog Consulting Company perpetuate the British stereotype that Yanks have no sense of humor and assume I’m a moron. At least I get to use trackbacks now. Whoopie!
Hey, Rick – glad you found us, sorry that what you found was a log-in page for our internal blog (that’s why the page that you were trying to get into is in the directory ‘internalblog’ on our server). The internal blog is supposedly bot-proof, so a) we never thought anyone would be able to pick up the referrals from those internal posts, and b) we never thought anyone would see that “fuck you” except those of us inside the company and the few external people we let read it. (Yeah, that’s the kind of thing some of us find funny. Brits and Frenchmen, eh? No excuse for this American, I’m afraid.)
So, to sum up: That message isn’t for external people, and I’m sorry you landed on that page. I’ll send you a copy of the post in question from our internal blog. Maybe that will make you think it was worth getting out of bed this morning? I live in hope.
Comment by Jackie Danicki — July 17, 2004 @ 10:41 am
I was going to say Jackie, worst case of contingency design I’ve seen in a long time, but I guess it doesn’t count if it’s internal. 😉
Comment by Will Pate — July 17, 2004 @ 1:07 pm
Them who live in glass houses…
Referral logs are the back-end of the blogopsphere. They tell you who is hitting your site. Some of us check them and follow them through and some of us do not. When we were building up our commentary blog before…
Trackback by Big Blog Company — July 19, 2004 @ 3:42 am
Wow. Rick, I know you’re saying that you were just joking, but you went to a hell of a lot of trouble to take the Big Blog Company to task for offending you, and your tone was decidedly pissed off – hence my apology to you here and the email I sent you. I was trying to smooth things over, because I definitely didn’t get a “Haha, isn’t this funny?” vibe from this post. Maybe I read it incorrectly.
Oh, and it’s the Big Blog Company, not Big Blog Consulting. If you’re going to slag us off, at least get our name right. [insert smiley here]
Comment by Jackie Danicki — July 19, 2004 @ 8:11 am
Ooo, flame war. This is fun. Okay, Jackie, since my cues at sarcasm are impervious to your superior powers of observation, allow me to Fisk my own post to illustrate how it was meant ‘all in good fun’:The use of the word “Odd” to open the post was meant to convey I was wryly observing something, in a Sienfeldesque manner. But I guess you guys only get “Friends” over there, not “Seinfeld,” so I’ll grant that one slipping by.
“Ah, yes, another blog consulting company. ” Because my web site is called “Business Blog Consulting,” the implied disparagement is actually meant to show self-effacing solidarity. Two points for that one.
The use of “Exhibit A” and “Exhibit B” is also kind of over the top, were this actual criticism, no? Taking myself a bit serious? Not funny?
The “Same to you, buddy” — not obvously meant to be funny? Aside from whether you actually laughed or not, that doesn’t strike you as a bit tongue-in-cheek?
“Imagine my surprise…” The uptight shock…a put-on. If you read the Bruner Blog you’ll quickly see I’m a really potty-mouthed git.
“I beg your pardon?…Doesn’t seem like very businesslike language…” — Ditto. Not meant to be taken seriously. (I tried using the <blink> tag there, but I guess my default CSS neutralizes it.)
“Meanwhile, I’m also getting a lot of traffic today from this post on a site called GoFuckYourself.com, but that would appear to be an unrelated coincidence.” True, but…not kinda funny? Being told to fuck myself twice in one morning by my referral logs?
“Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed in the morning.” (Cue drum flourish: ba-da-DA!)
Honestly, to me, blogging is largely about sacrcasm. I certainly wouldn’t have gone through all the effort just point out that someone used a naughty word on a private page. The whole thing just struck me as amusing, and amusing, like flame wars = traffic! Sorry if I hit a nerve.
Comment by Rick Bruner — July 19, 2004 @ 8:53 am
Oh yeah, not to be pedantic, but the headline of my post, “Big Blog Company Offers Dick Cheney Advice,” funny, right? Ironic hip cultural reference to topical use of naughty words in inappropriate places?
And, as long as I’m on a roll here, “Them What Live in Glass Houses…” would be funnier than “Them Who Live in Glass Houses…”
This is going so well, I’m thinking of changing the name of this site to BusinessFunnyConsulting.com, or maybe FuckBigBlogBusiness.com. Which do you prefer?
😉 (wink, wink)
Comment by Rick Bruner — July 19, 2004 @ 9:00 am
I don’t see any flames being thrown from me, Rick, so if you do want a flame war, I think you’ll have to depend on our commenters for that. Sorry.
I will say this, though: My family owns the private largest collection of Seinfeld episodes of anyone, anywhere in the world. (Yeah, I’m a Yank.) And we do get Seinfeld here, but it’s always in a crappy time slot and nobody seems to think it’s very funny. I feel the same about Are You Being Served?, so there you go.
Comment by Jackie Danicki — July 19, 2004 @ 9:03 am