Left Justified » fun http://leftjustified.net In a few words, explain what this weblog is about. Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:10:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Pump up the (web) Jams! http://leftjustified.net/journal/2007/03/03/pump-up-the-webjam/ http://leftjustified.net/journal/2007/03/03/pump-up-the-webjam/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2007 15:55:37 +0000 Andrew Lachlan attempts to explain Open ID to Cameron and wondering why the tequila bottle is empty, it seems a good a time as any to post a little something about the twisted adventure that was WebJam 2. Also, Cam needs Baileys, someone send the man some milk-based liquor.]]> Lachlan and Anson did a brilliant job of putting together the event. I wasn’t able to make it last time, but I was never going to miss version 2. Cameron and I presented last and unveiled a little something we call Tim Would Lick It. Working with Cam was pure hell, something I’ll never consider again — except for the fact that I fear his JavaScript-powered wrath. Our little joke on Tim was well received. So well received in-fact, that we came second — and in doing so, won a ticket to Web Directions! Woooh!

As I watch Lachlan fetch some Scotch and wonder how much fun BarCamp with a hang over is going to be tomorrow, I must remind all challengers — Team Stoopid takes no prisoners!

]]> http://leftjustified.net/journal/2007/03/03/pump-up-the-webjam/feed/ 0 Wisdom of The Masses http://leftjustified.net/journal/2007/02/07/wisdom-of-the-masses/ http://leftjustified.net/journal/2007/02/07/wisdom-of-the-masses/#comments Wed, 07 Feb 2007 10:47:34 +0000 Andrew Jim told me he had an idea. "It's a web app where the only feature is creating and editing your account." Being the Web2.OMG pessimist that I am, it immediately made me giggle.]]> Over late night IRC and IM conversations, the concept was fleshed out with lines like “OpenID is a pipe dream”, “more useful than Twitter”, and various other digs at the latest bubble on the block. While I was eating lunch yesterday, a very excited Jim messaged me via MSN to say that Useless Account had been mentioned on TechCrunch. I was in immediate hysterics. Wow, people were obviously finding this far more amusing than I had expected.

The account tally quickly grew from the low teens to 50-odd, and then the server started to choke. Dreamhost were having some hiccups (their email went down at the same time), so I offered to host the 700+kb of images to lessen the load and hopefully stabilize the site. What’s the point of a parody site that times out when you try to create an account? Little did I know that those images would use approximately 5.5GB of bandwidth over the next 24 hours.

As the day progressed, traffic continued to increase and the account tally kept rising. Once it passed 500, the joke was officially a raging success. Jim was absolutely wrapped and I was blown away that his “silly little joke” had been so warmly received.

Then Digg got onboard.

By this morning, there were over 3000 accounts created and Useless Account had made the front page of Digg and del.icio.us. Things were out of control. Truly, the crowds had spoken. Stupid is good.

The peak is now over, but it looks like the account tally will make it to 5000. That makes my original estimate of 200 off by a long, long way. Congratulations to Jim, and his 15 minutes of fame!

So, who wants to buy a database of 5000 email addresses? JUST KIDDING! Jeez, talk about paranoid.

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