An attempt to get into the Guinness Book of World Records was staged in the Physical Education Complex gym. The goal? To get more than 1,400-something people to show up and don Groucho Marx glasses and moustaches. Simple fun. Doesn’t hurt anyone. Right?

…I once shot
an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas
I’ll never know…

Tonight, on the MSNBC program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the stunt was covered.

Problems? Keith called AUM “The University of Auburn” in Alabama. Um, no Keith – barely close. It was AUM – in Montgomery. Hello?

Then, noting that only 1,080 people showed up, Keith quipped (in a barely passable Groucho accent) something like, “Now these people may look like idiots, but dont’ let that fool ya’. They really are.” That’s a paraphrase, but I don’t feel like watching the rerun later tonight to get the correct quote. [OK, I was still up and watched the rerun. Now the quote is verbatim. Man, I need a life. ]

Well, I’m sure he was just poking gentle fun.

For the record, the event was apparently a simple stunt. The announcement on AUM’s Web page says nothing about the purpose of the event. Perhaps it was just a simple way to have some fun and try to get a lil’ publicity. Sadly, in at least the one instance cited above – it did not work. But, local media covered it. That was their target market, so – at least they got a mention. *Ahem* … the local coverage was kinder, too.

Keith, if you are listening, that was AUM – as in Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama. Nice people. We are Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. There is no “University of Auburn,” but there is a place we call “The university of Alabama. Auburn.”

Just a gentle poke of fun at our friends up north.

“It’s hard to get ivory in Africa, but in Alabama the Tuscaloosa.” – Groucho Marx

Hey, they got coverage.

(Image Source: AUM Web Site)

The most recent event was a smackdown I received in a listserv about PR. I responded to a post requesting information about programs that offered pay-for-play interviews.

… Is anyone familiar with other “shows” that interview clients and put them on air as a pay for play?

My question:

If I may ask, before responding, why are you interested in pay-for-play? Do you intend to utillize (sic) their services for yourself or a client?

Now, I was simply seeking some rationale for pay-for-play. Of course, I do not believe any such rationale exists, but – hey, I thought I’d ask. Also, it may have been my ‘mispelt’ word – utilize – that set the smackdown in motion.

So, I get this back:

I gotta tell you – if I was (name removed) and got this kind of answer, I’d be royally pissed. I cannot imagine any conceivable reason why you’d need to quiz (name removed) – or anybody on this list – as to why they need information you (by implication) have before you provide it.

You will note that I have purposefully removed the names of the parties. It was a relatively public listserv, but their names are not important.

Smackdowns are to be expected online. I got another one a week or so back for having a signature on my emails that was longer than my question.

The lessons learned through all of this are many. Some of them include:

1. Be careful what you ask. Don’t have a thin skin about any responses you may receive. Blogs and lists are unpredictable.

2. Be careful how you ask it. I could have been more inquiring and complete in my question. I also could have allayed any fears that I was going to ambush the person after their response.

3. As with blogs, there is ‘netiquette’ in listservs. The person providing the smackdown is a well-known PR/Marcom practitioner. I have interacted with him on more than one occasion before. So, I responded to the smackdown with, what I believe, was a kind and non-confrontational response explaining my reasons for posting the question.

4. Don’t post too fast. I find this to be a particular fault for me in listservs. I have a question and I dash it off. I should take more time.

5. Snip whenever you can. For instance, snip the signature file on your emails whenever you can. Don’t include 400 lines of previous messages (unless the particular list requests it) in your replies.

I like listservs. Sure, a lot of it is goofy, but there is learning to be done there. I read the posts and rarely contribute. My main practice is to read and then search for related information. I learn that way. Sometimes it is a bit time consuming, but the result is always good. Learning. What a concept.

Now, the funny thing about this whole event is that the smackdown came just one day after a moment of praise was offered me by the very same listserv member. Also, I have had communications – prior to this event – from the initial question poster, too. He has sent me quasi-releases and even asked for my Plaxo information.

I intended no harm in my question, or response, and ultimately found (the true irony) that the smackdown provider has posted in his own blog that pay-for-play is a “sin” and gives a rather good list as to why it should not be practiced. OK, he was smacking me for ‘netiquette’ and not pay-for-play, but still – it struck me as funny.

The internet. Contradictions. Who knew?

On other notes:

My students have completed their semester work and are off practicing merriment. A great group of students, this semester. Really enjoyed them.

The students did a fine job of participating in their own blogs at PRblogs.org and also in their comments at Marcomblog.com. My thanks also to the contributors at Marcomblog as well as James Farmer for his support with PRblogs.org.

I have several responsibilities with two online efforts that I have been unable to participate in sufficiently of late. So, I will use what free time I have over the coming days to post more in, and on, those areas.

Another UPDATE: The links have been fixed. (Read the post below.) Seems someone did the wise thing and put redirects in their .htaccess for those URLs to the WordPress.com mainpage. Great going WP! Only took a half of a day. Perhaps someone actually reads this blog after all.

Now, on to my hopes for WordPress.com….

Another learning experience. I fear WordPress has erred in some of their tactics in this startup of WordPress.com.

When you are doing a launch of a new initiative, you must think through all the possibilities. I fear (in fact, am about to show you evidence) that WordPress did not think this thing through. They need representation. I imagine many are now in a scrammble to give it to them.

This isn’t intended to be harsh criticism. Just helpful thoughts for how to catch up, now that the errors are painfully evident. Remember. I am a fan. I want WordPress to succeed.

WordPress wants to be a leader. They want this latest initiative to give them greater buzz and strengthen their brand in the online world – particularly for business. So, they should have crossed the T’s and dotted the I’s. They haven’t. It will cause angst among people wishing to find out about this new offering.

A search of Yahoo, Google and other search engines for links will give you many links to 404 errors. Not blank 404, but areas of the existing site which could have been filled in with pertinent information to help drive their meme.

As an example, I’m going to take the first page of Yahoo! results for a WordPress.com search.

Link #1: That takes you to their offer. A simple page which provides an opportunity to sign up and wait for an invite.

Link #2: A 404. It is an existing page and could be filled in quickly with even the most basic of info. This will diminish the frustration of visitors.

Link #3: http://wiki.wordpress.com/ … a subdomain that offers this, “Sorry, the blog you are looking for is not available”. Why not redirect to the Codex (Wiki)? Simple to do.

Link #4: The real codex link. http://codex.wordpress.org

Link #5: See #3. Another subdomain – http://validercode.wordpress.com/ – empty

Link #6: Their pingback page – “XML-RPC server accepts POST requests only.”

Link #7: Another empty page that could be filled with simple info.

Link #8: Their “About” page. And, it is empty. Very sad.

Link #9: Empty Archive page. And, this is where we get the clue that WordPress.com may well be WordPress Multiuser (WPMU). “WordPress MU” is on the page.

Link #10: Another empty existing page which could be filled in.

Think about this. We know that most surfers only choose the first 10 links they get in their search. We know what the links are that they will get before the launch. In the examples above, we only see two good links and only one of them is pertinent to WordPress.com’s launch. These are wasted opportunities. It makes me sad.

The launch was done very quiet, so there was no opportunity for advocates like me (and many others) to jump in with suggestions and help. I wish WordPress would have learned from their “Asbestos Juice (Adsense)” episode and sought out competent advice prior to the launch.

I have written about these brilliant young minds, like Mullenweg, before. I appreciate and respect what they have accomplished. I wish they’d recognize that they need help now.

My point? If you are going to play with big business. Act like them. Think these things through. Do the homework on your launch and all the possibilities that may arise when you launch. The announcement at BBS05 was bound to create great interest. It has. Each hour that passes, the meme grows. Each hour offers more opportunities for heightened interest – or, in this case – heightened frustration.

Come on WP – get with it! I want you to succeed! Heck, I will even help.

This is the unfortunate aspect of a group of programmers/developers trying to do things with a volunteer community. Reach out to your advocates. Let them help you. Avoid these bumps in the road.

Well, there is news! Matthew Mullenweg and all the WordPress developers have something new for you – hosted blogging at WordPress.com.

I believe that WordPress.org is now trying to pump up interest in WordPress MultiUser. A great tool for creating a blogging community. I’m betting that is what they are using to provide this new offer at WordPress.com.

Update: It may also be that WordPress is offering something more akin to what many hosting providers are offering: a .gzipped version of WordPress that may be launched immediately by a simple script. Darn. I want to find out more. WordPress needs to win in this race for the business world’s fav blogging platform. Read Bucks for blogs: Businesses, bloggers look to score deals, forge links at S. F. summit (Mercury News)

Another Update: I now find this rather old comment thread at WordPress Suport Forums and it led me to this recent post in WordPress.com (Wednesday, July 20th, 2005) that makes me feel WordPress.com is using MultiUser. We’ll see.

I’m excited for WordPress. This could be the boost they need to start gaining wider MSM / Trade Press coverage.

WordPress.com is an easy and powerful way to start blogging.
Why Blog?

* Connect with an audience of dozens to millions.
* Stop sending mass emails to everyone.
* Archive your thoughts.
* Why the heck not? (WordPress.com)

and, from Qumana we find two features:

* WYSIWYG editor
* Side-panel features like categories can be moved around to better suit the order you prefer.

The WYSIWYG has already been available as a plugin. The drag-n-drop tools is in the 1.6-ALPHA-2 version and is used in the MultiUser version.

Thanks to PR meets the WWW – Constantin Basturea, Nevon – Neville Hobson, and DL Byron for the tip off to this new offering.

We are using MultiUser for PRblogs.org to give free blogs to PR practitioners, educators and students. That project is in conjunction with James Farmer of BlogSavvy. Many thanks to James. He is offering new blogs to educators at edublogs.org, too. James thinks way ahead of the curve.

Best wishes to WordPress with their new offering. After people start to see this blogging platform (on an even larger scale – building communities) I believe the others may have some very worried expressions on their faces. It is that good.

Related links:
Matt on his WordPress presentation at the BBS05
Donncha O’Caoimh’s blog
Reference to James Farmer’s work in the Multiuser blog

Saunders sent out this email to all those that have visited his blog and commented in the past. He wants us all to visit South – his new blog which promotes the new expedition. The effort is part Houdini act (no one has done it before – on foot) and also a realistic effort for Saunders. I imagine that if anyone can do it, he’s the guy.

Many of you already know what I’m planning – the first return journey to the South Pole on foot: a two-man, 1,800 mile trek from the coast of Antarctica to the Pole and back. The Norwegian Roald Amundsen made this journey in 1912, using dog sledges. His rival, Captain Scott tried to make the same journey on foot – and died in the attempt. In the 93 years since, it’s never been done.

Every other South Pole expedition has either been flown out from the Pole, or used dogs, kites or vehicles. Ours will be by far the longest unsupported trek of all time, and we’re calling it SOUTH.

In the past I’ve been lucky enough to have some amazing corporate sponsors, such as Serco. But for this expedition we thought we’d try something new. I want SOUTH to be owned (at least in part) by the people who’ve sent messages when I’ve been out on the ice, the people who never need to ask why, the people who believe in dreaming big.

I do not mind receiving email from Ben Saunders. I don’t want to opt-out of his future mailings. I admire him and all of his wild adventures.

Sadly, Ben may have violated the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Pub. L. 108-187, S. 877). Why? It is commercial. It is marketing. It does not contain an opt-out function. And, I didn’t request it. I’ve commented in his blog before and do not remember any disclaimer stating that he might write to me – even solicit me – via email. There isn’t one there now, that I can find.

Hey, his email doesn’t bother me. It does, however, point out the need to understand all of the ramifications of our actions when using information we compile in our blogs. Just because someone shares their email address with you, it does not mean you can use it for anything. Ben Saunders needs a coach. And not one for his athletic pursuits. He needs one for his online activities.

The IP of the email is from the UK. Ben is a Briton. I searched back for the IPs, etc. and it ‘seems’ legit. Certainly the promotion is for real, as it is promoted on his sites.

Strange thing is, his blog is probably one of the best implementations of a blog for PR that you will ever see. It is a beautiful Web site. It is compelling and entertaining. The story is unique and allows visitors to live vicariously through Ben’s writings. (His writing is good, too.)

And, his appeal seems genuine and honest, at least to me.

I’ve never been much of a salesman, and I feel especially awkward writing this – because essentially I’m offering you a slice of the biggest dream I’ve ever had. I hope you’ll look beyond the ice and the cold and the machismo, and see this for what it really is: a story about daring to dream really big dreams, and being daft enough to open your heart and ask everyone else to join in and help out.

I hope Ben gets his $100 contributions. Of course, he only offers 1,800 for sale – the length of the trek. And I bet he gets all $180,000 in contributions. He’s already received takes on 10 of them, with the last mile ‘reserved’. $1,000 down, $179K to go.

Good luck, Ben.

Ben’s quote of the day:

“Courage or ambition may take you to the Antarctic but it won’t take you far inside without being found out; it is courage and unselfishness and good temper and helping one another and a willingness to put in every ounce you have.”

- Sir Ernest Shackleton

Hey, if you are a PR, Marcom, Advertising or Journalism practitioner or educator and want to ride the blogtrain, you’re just one email or comment away from realizing your (and my) dream!

Mutually Inclusive: Communications Blogs You Should Subscribe To…

Elliott, ever the enterprising and inquisitive blogger, has created a bit of research into blog names. Read What do YOU call your blog?. This relates to marketing and public relations. Naming of products is an involved research project. It incorporates sociology, anthropology and much more, too. Well, this is Elliott’s study into the naming of our products – blogs.

My favorite part:

Quickly coding a solution in C#, I wrote a program to tokenize the blog names by whitespace and punctuation, and place the resulting words in a hashmap for counting purposes. This gives a tab-delimited (paste into Excel!) text file of words used in blog titles and their frequency. Here’s the top 10 breakdown:

Hey, sure … just a lil’ C# script here and pasting there … You really should look at his work. Very impressive.

I noted, in a previous post, that there are many young (under 25) individuals creating all sorts of Web content platforms. Sadly, I neglected to identify an even larger group – plugin creators. These are the individuals that are developing add-ons which give power, functionality and enhanced user options to these CMS platforms. Elliott is one of them. Check out his list of plugins for WordPress (the blog CMS we’re using). I count seven that he either wrote or co-developed. Once again, Elliott shows his mettle. I love being impressed by students. Really do.

Think about it. What do his efforts say? He’s curious, inventive, eager to explore … just one ‘average Cornell student’, as his blog used to say. If Elliott doesn’t understand something, or sees an intruiging idea – where others see nothing – he goes out ‘in search of…’

Elliott always has something interesting to share. This hilarious collection of 1983 Bill Gates “Teen Beat” photos is easily worth a trip to his terrific blog.

Why do I say that? Because, so many large institutions are ‘conversation’ averse. Whether it be fear or ignorance, the controlling interests usually do not like to have ‘outsiders’ giving them advice.

More universities should follow Cornell’s lead.

Now, on the truly cruel and unfair ‘system’ that has wrought havoc on college football – The BCS.

Auburn is on the outside for the National Championship. It is so unfortunate. The players gave it all they had and went 12-0. A perfect record. The SEC Championship. I did not see ‘cockiness’ in the players this year. If anything, they exhibited ‘quiet determination’ and character. I feel for them.

If the university wants to do the right thing, they will give them all ‘National Champs’ rings anyway.

War Eagle!

Please read: ‘Connected’ young people light years ahead of their elders in Internet travels

I watch students in class. You have your cell phones. You use email/IM as if it is a drug. The following isn’t too different from many (if not all) of you.

“It’s (instant messaging/email) become something for me that’s almost like a telephone. I may not use it, but it could ring anytime,” said Kearnan, a 22-year-old from Mendon, Mass., who works for a search-engine marketing company. “If I don’t have it, I feel cut off.”

And, the article also reminded me of how many of you are conducting your job/internship searches:

Crystal Cienfuegos, 25, found a public-relations job on the Web – sending out an “electronic” resume, arranging an in-person interview by e-mail and securing the job with a writing test, taken online.

Another version of the full article is available at The Arizona Daily Star.