I'm having a contest. The challenge is to help me think of contest ideas. I posted the full details in the
Hoax Forum (but then it occurred to me that only registered members can post responses there, so I'm posting a brief announcement here too so that comments/ideas can be left in either place.)
The basic challenge is to think of contest ideas. The one condition is that the contest has to generate responses, the best of which can be used as sidebar material somewhere in my
archive of famous hoaxes throughout history. Like I said, full details are in the
Hoax Forum.
The winner of the contest-idea contest will get a copy of
A Treasury of Deception by Michael Farquhar. I then have two more prizes to give away (once we have ideas for more contests). Another copy of
A Treasury of Deception, and a copy of
Bar Mitzvah Disco.
Update: I should also note that I don't want contest ideas to demand people to do elaborate things like creating a hoax website, or creating a hoax on eBay. That presents too much of a technical challenge. People should be able to submit contest responses as text in the comments section (though if someone is inspired to photoshop something or create a website, that's fine, but it shouldn't be a requirement for entering the contest).
Comments
It could work....but I'm sure a lot of people will try to send in hoax's they did not invent, and try to fake proof as well. But, if someone were to actually create a hoax and let it make its rounds by the internet and word of mouth...it could end up being pretty fun! 😊
And besides, both of those stunts are so commonplace that they aren't really very notable.
Helena Bonham-Carter is my favourite actress, and I hope she is your favourite actress as well. In fifty words or less, please explain why you adore her so:
UNQUOTE
In response you will receive a mixture of (a) crap and (b) serious and funny tributes to Helena Bonham-Carter. You could alternatively use another actor or actress; in order for it to be funny you would have to pick someone who is fairly well-known, but not the kind of person who you would expect to have a fan club. Such as William H. Macy, or Stacey Keach. Or Dennis Quaid, because the name "Quaid" is funny.
You could run the responses either without mentioning that they are about Helena Bonham-Carter (i.e. you could illustrate a story about the Loch Ness monster with the quote "I think her hair is gorgeous"), in which case the juxtapositions would be random and hopefully amusing, or you could simply puzzle people as to why your site mentions Helena Bonham-Carter so much.
I want to stress how sick I am of typing Helena Bonham-Carter, and how much I wish I had picked another actress such as Bai Ling, who is easier to type and does not have a hyphen, albeit that using Bai Ling in this kind of competition would be too obvious (and you would have thousands of responses along the lines of "I like her t*ts, p.s. I am w*nk*ng as I write this").
I think Alex is counting the number of times he can trick us into thinking he's running a contest! :lol:
A contest to see who can think of the best idea for a contest!
Maybe we can have a contest when something that seems outrageous but possibly true comes out where the winner would be the first one to provide actual proof of whether it is real or a hoax.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWbonham.htm
I was moved to find this out in order to determine if the name is Bonham-Carter or just Bonham Carter. It appears she is the former:
http://www.thepeerage.com/p1141.htm#i11401
I want to stress that I have no special obsession with Ms Bonham-Carter, I am merely bored. It's a shame she didn't marry John Bonham from Led Zeppelin (as a child bride, perhaps), because then she would be Helena Bonham-Carter-Bonham.
Bonham is of course French for "good jambon". No, it probably comes from the same place as "bonhomie"... probably.
The trouble is, if this is something that can be proved by news that follows, or is relatively simply proved in a couple of hours or something, that essentially rules out anyone in a different time zone. Same with any 'first person to...' competitions.
Nah, Craig would have an unfair advantage there.
I remember the first one of those I ever received. Think it was like in 98 or something like that. Some email claiming the CEO of Proctor & Gamble had announced publicly that he was a member of the Satanic church and that all P&G's products would be stamped with the Mark of the Beast.
I still believe things like these are sent out by competitors to try to gain an advantage. Especially religious stuff like this because lets face it religious people are probably the most gullible people.
How about a spot the hoax type contest? List out 20 news/historical items and people have to determine which are real and which were hoaxes.
Find the Jackalope. Hide a tiny picture of the jackalope somewhere on your site. Kind of like the bunny on the cover of Playboy.
Best believable hoax. People submit tall tales or hoaxes to explain common things. Here's an example of such on my site: http://tinyurl.com/7snb8
New word or phrase contest. Create a new word or phrase to discribe a common occurrence. (Ex. Crotchfry: A french fry that falls into your lap that you still eat.)
My humble submissions.
"Descartes
went to many parties
and was a fan
of Pilates"
You are right, of course, Ashley - I should have said 18th (or even 19th) century. Can you do a carrot after Arthur Schopenhauer? Of course, Descartes (when properly pronounced) does not rhyme with parties...
oh...yeah, he stole my idea. I want my damn book. :D