BBC buys Orient Expat (Patrick Shaw's prank)

[Cornfed]

It seems the BBC is integrating the Orient Expat site and forum into its current sites:
http://bbc.com.worldwide.news.asia-paci ... dwide.html

This might explain the level of feminist censorship on that site. Perhaps this is part of a general trend from the lamestream to bring sites that might otherwise harbor some elements of political incorrectness back into the fold.

[Jester]

Scary.

OTOH, a way for Winston to monetize.....

[Winston]

The owner of that site, Patrick Shaw, was a real jerk. His posts were arrogant and self-righteous. Why did the BBC want to acquire it rather than build their own forum? I wonder how much they paid him.

What if the BBC offers to buy HappierAbroad? Would you guys want that? lol Do you think the BBC would be a lot better at tolerating free speech than me? lol

There is a thread on Orient Expat entitled "Winston Wu, the biggest loser in Asia". Maybe the BBC will remove that thread. lol

[Cornfed]

Patrick Shaw, aka Mandrunk, seemed to have a somewhat realistic view of the world but be preparing for something like this. Maybe that is fair enough. Money counts for a lot if you don't have much of it, and you can't serve God and Mammon at the same time.

[Cornfed]

What if the BBC offers to buy HappierAbroad? Would you guys want that? lol Do you think the BBC would be a lot better at tolerating free speech than me? lol

I imagine we'd understand if you sold out for enough money. Someone would just have to set up an alternative site. However, working for the scum on an ongoing basis as Shaw appears to be doing is another matter. He would appear to suck. But I hope you don't sell out.

[Winston]

Patrick Shaw, aka Mandrunk, seemed to have a somewhat realistic view of the world but be preparing for something like this. Maybe that is fair enough. Money counts for a lot if you don't have much of it, and you can't serve God and Mammon at the same time.

What if the BBC offers to buy HappierAbroad? Would you guys want that? lol Do you think the BBC would be a lot better at tolerating free speech than me? lol

I imagine we'd understand if you sold out for enough money. Someone would just have to set up an alternative site. However, working for the scum on an ongoing basis as Shaw appears to be doing is another matter. He would appear to suck. But I hope you don't sell out.

True, but I can't use money as an excuse. I'm not poor. My family owns three houses, and I make enough from this website. That's why I can afford to stand for principle.

Why didn't Patrick Shaw just keep his site and make money from Adsense on it? That way it'd still be his and still be profitable at the same time.

Why would the BBC want to acquire forums anyway? It acquired the Thorn Tree forum from Lonely Planet too, which is a very politically correct forum like Couchsurfing is. Orient Expat didn't even have any articles. It was just a pure forum.

This site isn't all about money, like America is. If it was, how would it be better than the soul sucking America that only cares about money?

Besides, this site is part of me following my divine calling. The heavenly forces are always sending messengers and prophets to the Earth to help awaken others. I'm one of the ones called to do this. That's why this site has done well. When you follow your calling and mission, events will come together to help you. It's always been this way. If you read the story of Moses, lots of things happened to protect him and help him until he could carry out his divine mission. That's how it works.

So this movement is part of a higher calling than money.

Fortunately, not everything is all about money, as America wants everything to be. If America had its way and owned the world, everything you do would be taxed and charged, everything would be privatized and overpriced, everything in life would be regimented and mechanized, rules would be strict and anal retentive, everyone would be soulless and only care about money, and only the rich could have a house on the beach or have free time. Pretty sickening huh?

Look at the immigrants in NYC that come from friendly open relaxed countries. When they live in NY, they become soulless, nasty, hustling and only cares about making money. Very sad and terrible. Especially since America considers this to be normal and that there's nothing wrong with it.

[Cornfed]

I'm technically still a member of that forum. It should be interesting as to when I am formally banned.

[Jonathan Head]

Actually you've been banned for a very long time.
Anyway, the deal is off. My employers pulled out on the deal when they realised what a complete bastard Mandi is. . .
http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/26132- ... -oe-prank/

[OutWest]

Actually you've been banned for a very long time.
Anyway, the deal is off. My employers pulled out on the deal when they realised what a complete bastard Mandi is. . .
http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/26132- ... -oe-prank/

Too funny...April WHAT again? LOL ...and yes, Mandi is a complete bastard and a more...
Meaning we would understand each other...a good punking is appreciated...LOL...

[Cornfed]

Actually you've been banned for a very long time.
Anyway, the deal is off. My employers pulled out on the deal when they realised what a complete bastard Mandi is. . .
http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/26132- ... -oe-prank/

Too funny...April WHAT again? LOL ...and yes, Mandi is a complete bastard and a more...
Meaning we would understand each other...a good punking is appreciated...LOL...

I don't get why this is supposed to be funny. No-one is likely to really care whether OE is sold or not. In any case the idea is interesting. Why should the establishment not buy up esoteric sites outright in order to keep them within the tent, rather than just infiltrating them with paid mods/trolls as they do now? It wouldn't be necessary in OE's case, since it is already a feminist forum, but in other cases it would be quite a good and probably relatively cheap strategy.

[Winston]

Actually you've been banned for a very long time.
Anyway, the deal is off. My employers pulled out on the deal when they realised what a complete bastard Mandi is. . .
http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/26132- ... -oe-prank/

What do you mean? Your employer? Do you work for the BBC? If so, then what are you doing here? lol. The BBC doesn't waste their time on forums.

How can this be a prank since the BBC posted an article about the deal on their website?

Yeah Mandrake is an asshole. You mean Patrick Shaw right? At least I'm not. I'm a genuinely nice guy who is tolerant and open minded. I wish you guys would appreciate that.

I don't get why this is supposed to be funny. No-one is likely to really care whether OE is sold or not. In any case the idea is interesting. Why should the establishment not buy up esoteric sites outright in order to keep them within the tent, rather than just infiltrating them with paid mods/trolls as they do now? It wouldn't be necessary in OE's case, since it is already a feminist forum, but in other cases it would be quite a good and probably relatively cheap strategy.

Because:

1. We are not impacting millions of people, only thousands of people. So they don't care. If a site went really viral, like Facebook and YouTube did, they would consider buying it out.

2. Most people do not post on forums. Only a minority do. So forums are still a fringe thing. Not that mainstream. Most people I've met in real life do not use forums.

3. Forums are a dime a dozen these days. Anyone can set one up for free. So they aren't that big of a deal.

[Winston]

Cornfed,
Why does your BBC link redirect to this:

http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/26132- ... pic-prank/

How did OE gain control of the BBC website and redirect it to their website? WTF? Isn't this a real BBC link?

http://bbc.com.worldwide.news.asia-paci ... dwide.html

Look at the nasty asshole comments they wrote about us on OE at the link above. They sound like degenerate shitheads and losers.

Indeed, but I'll move it to the public forum for a while because I really don't think they'll ever figure it out unless they're shown they've been owned. This year's OE Fool's Day award goes collectively to the rinky dink socially awkward community at HappierAbroad. Thanks to first class f**k nugget Cornhole for taking the hook line and sinker down with him in the first instance, and thanks also to chronic OE spammer Winston Wu for forever cementing his community into total idiot status.

I know one shouldn't mock the afflicted, but really, they just make it so damn easy. Clowns.

[Cornfed]

Look at the nasty asshole comments they wrote about us on OE at the link above. They sound like degenerate shitheads and losers.

And mostly senile manginas as well. But could someone explain the joke to me. If you convinced people that, say, the Earth was about to be hit by a comet wiping out all human life in a week's time, then I could see how this would be funny because they could be expected to be very upset and panicked about this and take actions on the basis of the information that would embarrass them when it turned out to be a hoax. However, if you convinced people that, say, you were wearing a green shirt when you were in fact wearing a blue one, would this be tremendously funny? Would you be rolling around on the floor laughing and your marks kicking themselves for being so gullible? I wouldn't think so since no-one cares anyway, and OE being sold surely fits into this category. Seems like a waste of an opportunity to pull a real prank.

[Winston]

Look at the nasty asshole comments they wrote about us on OE at the link above. They sound like degenerate shitheads and losers.

And mostly senile manginas as well. But could someone explain the joke to me. If you convinced people that, say, the Earth was about to be hit by a comet wiping out all human life in a week's time, then I could see how this would be funny because they could be expected to be very upset and panicked about this and take actions on the basis of the information that would embarrass them when it turned out to be a hoax. However, if you convinced people that, say, you were wearing a green shirt when you were in fact wearing a blue one, would this be tremendously funny? Would you be rolling around on the floor laughing and your marks kicking themselves for being so gullible? I wouldn't think so since no-one cares anyway, and OE being sold surely fits into this category. Seems like a waste of an opportunity to pull a real prank.

Probably because Mandrake got an ego boost out of claiming that the BBC wants to buy his site. It made himself look important. Plus it made his forum members fear that their posts would be censored. So in that sense, it was a prank. Either way, they are shitheads. Not quality people you'd want to hang around.

How did they redirect a URL from the BBC to OE though?

[Winston]

Here is what Momopi told me. Apparently it's a very long subdomain made to look like a primary domain. I didn't know you could do that.

viewtopic.php?p=173836#173836

The URL is not at bbc.com. It's at orientalexpat.net.

http://bbc.com.worldwide.news.asia-pacific.orientexpat.net/acquired-by-BBC-Worldwide.html

There is no redirection from bbc.com.