[-empyre-]forward from Maria on forgetting, oblivion

[G.H. Hovagimyan]

> "Youtube's method of epiphenomena means that nothing can be famous  
> twice, merely recatagorised
> as Top Rated.

About a year ago I did a prankster net.art piece called "IFC Hack"
Here in NYC, there's a TV station called IFC (independant film  
channel).  All the young film makers aspire to have their work  
presented on IFC. A year ago they opened up an youTube like website  
where everyone could upload their films. They have a rating system  
based on two parts; 1. how many hits and 2. votes by other members  
(you must join the IFC site to upload a film). I tend to stay away  
main stream commercial art endeavours.  I find them stupid, boring  
and old fashioned. I decided on a lark to see what my videos would do  
on the IFC channel.  I uploaded a video and voted for myself, giving  
myself 5 stars. Then, since I have two emails I joined again and  
voted again.  My video shot up to number one on the list.  This  
lasted for about 15 minutes than I was knocked off by someone giving  
me a one star rating that lowered my average. I noticed that the same  
10 videos were always on top. I decided to play a game. I found  
videos from honest people who had put up hteir videos but not voted  
for themselves. I immediately gave them all five stars knocking the  
top ten films off the front page. This lasted for around 15 minutes  
and then all the original 10 videos were reestablished via a large  
number of votes cast. I realized this was imppossible. There must  
have been producers and promoters who were manipulating the voting to  
keep their products on top.  Since I have my own server I decided to  
set up a crude system where I gave myself hundreds of email  
addresses. I then voted for my video and or other videos to keep me  
on top and kick off the other 10 videos. This went on for a couple of  
days but the end result was that my IP was banned from the site.  I  
imagine that the other marketers were more cleaver than I was and  
simply used google mail or figured out a rotating ip address or any  
of the myriad other ways you can use to mask information trails.  In  
anycase. The moral of the story is that information and democratic  
"polls" are being manipulated and distorted by those who have the  
tech savvy or paid marketers. It's the height of propoganda. In my  
experience, mediocrity with power wins out over talent. THis is the  
metaphor for the era of the George Bush presidency.