Sending Billions to the RIAA & MPAA – Stats & Update
Just thought I’d post some info here, since I’ve received the same questions from a few people.
Two days ago I had an amusing idea, inspired by a thread on HN about PG’s latest essay on property.
In less than 20 minutes after posting the idea in a comment I registered the domain and put up the page. Then I had to wait a bit for the domain to finish processing so I could submit it to Hacker News. That’s all I did.
Stats
Stats after 24 hours:
Reddit front page (1416 comments)
Hacker News front page (132 comments)
Sites linking in: ~400
Tweets: ~1500
Facebook likes: ~2900
Visitors: ~250,000
From an amusing little idea, 20 minutes worth of effort, and a $9 domain an idea can spread to a quarter-million people in less than 24 hours. Pretty eye-opening to me to get a such a clear benchmark of just how powerful the web has become.
The Idea
A very small number of people seem to have taken the idea a little too seriously.
I only meant it as an amusing idea. A little friendly internet trolling against some not-so-nice behemoths. Teasing the RIAA & MPAA? Can’t pass that up! At best I thought it might be thought-provoking and keep people thinking about the continuing fight against things like SOPA & PIPA.
I know the analogy the site uses is flawed and the language is imprecise. Even I don’t agree with it.
It still makes me chuckle though — and that was the point.
