Fake Linus Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

[Posted August 27, 2009 by cook]

ChannelWeb covers the Linux Foundation's Fake Linus Torvalds contest. "You've probably heard of Fake Steve Jobs. Now get ready for Fake Linus Torvalds. The Linux Foundation is running a contest in which four different Fake Linus Torvalds will post Twitter messages from the Identi.ca and Twitter feeds, all in an attempt to portray themselves as the most compelling facsimile to the father of Linux. In a blog post earlier this week, Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation, said he expects that some of the posts from the Fake Torvalds will be "dangerously outrageous," while others will be "downright funny.""

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Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 27, 2009 21:55 UTC (Thu) by spiro (guest, #54657) [Link] (7 responses)

Why? What's the point of this?

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 27, 2009 22:17 UTC (Thu) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link] (6 responses)

It's Twitter: there is no point.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 27, 2009 23:28 UTC (Thu) by Ed_L. (guest, #24287) [Link] (3 responses)

(Zemlin) expects that some of the posts from the Fake Torvalds will be "dangerously outrageous," while others will be "downright funny."

Er, right. And we are then to distinguish the fakers from Linus exactly how?

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 27, 2009 23:34 UTC (Thu) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

If fake Linus is just as good - then why would you need to distinguish them? :)

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 10:38 UTC (Fri) by jengelh (subscriber, #33263) [Link] (1 responses)

The Real Linus would only ever use mailing lists :) No twitter, even Bugzilla ISTR seems to be despised.

Or git

Posted Aug 28, 2009 12:34 UTC (Fri) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link]

There's a git hook to post to Twitter when you commit. (I've seen a couple different implementations of this idea.)

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 2:19 UTC (Fri) by spiro (guest, #54657) [Link] (1 responses)

Well, there is a point to Twitter -- letting your "friends" know what you're doing. Of course whether that interests you is a different matter.

But what's the point of faking someone else? This appears to me to be trolling for the sake of trolling.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Sep 10, 2009 8:32 UTC (Thu) by lysse (guest, #3190) [Link]

How friendly does someone have to BE to warrant an update on "what you're doing" every five minutes?

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 27, 2009 23:40 UTC (Thu) by dowdle (subscriber, #659) [Link]

I liked the rap music video... and the lyrics... but I wasn't too fond of the Apple laptops used running Mac OS X in the video. Why they used Mac OS X in a Linux Foundation video is beyond me.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 2:01 UTC (Fri) by felixfix (subscriber, #242) [Link] (4 responses)

It would be even better if one of them turns out to be the real Linus.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 3:06 UTC (Fri) by spiro (guest, #54657) [Link]

Then somebody will make a rap video:

Will the Real Linus Torvalds please stand up?

Posted Aug 28, 2009 3:25 UTC (Fri) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link] (2 responses)

... and he loses.

Posted Aug 28, 2009 9:29 UTC (Fri) by ledow (guest, #11753) [Link] (1 responses)

Charlie Chaplin once lost a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

Charlie Chaplin lost (off-topic)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 15:21 UTC (Fri) by pr1268 (guest, #24648) [Link]

He came in third place, IIRC.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 3:03 UTC (Fri) by jordanb (guest, #45668) [Link] (6 responses)

This seems to me to be a particularly daft idea given that "Fake Steve Jobs" is good old SCO-shilling friend, Dan Lyons[0]

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lyons

Posted Aug 28, 2009 3:37 UTC (Fri) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link] (4 responses)

To his credit, he never was especially friendly toward tSCOg -- instead, he was hostile to IBM, which hostility it had (albeit long ago) earned many times over; his quotes were accurate; and he published a very public "my bad", which no one else did. To his disgrace, he never actually apologized to those of us he defamed.

Posted Aug 28, 2009 15:33 UTC (Fri) by leoc (guest, #39773) [Link] (3 responses)

He also refers to Linux users as "freetards".

Posted Aug 29, 2009 8:09 UTC (Sat) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link] (2 responses)

And, of course, he was wrong, lazily and contemptuously so. Admitting he was wrong doesn't cancel the fault.

Dan Lyons

Posted Aug 31, 2009 10:31 UTC (Mon) by jamesh (guest, #1159) [Link] (1 responses)

I went to a conference this year where Daniel Lyons spoke, and said that he had been writing more from an anti-IBM stance (rather than pro-SCO or anti-Linux) due to previous experiences with IBM.

He didn't try to present this as a justification, but rather an explanation of his motives at the time. I didn't see any reason to doubt what he said.

Of course it doesn't cancel out what he did previously, but admitting when you are wrong is a necessary step to changing.

Dan Lyons

Posted Sep 10, 2009 8:34 UTC (Thu) by lysse (guest, #3190) [Link]

Aye, but if you make a habit of it without doing the changing part, people might begin to question your sincerity.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Sep 12, 2009 14:56 UTC (Sat) by lambda (subscriber, #40735) [Link]

Just because he was wrong about SCO doesn't mean that Fake Steve Jobs isn't funny. It's a bit hit or
miss, but can be pretty hilarious sometimes.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 9:27 UTC (Fri) by robilad (guest, #27163) [Link] (1 responses)

Slow news day?

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 10:52 UTC (Fri) by hppnq (guest, #14462) [Link]

Yeah, trying to find 50 ways to spell "Linux Torvald".

Dear Linux Foundation...

Posted Aug 28, 2009 16:40 UTC (Fri) by job (guest, #670) [Link]

Out of ideas, are we?

I know a friend or two in marketing. I'm sure they can help you out. Being a constant source of embarrassment among your users must be hard on you.

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 18:20 UTC (Fri) by days_of_ruin (guest, #58404) [Link] (2 responses)

Linux Torvalds?

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 18:36 UTC (Fri) by jake (editor, #205) [Link] (1 responses)

> Linux Torvalds?

Umm, yeah, that's pretty lame. It came from the ChannelWeb headline, but we probably shouldn't propagate it. Fixed now.

jake

Fake Linux Torvalds Set For Web Vitriol Barrage (ChannelWeb)

Posted Aug 28, 2009 18:41 UTC (Fri) by dlang (guest, #313) [Link]

heh, Linus has admitted that even he makes that mistake once in a while.