Personalized Spam by Herbie Hatman, Your PinUp
January 29th, 2008 9:26 PMSpam is a fascinating phenomena of the internet world. It seems at first as though the spam which we encounter is so absurdly obvious that we, as intelligent people, would never fall for such things. It comes to us in various forms nowadays. Spam is a specific method of advertising which is aimed at particular markets. There is the spam which aims at the kind, the drug addicted, and the perverse.
Having witnessed much attention being given to sexual appeal within the world of SF0 I thought it would be interesting to toy with the topic.
The days before I decided to undergo this task I went on a rampage of semi-random voting for player photographs. I was finding myself pondering the significance of voting and the appeal behind voting for player photographs. I looked at some of the highly voted for player photographs. A few involved nudity, or someone being scantily clad. Conversely, I found two players who had nudity in their photographs who had received no votes. I commented on both sets of photos. By the next morning the nude woman had two votes. The nude man had none. I decided that the spam character I was to create would be female.
I created sf0pinup@gmail.com then "pinup"(Your PinUp) on sfzero. I plundered the internet for images to create this fallacious character. My intent was to spam in the style of myspace spammers. Send out friend requests to get people to go to my page. The goal was to see if I could get to level two just by posting some photos and sending out some furtive messages. I looked at some player photographs again to see who I might be able to convince to vote for Your PinUp. I sent out friend requests and within ten minutes I had garnished three votes and multiple comments.
I followed up with new friends who had not voted for the player photograph with this message:
"Hi Sweetie,
Thanks for being my friend! It means a lot.
Sf0 is so rad! OMG! I love it already.
Hey did you check out my player photos? If you like 'em you should vote
(if you want). :::giggle:: It would really mean so much to me!
xo
Your PinUp "
After a few days I realized that my spamming would have to get more broad if I were going to succeed at getting to level two. I started marketing to people who seemed active in the game in general, and seemed to be liberal with their voting.
I found this process to be more intellectually stimulating than I had expected. I found myself asking questions of morality and ethics. Not of creating a false character, but rather the methodology of using sexual appeal to get what I was going after. In this instance votes. It seems that using sexual appeal to get what one wants happens in the world continually. People use sexual appeal in advertising and so much more. Feminine sexual appeal in particular is at times used as a form of empowerment.
I found myself thinking of an attractive female friend who lost her license recently but had to get on a plane. She "batted her eyelashes to the gate". I also found myself thinking of the archetypes in spy movies or in film noir. There is typically a dangerously seductive and manipulative femme fatale.
While life is not like film noir, sf0 certainly can be. Many people play in very different fashions. The characters in the game can be true to life or, in the case of Your PinUp, completely falsified. Does this mean that we are playing pretend in such a way that our motivations stray from our normative existence? Is it fair to give favor to someone based on he or she being sexually attractive? I think that there are individuals who would like to say that sexual attractiveness holds no regard in their mind. I think that there are others who will be happy to admit that it may sway their perspective in some regard.
In the context of SF0 it seems that a player may get to level two, simply by being attractive (seeming) and furtive. Good, bad or otherwise. (Having found this to be the case I have included here some images of attractiveness to perhaps sway your mind toward voting).
I apologize if anyone feels particularly tricked. A lot of you had some really great responses.
Finally, I would like to remind you that many of the characters with whom you interact may be just that.... characters. Or even spammers.
Best Regards,
Herbie Hatman
40 vote(s)
- Lank
- lara black
- .thatskarobot
- Burn Unit
- Lincøln
- niallsb: Forevolution
- Ben Yamiin
- The Vixen
- Adam
- Sir Ducksbane
- Flitworth
- teucer
- JJason Recognition
- Jellybean of Thark
- Alana Abbott
- Tøm
- Secret Agent
- Blue
- Mr Smirks
- Malaysian Eddy
- Bex.
- Too Much Exposition
- Coreopsis Major Bloden Melen
- Not Here No More
- Heatherlynn
- Augustus deCorbeau
- the lady
- Myrna Minx
- Askew.
- GYØ Ben
- Tricia Tanaka
- Kid A
- HKEY_Current _User
- ge[off]
- Kassitastrophe
- Julian Muffinbot
- Insomniac Walking
- Jagganath
- Rev. Giggles McGee
- Zer0 Dadadoo
Favorite of:
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(none yet)29 comment(s)
I don't think anybody "bought" the persona. Meaning I don't think anybody thought that Your PinUp was a real person. But the character was well crafted. I think that's what got votes. I liked the player photo, but not this here, as this here didn't work (for me) as I wasn't spammed. But it is a good character.
Believe her to be real or not, she got 12 votes on her Player Photo.
Yeah, I like this and the Your PinUp character. It's very S.N.I.D.E. and subversive and cool.
This was a very believable spam account! Anyone who uses myspace knows what the myspace porn spammers are like, and this pretty much fit the character spot on. Vote for characterization!
is it relevant whether or not anyone bought the persona? most people realize when they open spam that they're opening spam. it's more a matter of whether or not the call to action in the message is successful in spite of that fact, which in this case, it seems to have been :)
is it relevant whether or not anyone bought the persona?
To complete the requirements for the task? No, not relevant at all.
For votes? Maybe.
I was asked for my vote directly on the Player Photograph page. I didn't vote because, as far as I understand the pin-up genre, the whole point of the pin-up is the personality enshrouded in sexuality. Your Pin-Up never showed her face, never showed her personality, and so was never a real Pin-Up. No face made it so that I didn't buy the thing not just on a "is this a sock puppet" level, but on a more basic photo-as-art-as-praxis level.
I have no question about weather Herbie succeeded in meeting the requirements of this task, but a part of me is questioning weather or not to vote because I was not convinced enough to vote for the photo initially.
Actually I didn't think of it as spam at first and didn't knowingly open it as spam qua spam; and the friend request sits, lonely in my inbox and relations list, undecided yet today. Pshaw, as a red blooded boy-man with a taste for the ladies I cannot claim that I "saw thru" or "didn't buy" the persona because at first I didn't see thru it; I bought it, right at first. Then I went to the photo completion and got properly titillated. Then I noticed the absence of heads. It all unraveled without the head. Why would I be mad? I know I said it wasn't fair, but that was just the honest truth, it's not fair because I get unwillingly excited about T&A.
Big pile of garter snakes? Not so much.
Mmmmmmm...
Big pile of garter snakes...
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm......
*excuse me for a minute*
I just got annoyed with YourPinup. The character used word like lol (which I do hate so very much) and I thought using sex appeal to get votes was pretty cheap. I was seriously considering just deleting her as a friend.
Still, getting to level 2 with just a player photograph and spam is worth a vote.
Well done.
It was a very attractive and well built argument, IMO.
Giggles and the little excited screams of "I love SFO!" included, which were just the point.
Roll you eyes while you enjoy the view. And vote, damn it.
Long live YourPinUp!
So this vote is 'cause you were able to get a huge number of accomplished players discussing who and what Your Pinup is (or was).
I don't think you had anybody convinced she was real, but we all certainly were talking about the (wo)man behind the mask.
We did universally agree 'she' was a guy, however.
---- Your PinUp on Jan 19 1:06 pm----
Hai!
Thanks for at least looking at my photos. I got rid of the studio shot for my friend's organic panties. So you do ad work too, right? I saw your stocking shot from "Little Vixen" stockings. Damn girl, you have some legs! Is it your company? (OMG! I love stockings!)
---- The Vixen on Jan 20 5:41 pm----
Nah, I don't do ad work. The Vixen is a fictional character who only physically manifests when I attend events or get really drunk at parties. That stocking shot is actually on the package of some stockings I bought at Victoria's Secret.
Finally, I would like to remind you that many of the characters with whom you interact may be just that.... characters.
Enough (and well) said.
-Kristina
I like it when girls ::giggle:: scroll to the bottom. Which I guess is why I have a soft spot for the PinUp.
Nicely done. I initially accepted Your Pinup as a friend to be nice, but when I saw the giggling I just had to change it to foe.
I never really considered whether or not Your PinUp was real...I guess I assumed she was and thought 1) I don't accept friend requests having seen no Praxis work and 2) The character seemed to be managed by a girl desperate for validation of her own sexual attractiveness. Curious.
A very interesting take on the task.
I was initially bummed out by someone seemingly behaving like a myspace spammer in esseffzero, but then you went and did this.
I totally bought Your Pinup as a spammer.
Mr. Hatman, that was brilliant.
Nice! I'll admit, I was suspicious of YourPinUp having messaged me (and notably I didn't vote for her player photograph), but I saw no harm in accepting a friend request. She seemed genuine (if flaky and into promoting herself as a sex object), so why not?
That *this* is what you're doing makes me even more impressed. So, thanks for the spam. :)
I had a suspicion, but accepted the friend request anyway.
I haven't turned one down in a long while.
This whole time I believed it was Mr. Ma'an somehow trying to make up for when he had troubles completing "Erection."
Nice one :) I didn't think this character was a real person but I didn't expect the account to be connected to a greater task.
I'm glad there's a little irony in this one and opening of discussion about sexuality and votes.
Its a fine but important difference between sex/body positive tasks/characters and sex/body objectifying tasks/characters.
I saw YourPinup, sockpuppet or no, as a threat to the positive and non-objectifying meaning of Recreational Nakedness.
I'm finding the community reaction to this interesting enough that I'm willing to vote for Herbie's completion even if I found YourPinup's character repulsive (and I'm about as much of a sucker for alt-sexiness as anyone).
I don't actually think SF0 suffers much in this regard, though: I've gotten four more votes on my player photograph in the six days since I changed it to a picture of a physical disfigurement than in the first seven+ weeks when it was mildly flattering. That's the opposite reaction I'd expect from most communities, and definitely a commendable one.
I wondered, but generally bought the persona anyway. Then again, I'm a n00b so I didn't have enough of a feel of SF0 to compare to.
I also enjoyed looking at the purty pictures, cuz well, I'm like that.
as an internet culture aficionado, i find this well crafted intersection of myspace, spammers, and sf0 to be nothing short of awesome.
I'm torn on whether or not to vote. It was a nice effort, but the fact that I didn't buy the 'persona' leaves me wondering whether it succeeded or not -- at least for me.
I'll sleep on it.