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Some ProBlogger News

Posted By Darren Rowse 10th of May 2006 ProBlogger Site News 0 Comments

Newspaper

Source via Steve

Update: Ok, it’s been 45 minutes since posting this and it’s getting a little out of hand as I’ve had quite a few emails of congratulations, bloggers asking for interviews and a reporter (a Fairfax one oddly enough) call me to do a story already.

If you click the image or check the ‘source’ links you’ll get the full picture.

Update 2: Ok – perhaps I wasn’t clear enough – but this was an attempt at humor. The above story is not true. It is a joke using a little ‘make a fake newspaper tool’ that I linked to in the ‘Source’ link and in the image itself. No more requests for interviews or asking if I’d like to invest money in Web 2.0 projects please (I’m up to two calls from journalists, two investment requests and about 15 emails of congratulations)….

Sorry for leading people up a garden path but I thought I’d made it obvious enough…. perhaps this says something about much people trust blogs…. or how little they read ‘source links’…. or how much people think ProBlogger’s worth…. or something else?

I think I’ll stay away from attempting to joke around on this blog in future.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. Choochie says: 05/10/2006 at 9:29 am

    Wow! That is fantastic. Congratulations!!!

    As an aside: I must say how cool it is to read a clipping from “Wednesday’s” newspaper on “Tuesday” in the U.S.!!!

  2. jimmy says: 05/10/2006 at 9:34 am

    Eh?

  3. Wow… sounds… extrvanagnt. Are you sure this crappy site is worth that much? ;)

  4. one should always check their ‘sources’

  5. Is this true? I could’nt find anything on The Age’s website about it.

  6. what the bleepeddy bleep? that is alot of change. I make 5 million and I am retired and playing golf not consulting on anything!

  7. but alas we would be suckers to belive this!

  8. What a tease. . . post a cool article with no more info. . . common Darren, What’s the story?

  9. Reg (comment #4) has some good advice above. OR you could just click the image…..

  10. You guys might want to read the follow-up story

  11. oh man, you had me for like 2 minutes. Nice one! :)

  12. Tease..

    But if it was true, what a great present to the expecting wife.

  13. it’s a teaser :-)

  14. No! We can’t let them take Santa Clause – we’ve got to do something. Oh and congratulations.

  15. Whew! I almost fell for this and bid 6 million :)

  16. LOL

    There was a link that would create a webpage with headlines with the name of your friends, for pranks. It was about a public masterbater I think… If you guys remember the link, send it my way… at brem at martinbreton.com

    danke :)

  17. Bravo! I fell for it as well. Very well and you know why? Because we always expect you to make the big bucks! The only thing that gave it away is that you accepted too little, especially if they were five-million Australian dollars.

  18. I agree. This site is worth more than that. Isn’t problogger.net in the top 100 by google standards? If so I would think this site is worth more than 5 mil. Sit on it for a couple more years and you can get way more.

    I’ll buy it. Do you take Visa? Mastercard?

  19. Hmm… is this fact…or fiction? If fact, congrats! I am envious! I am still skepitcal that it is possible to make a living blogging. Is it still possible or is the market over saturated?

  20. guys, common. Check official http://fairfaxdigital.com.au/, there is no info about any acquisition.

  21. It is possible James. Probably depends a lot on what niche you are blogging in. But, yes, making money is VERY possible!

  22. People still haven’t woken up to reality?

    Please take a deep breath folks and think before you type – for some it might be a new experience :)

  23. Perhaps you should send a link to Fairfax and ask “where is my cheque?”

  24. Aaaahahahahah, nice. It’s a month and 9 days late though…

  25. lol… ahh human nature is a funny thing isn’t it? Most everyone believes everything they hear or read.

  26. […] [source:  Via Problogger and Steve Rubel] […]

  27. I did not get it?

    Did you sold your Blog?
    I don’t know, but it may be difficult for you to sell it…

  28. OK people – this is a joke. I thought I’d made that clear in the last update in the post…. but I’ll spell it out here – NOT TRUE. Sorry.

    I think I’ll stick to straight up and down posts…

  29. Darren, this sort of thing is what the 1st April is for. :)

  30. Ha ha that was brilliant – I’m putting that newspaper site to good use as well… You got me so hopefully my mates will fall for something similar!

  31. Ha ha that was brilliant – I’m putting that newspaper site to good use as well… You got me so hopefully my mates will be easily fooled as well!

  32. Now why do I never come up with the ‘comedy app’ that everyone links to and has fun with? ;)

    I was never gonna fall for it because I saw the Blogherald / Microsoft version first…

  33. Rule #1 of Internet Irony:

    If you say something sarcastic, ironic, or comically false, no matter how many emoticons and hints you use, even if it’s April 1st, someone will believe it.

    Personally, it didn’t fool me for a second because my eyes recognized the appearance of the make-a-newspaper page I’ve seen (here, I think) before.

    Also, I’m pretty sure a real newspaper wouldn’t use the word “blog” so many times without defining it.*

    *Incorrectly.

  34. Slightly off-topic, but here’s a Tuesday laugh for you all.

    In today’s London free paper (Metro) there was an article about not forwarding on spam chain mail (you know the stuff – the hoaxes, the false alarms, etc.)

    They then cited some examples of what people sent on – there was the two-striped telamonia spider under the toilet seat one, the cancerous pot noodle one, etc….

    However, I cannot tell if the last one is genuine – it’s worth a laugh…

    “I hate those hoax warnings but this one is important!!! Please send this to everyone on your e-mail list. If a man comes to your front door and says he is conducting a survey and asks you to show him your bum, DO NOT show him your bum. This is a scam!! He only wants to see you bum. I wish I’d got this yesterday.”

    Apologies to anyone I’ve offended for overuse of the word ‘bum’ ;)

    Happy Tuesday…

  35. Or even Wednesday ;) I’m going now. I’ve lost a day somewhere.

  36. Made me laugh!

    What was that common refrain…. Something about the difference between bloggers and journalists having something to do with one using editors and fact-checkers and the other not bothering….

  37. You should have used company name like Acme Widgets Inc etc.

  38. it shows how simple your readers think and/or how much they trust you. so ok, I give you 6$ for your blog. that’s much more than it is worth, hopefully i can pay by instalments ;-)

  39. Gerald
    what sort of twit are you?

    As for the rest of the ppl who thought this was real….yikes people, look at the typeset to start with, it’s obviously fake. Secondly the Age’s mast head looks nothing like this…..it’s a worry.

  40. Darren, I’m curious whether this post resulted in a burst of traffic and backlinks. :)

  41. Oh, is it really true? Sounds like crazy. Congrats anyway!

  42. LOL, I was first, VERY happy for you, then, really laughing as I realised I’d been had. Well done.

  43. wow.. that’s really a cool snippet generator. Lemme use it to tease my friends. lol!

  44. Gold, pure gold!

  45. @duncan thanks, but hopefully you saw the difference? 6$ versus $6 million.

  46. Haha,it is so interesting!
    Once I read it,I was so surprised!LoL

  47. When I first saw this entry, I thought I’d come back later and check the link. But when I came back, you had aleady spoiled the joke… I do hafta admit, though, that it was kinda funny :)

  48. All this stress over a joke. It’s enough to make a guy lose his hair. :)

  49. Ha! That’s great!

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