Comments on: Hello, Stranger

Hello, Stranger

superfem — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:36:54 -0800

Once a week, Phoneswarm targets a random US payphone, then tells the world to call it.

By: superfem

superfem — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:37:35 -0800

Somewhat inspired by The Payphone Project (discussed on MeFi here).

By: stirfry

stirfry — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:43:16 -0800

Can I call collect?

By: notmydesk

notmydesk — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:44:33 -0800

Very creative idea! Thanks for the post!

By: birdherder

birdherder — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:45:56 -0800

I thought most payphones didn't accept calls anymore.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:54:28 -0800

Too many, you know, Drug Dealers using them.. Wasn't that the thing with pagers, and then cell phones in the early years?

By: daninnj

daninnj — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:58:12 -0800

I'm getting no answer right now, it just kept ringing until a high pitched sound came on. Don't mind me, I have no life.

By: stirfry

stirfry — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:00:43 -0800

I'm getting no answer right now, it just kept ringing until a high pitched sound came on. Thats when you send the fax.

By: daninnj

daninnj — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:06:42 -0800

Actually someone picked up when I did it before but hung up on me when I said hello. Oh well, I think I'll step away from the phone now.

By: shoepal

shoepal — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 19:31:04 -0800

Reminds me of that payphone in the Mojave desert from the late '90s. We called one night and talked to the guys out there (in the middle of the desert partying and waiting for the phone to ring!). At a time when email/IM was all the rage and chatting with a random person on the internet didn't seem like a big deal, reaching out and talking to someone completely random (Gottfried) felt far more significant. Amusingly, the Mojave Payphone site has the phoneswarm code displayed on the main page. Oh, and a book is coming out about the Mojave Pay Phone.

By: smartypanties

smartypanties — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:13:10 -0800

my friends and i used to call payphones when we were like 10. birdherder is right: most payphones don't take incoming calls these days.

By: stray

stray — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:20:17 -0800

In my experience, most payphones just don't have ringers--they still accept calls, but you don't hear anything. Thus, you have to time your incoming phone calls reaaaally carefully.

By: Parannoyed

Parannoyed — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 20:25:50 -0800

calling again at 8:20, which should be when the ferry has just arrived. got a busy signal at first, then just ringing till the fax noise. btw, what the hell is that about??

By: loquacious

loquacious — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:03:24 -0800

Heh, I still have the Mojave Payphone number somewhere. I kept meaning to go visit it, as I was out that way fairly often going camping and whatnot.

By: HyperBlue

HyperBlue — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:09:53 -0800

Thanks shoepal for the Mojave linkage-- fanfuckingtastic!!

By: davelog

davelog — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 21:54:08 -0800

This is obviously just a slick campaign designed by long distance providers to milk more profits from the working class.

By: benzo8

benzo8 — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:04:55 -0800

shoepal writes "Oh, and a book is coming out about the Mojave Pay Phone." And a film with... Oh, Steve Guttenberg.

By: Jesse H Christ

Jesse H Christ — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 22:56:07 -0800

WORST FPP EVAH. Though I love the link and bookmarked, figured it wasn't MeFi unless someone said that within the first 20. okthxbye.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:26:11 -0800

Y'know, that's not really a requirement or anything.

By: salmacis

salmacis — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:49:27 -0800

Why only US phones?

By: Pink Fuzzy Bunny

Pink Fuzzy Bunny — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 01:41:43 -0800

You know its times like this that unlimited North American long distance calling is a wonderfull thing.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 02:26:05 -0800

WORST FPP EVAH. Though I love the link and bookmarked, figured it wasn't MeFi unless someone said that within the first 20. If you are going to criticize the FPP in true mefi fashion you have to give your reasons. The best bet is to provide your own personal recipe with ingredients like - more links, no editorials, no newsfilter, more description, NSFW warning, proper [via] chaining so alisters can get more hits, use of [more inside], too long or too short, etc... The icing of course is a your own guess at a [via]. BoingBoing is the preferred flav. It is also best if the person making the critique has less than 10 FPPs themselves. Zero is best. That is my recipe for a good FPP critique.

By: ElvisJesus

ElvisJesus — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 05:05:15 -0800

Worst FPP critique evah

By: wells

wells — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:32:09 -0800

"Crewmember, what is your name?"

By: shoepal

shoepal — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:37:30 -0800

Thanks for the movie tip, benzo8. That is truly insane!

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 07:15:42 -0800

that mojave phone booth story (well, until it spread to others) was way more interesting thatn the FPP. Which is also fine, I'm not criticizing (sheesh).

By: Peter H

Peter H — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 07:46:29 -0800

This is really funny, thank you.

By: superfem

superfem — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 08:13:52 -0800

The Mojave phone booth is mentioned in Phoneswarm's FAQ, hence why I thought you'd get to it without me linking to it.

By: starscream

starscream — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 16:08:25 -0800

Shame that the Mojave phone booth is no more :(