Using the Internet protocol address of the original post, they contacted a high school student in Nanjing. He denied having anything to do with it -- though he begged people to stop telling him to go home and eat.
HA! That's some funny stuff. posted by ColdChef at 12:53 PM on September 6, 2009
This sounds familiar: "Ten years ago, only the elite used the Internet," said Fang Xingdong, an information technology analyst and blogger. "Now we have 300 million Internet users. There's a new element that isn't very educated. It seems like any website my 12-year-old son likes gets venture capitalists investing in it. Any website I like runs out of money." posted by ColdChef at 12:54 PM on September 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
I can't read this article. It has an Obama in it. posted by srboisvert at 1:35 PM on September 6, 2009 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Come home and eat. posted by Splunge at 1:43 PM on September 6, 2009
From the article: The original post, which was left on a World of Warcraft forum the morning of July 16, has generated more than 300,000 responses.
Which, is intriguing, because WoW was down in China for over a month. I suppose that'd leave any good WoW player with a lot of free time on their hands. posted by graventy at 1:44 PM on September 6, 2009
I'm still interested in finding out if this was genuine or if it was set up by marketers. If it was the latter, what were they trying to sell? The World of Warcraft operator transition from The9 to NetEase? posted by tapeguy at 2:15 PM on September 6, 2009
What you're seeing here isn't a meme, but loneliness. posted by klue at 2:22 PM on September 6, 2009 [8 favorites]
Great, now I have the title of this movie repeating in my mind's ear in a sing-song voice.
Thanks. posted by Alvy Ampersand at 2:32 PM on September 6, 2009
Metafilter: What you're seeing here isn't a meme, but loneliness posted by dortmunder at 2:36 PM on September 6, 2009
Everything about this story is hilarious to me. What I find most funny of all is that this single sentenced isn't entirely unique on the internet - it's a pretty common gag on anonymous imageboards to reply to someone who's being overly serious or fighty with "Josh, mom says to get off the computer we're going to Olive Garden" or something similar. Maybe this Jia Junpeng thing took off because the thread started with such a sentence? Who knows.
Some netizen started a human flesh search using the original poster’s IP address. The search discovered that on the internet there are two matching identities, one who is presently in Haidian of Beijing selling books, and the other is in some construction group in Zhenjiang of Jiangsu province. However, neither can be verified.
A human flesh search? Really?
Where can I sign up for one of those? Sounds hot. posted by lazaruslong at 3:36 PM on September 6, 2009
I wonder if "human flesh search" is idiomatically parallel to "meatspace"? posted by hattifattener at 4:09 PM on September 6, 2009
I did a human flesh search, and found it. It was under the bed. posted by nonspecialist at 4:13 PM on September 6, 2009
"human flesh search" would be crowdsourcing in Web2.0 speak. posted by tksh at 4:47 PM on September 6, 2009
What we're seeing across the web, whether it be 2ch in Japan, 4chan in English, or whatever the heck they use in China, is an emphasis on social networks that combine anonymity and memes, the result being a sort of hive-mind. It's really fascinating to watch ideas/memes fail and succeed in a sort of information natural selection. Anyone that thinks this is some kind of viral marketing is deeply misguided. These are kids "doing it for the lulz", and an entirely new way of social organization, this is completely leaderless and their memes and attacks feel like a force of nature than a person/organization that has agency. It tends to be purely mediated and selected by cultural undercurrents. posted by amuseDetachment at 8:54 PM on September 6, 2009 [2 favorites]
'Flesh' is one of those words that start to sound weirdly meaningless and incantatory and to make your brain melt the more you repeat them. Flesh. Flesh. Human Flehhhhhsh. Flllllllesh.
2ch in Japan, 4chan in English, or whatever the heck they use in China
Tianya would be the closest equivalent to 2ch. I don't think 4chan ranks up there though
The WoW Baidu bar often spearheads "human flesh search" campaigns. Last year they led two crusades tracking down teenie boyband fans and ruined their lives. posted by fatehunter at 9:08 PM on September 6, 2009
Subscribe
Shit, they totally have our number.
posted by The Whelk at 12:37 PM on September 6, 2009