All New CommentMILK Version 1.0Get Serious
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One of the things we were really looking forward to seeing after our little link bait prank, were people’s reactions and boy did we get some! Roughly 80% of you laughed it off as we thought, but some people just got so…serious! We’ve been accused of lying, cheating and displaying unprofessional behavior. Saying we’re using our readers as guinea pigs and anyone that still reads us is unprofessional too?! It’s kind of disturbing to see how badly some people think of it.
We can assure you that no cows were harmed in the making of this link bait.
Why we do what we do:
JohnCow dot Com to us is a fun experiment to see how far a blog can go by piggy tailing on the success of a well known A-list blogger. To see how a blog celeb like John Chow would react. To see what it takes to get people interested and keep them coming back. To see how trying to think out of the box would work out for a new blog. Yes we’re making money. No, we’re not in it for the money. We felt that the blogosphere was getting dull and predictable and that it needed something new.
When we played our little joke, we knew we were giving you guys plenty of ammunition to shoot us with like sitting ducks. No risk, no reward. No guts, no glory. It could have worked out really bad for this blog but we took our chances. We’re a parody site and crap like this coming from us was to be expected. If you took us serious from the start, we’ve seriously done something wrong along the way! Whoever thought of us as a not to be taken lightly authority having blog, raise your hand so we can refund you your tuition fees! (No scamming though, we’ve got written records).
If you want to blog about serious stuff, fine. We however think that life is serious enough and we’re on here to have a little fun, perhaps even entertain and help a few of you along the way. Just makes us wonder why you came here in the first place and why you’re writing about us? Don’t like it? Go find something that you do enjoy. We won’t mind, really.
Seriously? We had a great laugh seeing all the speculation posts and rumors flying around the net and believe us when we say that it was very hard not to reply to each and every post we saw! So we had fun and so should you! Please stop taking us seriously because we don’t. Although people seem to be writing songs for us now!
Oh, by the way, we’ve just received an email from Patrick Gavin, Head Honcho of Text-Link-Ads and he told us that we’re accepted into the program after the mix-up between us and some illegal site two posts ago! You Rock Patrick!
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Britain is facing a real foot and mouth disease right now. Let’s hope this cow barn stays pretty safe if it continues to keep things light and easy with some good advice now and then. If you submit to those without any cow sense who think a cow must behave like a serious looking bulldog then all is lost. Hope you like the little Ramblin’ Cow song.
Ah yes, we nearly forgot! Added a link to you moo-tastic song!
Glad to see you guys got approved by TLA. As for the negative comments, just remember that John Chow says those are good =]
Told you Patrick was cool, he’s got his head screwed on right.
As for people getting upset about your link baiting, ins’t controversy one of the best ways of promoting a blog? I thought it was a great laugh, not to mention very clever.
My brandname is 5xmom cos I have five kids. On April Fool I bluffed I am pregnant and got 80+ comments. But out of that, a few ditched me ‘cos they said I played with their feelings. And one said it is against my faith (Catholic) to be playing April’s Fool prank. I guess you win some, you lose a little.
How stupid is that. People need to lighten up. Tell them to light some candles for you.
As soon as your readership grows above 5 it’s impossible to write a post that doesn’t piss at least one person off.
Your blog. Your money. Your rules.
We thought about mentioning that last sentence but then decided that we shouldn’t have to state the obvious.
I don’t think that it’s as obvious as you think.
With all this web2.0 interactivity and user generated content, a lot of your readers will have been brainwashed to feel a “sense of ownership” and “membership” to any site they visit.
Do something here they don’t like and it’s like you’re doing it to their own site - hence the reactions you received - kind of the equivalent of “hey don’t do that linkbait on *my* site!”
That’s why John Chow is so good at making money - he manipulates that ownership illusion into an income stream.
Never looked at it from that angle actually. You might be on to something.
Is that one of the reasons for not letting people actively participate on cashquests by taking away the option to comment?
Good point. Some people will even suggest that a blog without comments is not really a blog.
Very odd.
Kumiko just likes annoying us :p
You should make POLL to see how people react about this!
SpiderPig!
Everytime I see “Spyderpig” I think of the Al Gore “ManBearPig” episode of South Park…anyone see that?
that monkey is just too hilarious!
wait, this blog isn’t serious. damn it!
As long as you cause controversy and have people talking bad about you, then you are doing a great job! I wish someone would talk about me. Anyone, anybody, anything. LOL.
Love you blog!
Should’ve reviewed my post. I meant to say Love your blog.
I’ll keep coming back ! I’ve learned a think or two
Myself included, like how to laugh at a good joke!
haha i dont think it was that good plus it was kind of like a link bait!
Yep,
This blog is meant to educate whilst still having fun
good work J.Cow
I love the word “whilst”. Sounds like Sean Connery talking.
Dear Mr Moo
I am absolutely shocked and appalled at your behaviour.
It was my understanding that this blog was a serious blog about making Mooney.
I can’t believe you have duped us all, and that really was a rotten trick with the linkbait.
In light of this new information I can no longer read your blog every day, I feel that you have treated all your loyal and regular readers badly.
From now on I shall be taking my custom elsewhere and reading the real Mooney making blog form a certain Buffalo.
Good Day!
Moo?
So now everyone’s a comedian? One thing John Cow has done is bring out the absolute worst in comedic traits, proving that the blogosphere is generally not a very funny place.
I meant traits in your readers Cow, not you. You’re normally quite funny. Although you’re a cow, which I guess isn’t very funny to you.
So why are you hanging around?
true that!
Huh? Cos I like reading it. I said that already.
Only Joking
How do I feel about all of this? I for one am having a big fat juicy hamburger for dinner tonight!
Seriously though, people need to lighten up a little. The ticked off people are just jealous that you thought of this idea first. They have no imagination and aren’t making any money from their blogging efforts and are mad at those who are. But that’s just my opinion.
Knew this was gonna bite us in the ass one way or another
Julie you sound a level-headed lady. How can we achieve your level of humour then?
Eat more chicken.
julie is funny! i always had a thing for funny girls!
I ate chicken and rice today. Was pretty boss. Will do it again tomorrow.
Eat More Chicken, I love it, these comments alone are hilarious, forget the linkbait, forget seriousness, isn’t life hard enough?
I don’t know about you guys but I think getting serious and growing up are overrated, that’s why I refuse to do either!!!
So that’s what I’ve got to do to get a link from you! You’re all guinea pigs(including me)!
Hey, LuKiano -
I like your website - opinions and all, but you have a commenting problem, it won’t let me do it!
Maybe LuKiano and Kumiko are the same person! hmmmm, very suspicious…
Thank you for telling me that! I’ve fixed the problem and everything seems ok now.
Hey John Cow, where’s my link?
And I don’t even know whu Kumiko is..
From the beginning it knew that one was a joke.
I prefer this blog, to the “other”.
Attempt to be sincere: it’s in the air, if you are not really the true Chow.
Anyway: this blog is more funny.
(If you want to do the same with mine, you has my permission.
)
Yes it is. Today’s post in particular.
Well I was MIA, when the original post went up, caught it in my RSS reader, knew it was “fake” from the get go. I find it a bit funny
Well Cow, now you see my real feelings about your blog.
Looks like you’re not the only one who likes to pull people’s udders!
You’ve got a good thing going here- keep it up.
John
You walk a bit of a tightrope Mr. Cow.
Sure this is a parody site, but in my opinion some of your posts have proven damn useful. You are on your way to becoming an authority site, whether that was ever your attention or not. But it’s always good to keep in mind that cows have a good sense of humor.
Dude. That was just toooo funny
People are strange.
I wouldn’t necessarily say strange to describe their behavior in this situation lol