“Gizmodo’s poor judgement amazes me. Not only do they give bloggers in general a black eye. But they are gadget guys and this is the biggest show of the year for them.”
Shel Israel commenting on the Gizmodo team CES prank. The Gizmodo editors went around the Consumer Electronic Show floor shutting down TV screens with a remote control during demo presentations. Many conference organizations already think that bloggers shouldn’t be considered “journalists” and be invited to cover paid events. As such, we should not be giving them more reasons to think that. In any traditional media, these guys would be gone in an instant. There’s a reason we call it pro-blogging…
Seb Provencher's Blog 
Puh-leez…
People need to get their head out of their collective asses about this. Pranks are not meant to be “professional”… they’re meant to be funny, disruptive and/or instructional. Part of the whole point of blogging is to introduce more humanity into the social discourse… and fortunately humanity has a sense of humour. It’s not secret that CES is pumped full of WAY too much hot air, and so I’m actually happy to see stuff like this deflate a little bit of the pomp-and-circumstance cum bullshit.,
Just relax, and have a laugh won’t you?
I’m actually quite relaxed… 🙂 Where I have the most issues with the prank is the fact that companies are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to showcase their new products at CES and that any glitch can make or break a product launch. When you’re on the marketing side of the equation, it’s simply not funny.
Pranks are funny only insofar as they are risky.
If there was absolutely nothing at stake for anybody or if there was nobody to be the butt of the joke (in this case marketers) the prank would be nothing more than farting in the wind…
Be honest, do you really think some panels that blinked off in the demo is REALLY going to affect mass consumer adoption of these devices?
If, through any mechanism, than through the press. So, suddenly (however unlikely) some MSM journalists will be less-inclined to write about a particular model # of 54 flat screen, and instead favour another? And so one corporation may get a little richer than another because of it?
*IF* this prank had any effect, it will only affect who gets rich, not the overall wealth creation effect (whatever it might be) of CES, so forgive me if I don’t shed a tear…
Unbunch pantines…. now.
I’m sure if some wily pranksters knock the gizmodo website out of commission during a few key presentations, demonstration to Walter Mossberg, or fund raising discussion these boys might not find it as hilarious.
Good post Sebastien, I agree with the notion that professionalism applies everywhere. It reminds me of the .com boom when everyone built offices with exposed beams and carried with them this attitude of casual behavior. You know, the bringing of the dogs to work, the reading blackberry’s in boardroom meetings etc. It’s a bit like Lord of the Flies – no discipline, no acts of conduct. Oh well, everyone makes mistakes I guess. I hope this doesn’t do too much damage. It’s a conversation piece though, I’ll definitely give it that!