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0 pointsOnlineGladiator4y ago0 comments

> A more likely explanation for the lack of attribution is that the pranksters grew up and are more than a little embarrassed about their adolescent exploits.

Why would you be embarrassed of being awesome?

> Could also be that they revel in the mystery.

This makes more sense.

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throwawaygh4y ago

> Why would you be embarrassed of being awesome?

There are still many professions where illegally broadcasting your ass being slapped by a flyswatter to the city of Chicago would be enough to cause real professional issues. Even if it was 30 years ago.

usrusr4y ago

In a movie, this would be the point where we strike out every suspect who doesn't have a career inside the FCC.

throwawaygh4y ago

lawyer, doctor, educator or anything else that involves working with kids, pastor/priest, anything that requires clearance, some corporate IT sec orgs, volunteer school board member, the list goes on.

Very few well-paying professions are as informal and laissez faire as tech. In fact, lots of pretty poorly paying professions have strict conduct expectations.

Even just a spouse or friend group with a different sense of humor would be a deterrent.

Again, there are lots of social groups that don't think it's funny to illegally broadcast your ass being slapped by a flyswatter to the city of Chicago.

AnIdiotOnTheNet4y ago

Awesome? Being a young law-breaking prankster almost universally means being an asshole, in my experience as a once-young once-lawbreaking asshole. To be unembarrassed by it as an adult is to bring into question one's maturity.

OnlineGladiatorOP4y ago

You're really reaching here. The prank was awesome, and you're generalizing pranks to being an asshole. If you're embarrassed by a prank like this as an adult that doesn't make you mature; it makes you boring. Nobody got hurt so how was anyone an asshole?

AnIdiotOnTheNet4y ago

For one, the parent alluded to pranks they did in the past, of which we know nothing about and I expect many of which were more asshole than they were awesome.

The Headroom prank interrupted TV people (presumably) wanted to watch, made broadcast engineers scramble, and may have even gotten a few woken up in the middle of the night. I won't even speculate as to what kind of pains-in-the-ass it almost certainly caused throughout the network and at the FCC going forward.

You really cannot see the asshole quotient here?

Pranks should be between friends, not unsuspecting strangers.

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throwawaygh4y ago

> Why would you be embarrassed of being awesome?

usrusr4y ago

In a movie, this would be the point where we strike out every suspect who doesn't have a career inside the FCC.

throwawaygh4y ago

Very few well-paying professions are as informal and laissez faire as tech. In fact, lots of pretty poorly paying professions have strict conduct expectations.

Even just a spouse or friend group with a different sense of humor would be a deterrent.

Again, there are lots of social groups that don't think it's funny to illegally broadcast your ass being slapped by a flyswatter to the city of Chicago.

AnIdiotOnTheNet4y ago

OnlineGladiatorOP4y ago

AnIdiotOnTheNet4y ago

For one, the parent alluded to pranks they did in the past, of which we know nothing about and I expect many of which were more asshole than they were awesome.

You really cannot see the asshole quotient here?

Pranks should be between friends, not unsuspecting strangers.

4 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse