Hoax Museum Blog: Websites

Daria Movie Rumor Page — Here's the Unofficial Daria Movie Rumor Page. I'll let its creator, Barry Edelman, describe it in his own words:
I just finished your book and I loved it. I had to check out the site,
which is also good. Since you have a section on hoax sites, I had to submit
mine. My brother and I, annoyed by bad Hollywood movies based on television
shows (and bad Hollywood movies in general), for a few years maintained a site
called The Unofficial Daria Movie Rumor Page. The premise is that the MTV
cartoon series _Daria_ has been turned into a movie starring Jennifer Love
Hewitt in the title role. (The title role, being an intelligent, sarcastic
loner with a monotone voice, is probably the last character Hewitt would be
cast to play.) Although the page is explicitly labeled a parody (see the
bottom of the page) and some of the rumors reported are rather improbable, many
people have written in to express their outrage at the movie industry doing
such a thing, or, occasionally, to submit their own rumors. (Interestingly,
the actual writing of the page was disrupted by a hoaxer on a Yahoo! club, who
repeatedly submitted fraudulent news articles, which produced a few interesting
plot twists in the rumors.) Enjoy.

Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2003.   Comments (1)

Absolution Online — Is the weight from your sins hanging heavy on your shoulders? Just visit Absolution Online, home of the Virtual Confessional, and your burden shall be lifted.
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003.   Comments (2)

Hooty Corp. — Here's another hoax website: Hooty Corp. It's the creation of a visitor to my site (a young one, I suspect). Hooty Corp might be a little unpolished, but it's all the more endearing for being so. I particularly like the Hooty shop where you can buy products such as the Clothes Desmellerizer and a book titled How to Drive a Laidlaw Bus in 12 Simple Steps. You get a nice, subtle message if you click on the 'buy' button to purchase any of these products.
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003.   Comments (0)

Metallica Lawsuit Hoax — Metallica sues the band Unfaith for unsanctioned usage of the chords E and F. I saw this story yesterday and thought it was strange. But then I figured, well it is Metallica, after all. So it's probably true. I should have known better. Today it's revealed to be a hoax concocted by Unfaith's singer/songwriter Erik Ashley (if you've never heard of Unfaith before, join the club. I hadn't either). Quite a good hoax. Believable enough to seem true at first, but in hindsight you kick yourself for having fallen for it. Plus, it makes fun of someone worth making fun of.
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2003.   Comments (0)


Bonsai Kittens — For some reason I've been getting a lot of email lately about Bonsai Kittens. I can't figure out why, since that hoax is almost three years old now. But I guess interest in some hoaxes just never dies (unlike those poor kittens in the jars).
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2003.   Comments (12)

Missing Stories at New York Times — Last week everyone was linking to this spoof about the missing Weapons of Mass Destruction. It even managed to become the first item displayed if you typed in 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' on Google (though Google has since changed that). In the same spirit, here's a spoof page about Jayson Blair and the New York Times.
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003.   Comments (0)

Baby Ink Perpetrators Found — David Emery, of About.com's Urban Legends and Folklore page, found out that the Baby Ink tattoo parlor was an April Fool's day joke created by a couple of San Diego DJs. The DJs boast about the prank on their website (you need to scroll about halfway down to find the reference).
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003.   Comments (0)

Tattoos for Kids — Here's the latest hoax website making the rounds: Baby Ink, a tattoo parlor for kids. The site claims that any kid over the age of six months is allowed to get a tattoo as long as their parent signs a consent form. But I don't believe that's right. That would be a bit like saying kids are allowed to smoke or drink alcohol as long as their parents consent to it. No, I think you have to be 18 or over to get a tattoo (or is it 16 and over?). The site lists a San Diego location that's quite near to where I live. I think I'll drive by and see what's actually there.
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2003.   Comments (1)

National Blonde Day — Oops. I forgot that yesterday was National Blonde Day, so designated by the Blonde Legal Defense Club. The day is designed to promote respect for the intelligence and accomplishments of blondes. In reality, it's a publicity stunt for the Legally Blonde movie.
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003.   Comments (0)

Send Steve a Gift — SendSteveAGift.com is the latest website in which a guy brazenly asks people to send him money, just for the hell of it (his argument: give a buck to change Steve's luck). An anonymous visitor asked me if the site is for real. My response: Of course it is! I'm 100% certain that if you choose to surrender your cash to Steve, he'll take it. But if you're in a mood to part with some money, why not give it to me?
Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003.   Comments (2)

Powergen Italia — Over the past two weeks a lot of attention has been paid to a website whose name could be read in two ways: http://www.powergenitalia.com. Think about it. Powergen Italia, or... Anyway, I didn't link to it here at first, believing it was a legitimate company that didn't realize how its name could be misread. Turns out I was wrong. According to an article in The Register, the site is a spoof. The real company named Powergen denies having an Italian division named Powergen Italia. Someone must have created the site for a laugh. Perhaps a disgruntled Powergen employee. Some other website names that can be read in two ways are WhoRepresents.com (Whore Presents) and IPanywhere.com. (via Vowe.net)
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2003.   Comments (2)

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2003.   Comments (0)

Mainline Airways — Mainline Airways was attracting lots of customers by offering super-low fares to Hawaii. But it turns out there was no Mainline Airways. Only a website created by a teenager.
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2003.   Comments (0)

Nonprofitabletech — Nonprofitabletech. A software company dedicated to raising lots of venture capital money.
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2003.   Comments (0)

Dog Island — Someone just sent in this hoax website: Dog Island. It's doggie paradise, where pooches get to roam free and play all day. As the website says: "They live with almost limitless space, and tens of thousands of rabbits, rodents and other natural prey. Surrounded by thousands of other dogs, this is the only place for them to be truly social and create healthy families." Dog Island and Yoga Kitty. Hmmm. Soon we'll have a world of stress-free pets.
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003.   Comments (0)

Posted: Thu May 29, 2003.   Comments (1)

Fake Bank Website — British authorities report that con men set up a website designed to look like that of a major British bank. Users of the website lost around $100,000. This seems very similar to a case that occurred in South Africa last month, which I posted here at the time. I wonder if it's the same group of con men?
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2002.   Comments (4)

Ayleeorgnet — Hoax Website: www.ayleeorgnet.com. It looks like the homepage of a web design corporation, but it's not. A reader explains what it is:

This is a hoax site related to the comic strip at www.sluggy.com. There was an evil web design corporation in the strips for the last few months of this name. There's never been an actual link to the site, but they've mentioned it in the strip several times, and the website is set up just like it would be in the strip. The photo of the receptionist looks just like Gwynn, the cartoon character who was the receptionist. The other title page picture of a ferret is another allusion to the strip, where a ferret is a main character. The joke of the strip is that Aylee, an alien (long story) who runs the webdesign company tends to eat people. You can find various jokes about that on the website as well.
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2002.   Comments (0)

South African Con — South African con artists recently set up a hoax website pretending to be the official website of the South African Reserve Bank. They used it to scam international investors out of thousands of dollars.
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2002.   Comments (0)

Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2002.   Comments (0)

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