
4chan helps Kim Jong Un win Time's Person of the Year poll - pjclark
http://betabeat.com/2012/12/kim-jong-un-wins-times-person-of-the-year-reader-poll-with-a-little-help-from-4chan/
======
moepstar
If i recall right, it is sort of a tradition to manipulate the Person of the
Year polls by 4chan...

Once, they voted moot to the top and made the first names (?) spell a phrase
(Marblecake, also the game) when read from top to bottom...

<http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1894028,00.html>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Poole>

~~~
loceng
"The same problem exists with polls on the Internet as with quotes on the
internet." — Abraham Lincoln

~~~
Alaskan005
Abraham Lincoln was misquoted, or least he said so in his Geocities page.

Anyway, how stupid is Time to fall for this, unless they are doing it for the
traffic and clicks?

~~~
ihuman
Are you sure? His Wikipedia page has that quote on it.

~~~
pyre
It's in bad taste to edit one's own Wikipedia page, even if there is an error.

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amalag
He is a very legitimate contender for person of the year. A thirty-something
we know nothing about in charge of a failing state with nuclear weapons. 4chan
may be trolling, but the levity about north korea and their slave labor camps
isn't funny because it is a real tragedy that noone can do anything about it.

~~~
fafner
Yes, exactly. I don't understand the purpose of this. 4chan is trolling
nobody. The person of the year award is not meant to mean the most likeable or
best person. That's why Hitler, Stalin (twice), Khomeini had the title in the
past.

Of course one can question whether Kim Jong Un had really such a huge impact
on events.

~~~
e40
_4chan is trolling nobody._

I think you and amalag are misunderstanding 4chan's motives.

~~~
iamdave
So am I, care to explain?

~~~
dfxm12
They are doing it "for the lulz".

~~~
zalew
but there is no lul if during the war Hitler was person of the year. it's not
a popularity contest.

~~~
jpdoctor
> _if during the war Hitler was person of the year_

It was before the war, but whatever... your point is still good.

------
moo
A Chinese daily reported as a real story an Onion spoof about Kim Jong Un
being 'sexiest man'. <http://rt.com/news/kim-korea-sexiest-onion-700/>

"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his
strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream
come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute,
cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his
impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous
smile."

~~~
what_ever
It happened with Indian media as well: <http://imgur.com/a/ZweD5>

------
Apocryphon
One would think another Korean, a gentleman from the south, also of boyish
chubby looks, and surprisingly anti-American as well, would be a greater
contender this year.

~~~
mFixman
I think another Korean gentleman from the south who's the secretary-general of
a certain important organization is a great contender along with his Ghanaian
predecessor and colleague.

~~~
acheron
I thought you might be alluding to the UN, but then you said the organization
was "important".

------
dickbasedregex
No doubt this will be publicized greatly in NK but without the details.

------
w1ntermute
Given the recent successful N Korean satellite launch (though some say it's
falling out of orbit now), I'd say this could become reality. Hitler won once.

~~~
goatforce5
I think there's a common misconception that Time is anointing their "best
person of the year" when in reality they're looking for:

> Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the
> United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, group,
> idea or object that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to
> influence the events of the year."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year>

~~~
w1ntermute
> has done the most to influence the events of the year."

That's exactly what I was referring to when I said it could become reality.

~~~
mhurron
Why? What has he done? What has he influenced? North Korea is in the same
situation as it was before. The worlds position to North Korea is the same as
it was before.

~~~
w1ntermute
Have you been keeping up with the news lately? Their latest rocket test shows
that they have the ability to launch a nuclear missile that could hit the
Western US.

~~~
mhurron
First off, what did Kim Jong Un have to do with that? I mean, other then
having his father die while the military was working on this.

Secondly, I assume you mean 'hit the western US' in the same way a blind hog
finds an acorn. That rocket couldn't put a satellite into a stable orbit for
the same reason NK's rocket program is described as a long list of failures -
they can't reliably put anything anywhere after lighting the fuse.

[http://gizmodo.com/5968007/north-korea-satellite-out-of-
cont...](http://gizmodo.com/5968007/north-korea-satellite-out-of-control-why-
this-is-very-bad-news)

So even after this, they're still not any more or less a danger then they
were.

------
lifeisstillgood
The first rule of Magic should perhaps become the first rule of 4Chan - "never
do the same trick twice"

~~~
CountHackulus
Pretty sure that's isomorphic to rule 17: Every win fails eventually

------
nnnnnn
My favorite thing about this is that the commenters all seem to be so angry at
Time. They clearly did not read the article. I would put Time commenters ever
so slightly above Youtube commenters on the intelligence scale.

~~~
MartinCron
The comment section is a place for people to work out their anger management
issues. If you're not suffering from anger management issues, there's nothing
there for you.

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huxley7
With the Israel attacks and this maybe the person of the year should be
"Anonymous"

~~~
stcredzero
Which one? The one that manipulated the poll to read "marblecake..." or the
one that imitated the same trick this year? I would be interested to know if
they are the same and doubt it.

------
geophile
Does this mean that 4chan is Person of the Year?

------
desireco42
You know what, if EU can get Nobel, why can't this guy be selected for person
of the year, just look at that lovely round face :)

~~~
jivatmanx
or Captain Euro:

<http://www.captaineuro.com/>

------
frozenport
At least it wasn't the Mars Rover!

~~~
nemo1618
Why didn't they call it by its actual name? Were they afraid people wouldn't
know what "Curiosity" is?

------
lighthazard
Humans in the future will look back at this year, if they ever chronicle TIME
magazine, and find it either confusing or hilarious.

