getting hatted by project upstream
This may be old news to all of you, but it was new news to me. While enjoying my morning coffee, up popped this instant message.
Hmm, I’d never heard of this person “ExpeditedCoho.” And the message didn’t seem like your normal AIM bot, looking to start a chat about hot things. A little Googling turned up that this was the work of Project Upstream.
Project Upstream is an organization dedicated to promoting social ideals through the use of exciting new technology. Our most well-known service is our swarm of robotic fish, which connects AIM users to each other.
Which means that when I replied “Hello, ExpeditedCoho” Upstream connected me to another AIM user in their database, and, presumably, cloaked my username as another *Coho. Randomness ensued:
ExpeditedCoho: I IMed you first. If I deny this later, I’m lying.
msippey: Hello, ExpeditedCoho.
ExpeditedCoho: who art thou?
msippey: michael
msippey: but i’m sure my screenname appears to be something that ends in “Coho”
msippey: we’ve been randomly connected through project upstream
ExpeditedCoho: wait which michael
msippey: http://project-upstream.awardspace.com/
ExpeditedCoho: i dost not understand
There’s a great LiveJournal community all about Project Upstream, with a perfect FAQ.
Q: What cool lingo do you use? I’m so confused!
A: “Salmoning/Trouting/Cohoing” is being IMed by a fishbot (see, similarly: “salmoned”/”trouted”/”cohoed”). “Hatting” is being hit by–you guessed it–a hat bot (also see: “hatted”). “Project Upstream” is the name of the group that created the fishbots. The “Hatmaster”/”Salmonmaster”/etc. we use to refer to the creator of that specific kind of bot, and an “operator” is a person operating the bot (not necessarily the creator).
I love the Internets.