In Case of Emergency, Blog for Help
x-posted to Set Cycle to Spin :
So I stopped blogging. And I guess the only thing that makes me want to blog is other people's idiocy. I think that's what I'll rename my blog. Other People's Idiocy.
I'm sure you've heard of Postsecret. It's a great art project that has touched many people's lives. People write their secrets on postcards and send them to Frank Warren, who runs the site on his own time for no money. He picks twenty or so cards each week, probably from hundreds or thousands, and puts them up as images. PostSecret is usually ranked in the Top 20 blogs read nationally on Technorati .
It's worth mentioning that Frank's mailing address is his actual house and it is displayed clearly on the site.
Frank posts every Sunday. There were no new cards this week, not Sunday morning, Sunday night, or today. In addition, the comments section, which he usually screens and picks out maybe four or five to post, had gone insane, with over 3,500 comments there last time I looked. Alot of them were people posting their own secrets, supporting eachothers secrets, a few of them were people attacking eachother's secrets, some of them were wondering what the hell had happened to Frank. Additionally, the suicide prevention number that had always been on the site was gone. No explanations. The monkeys had totally taken over the lab
After reading 40 or so comments that asked where Frank was or begging someone to drive to his house to check on him, I did the following. It was incredibly difficult and it took days and days of my time.
1) I Googled Germantown + Marlyand + police
2) I called the police department and said "I know this may sound strange, but. . " and then told them what I just told you.
3) The police said they would drive out to check on him and had me repeat what I had said to a dispatcher
4) I called back when they told me to and I was told Frank went on vacation.
I won't get in to the madness that is PostSecret right now, with so many posts that i can't download the site anymore. A lot of the people there seem to be supporting and helping eachother with their secrets, which is great.
What I will say is this -- clearly I don't blog enough for anyone to get worried when I don't, but what happened with Frank was like someone not showing up to work for 8 days. So to my family and friends:
If I ever disappear and you have no way of reaching me, CALL THE F'ING POLICE.
And I promise that if you ever disappear, I won't sit at my computer and wring my hands and try to figure out what message you're trying to send me with your absence. I will also call the f'ing police.
Bloggers, let your audiences know if you are leaving town and don't plan to to communicate.
Ranter signing off.