Global Voices » Allen Smithee

Global Voices Unofficial Mascot Feared Lost

Allen Smithee — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:30:27 +0000

Unidentified sources have questioned whether a certain furry yellow creature will make an appearance at the Global Voices Summit in Santiago, Chile in May, or whether the neon creature has in fact been lost and replaced with an look-alike impostor.

Since February 2009, Global Voices bloggers have jovially passed on the ferret from one country to another, photographing and tweeting his adventures along the way. G.V. Ferret himself took up Twitter and blogging and today has nearly 100 friends on Facebook.

The word “ferret” stems from the word “furittus” in Latin. This means “little thief” and that surely helps explain how the unofficial mascot of Global Voices, Mr. G.V. Ferret, stole the ‘hearts and minds' of such a prestigious and sophisticated international blogging community.

However, even in virtual communities - as in many geographic communities - acceptance of ferret pets is not always without opposition. As one United States commenter noted on a Flickr photo of Salvador, the pet dog of GV's managing director:

Awww. He should be GV's mascot instead of that stupid ferret.

Others opposing the unofficial mascot have either favored silent dissent or have engaged in dubious behavior such as forgetting Ferret in unspeakable locations or even letting their cats loose on him. Nonetheless, even those in staunch opposition are usually won over once Ferret works his furry charms, especially in photos and on Facebook.

No doubt it is the threatening behavior against Mr. Ferret that leaves some community members worrying for his safety. On Facebook and on Twitter, the concerned refrain goes, “Where are you G.V. Ferret?” The mascot was last seen in Boston at the beginning of 2010. His next known appearance will be in Santiago in May.

Global Voices Unofficial Mascot Loses Left Eye

Allen Smithee — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:04:45 +0000

An unofficial mascot of Global Voices bloggers known as “GV Ferret” lost his left eye in a fight with a cat on Wednesday night in Boston. Images of the furry, yellow creature wearing an eye patch and bandages surfaced on Facebook soon after.

"Who turned off the light?" said the Ferret

“I hate cats,” tweeted @gvferret on Friday, still hurting from his injuries, and wondering when he would be fit to travel and read his favorite website once more.

Bloggers were on the scene at the time of the incident and were able to catch this shot of the feline attack. Rumor has it the cat belongs to Jillian C. York, a prolific blogger on Global Voices.

"I thought you were my friend," cried the Ferret.

From Miami to the World

GV Ferret first started following in the footsteps of Global Voices in Miami earlier this year. A delegation of bloggers attended a conference called WeMedia in February, and in their spare time they taught the furry creature how to blog, take digital photos, and tweet.

He learned fast.

Soon he was visiting bloggers in Guatemala, Japan, Egypt, Thailand, the Netherlands, and New York. He even signed up with Dopplr so his friends around the world could follow him.

Tokyo: Eddie, Yazan, Hanako, Chris, Jannie, GV Ferret, Rafik

New York: Juhie, Solana, Jillian, Anas, Lova

Cairo: Ndesanjo

Amsterdam: Jeremy, GV Ferret, Percy

Still going strong

“I had a small accident. I'm okay, but like @ethanz I'll be wearing an eyepatch for awhile,” tweeted GV Ferret on Friday referring to the interesting coincidence that Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman is currently recovering from eye surgery as well.

GV Ferret appears not to have updated his Dopplr account recently, which means there is no telling where he will show up next.

Representin'

Global Voices Managing Director forced into hiding after April Fool's iPhone prank

Allen Smithee — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:24:04 +0000

For Georgia “GAP” Popplewell, Managing Director of international blogging project Global Voices, the e-mail she sent to the community mailing list announcing that free iPhones would be given to all contributors seemed like a harmless enough April Fool's prank. Certain members of the community, however, failed to see the humour, calling the prank, “lame”, “heartless” and “something only a person with a sick, warped sense of humour would do.”

The offending e-mail. "These characters actually think I know Steve Jobs??" said Popplewell. "Incredible."

“It's a cruel joke,” said one contributor, who admitted to being so excited by the e-mail that she tossed her 3-year old Nokia into a nearby lake before reading the critical second paragraph.

“I always knew GAP was an evil person,” said another, “and this heinous act confirms it. Now what I am supposed to do with this expensive calfskin iPhone case and Bluetooth headset I ran out and purchased?”

Another contributor said he knew deep down that the message was a fake, but a medical condition that renders him powerless in the face of e-mails offering free merchandise prevented him from seeing the truth. Several other contributors admitted to being afflicted with a similar ailment, including one person who commissioned 250 iPhone cases from a collective of indigenous weavers in his community that he planned on selling to his colleagues. “I would have made 1300% profit on those cases,” said the contributor. “GAP owes me big time.”

One enterprising Global Voices contributor commissioned 250 of these iPhone cases from indigenous weavers in his community. They're now available for purchase on eBay and Etsy

Yet none of the GV contributors we talked to claimed to know the identity of the community member who issued the death threat that forced GAP to leave her Trinidad and Tobago residence and seek refuge in an undisclosed location by noon on April Fool's day, though one person said that it “sounds like something somebody on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) team would do—but don't tell anybody I said that!”

When interviewed on the matter, MENA editor Amira Al-Hussaini said “I don't wish to point fingers, but if I did, I'd point them in the direction of South Asia.” In a statement issued on the forum of the newly established web site www.serves_gap_right.org, the South Asia team formally denied any involvement with the threat, hinting that it was most likely to have originated somewhere closer to GAP's home base, “like perhaps Latin America or—*cough*—the Caribbean.”

Some Global Voices contributors believe Popplewell has taken refuge at a location resembling this

Contributors from the Global Voices regional and language teams yet to be accused of being involved in the threat have since set up another web site (www.we_didnt_do_it.org) in addition to a fund to help GAP cover the cost of her stay at the luxury resort where she is rumoured to have taken refuge. The fund, however, was disbanded after it was discovered that payments were being funneled into someone's private PayPal account.