MCS in the Portland press. (involuntarily)
Ghosts In The Machine:
This is actually an article from a Portland weekly about MyDeathSpace. MCS gets a mention but not in a good way…
MDS creator Mike Patterson, however, is quite clear that he is not running a memorial site. He’s running a business and making himself famous as a purveyor of Internet taste and fandom. “I love the publicity MyDeathSpace has received,” he wrote. The site now maintains an entire forum devoted to MDS hate mail. Predictably, new sites like MyCrimeSpace.com and MyWhoreSpace.com have sprung up and are cashing in on MDS’s brand of controversial popularity. And MySpace, which reserves the right to remove any user’s page, has not been quick to purge the blogs of dead teens featured on MDS—yet.
Now, I have nothing against Mr. Patterson or his website and I am not trying to start a flamewar or anything like that. This is directed at James Boyda, the author of the article in question.
While I was aware of MDS at the time I created this site it was not an influence in creating it. I was not trying to cash in on MDS’ popularity as Mr. Boyda puts it. The concept actually started at The Crime Blogging Forum where crime bloggers exchange stories and tips. In this thread I joked that with the amount of MySpace related crimes going on that someone should start a site about it. And later that day I did.
Mr. Boyda, you may want to talk to someone first before accusing them of “cashing in” on someone else’s popularity.
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6 opinions for MCS in the Portland press. (involuntarily)
Rebecca
Aug 17, 2006 at 12:07 am
Good form. This is a serious crime news site… my second favorite (after dear old Huff).
Pilar Cruz
Aug 17, 2006 at 2:10 am
The Willamette Weak is douchey anyway. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
D.P.
Aug 17, 2006 at 3:14 am
Ohhh, let me guess…”willamette week”, right?
Yeah…that publication ceased to be relevant eons ago…LOL!
Keep doing what your doing Trench! Thanks!
Trench
Aug 17, 2006 at 8:51 am
Thanks for the support everyone. :-)
Mike Patterson
Aug 18, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Hey Trench,
Here was the question posed by James Boyda and my response from our “email interview”:
Q: What do you think about all the press attention MyDeathSpace has received? Do you think we will see a proliferation of new ‘death’ sites? Has it helped MyDeathSpace’s popularity?
A: I love the publicity MyDeathSpace has received. I was in a bar the other night and someone I had never meet before asked me about the button I was wearing on my shirt. I told him it was a MyDeathSpace button and before I could explain what MyDeathSpace is all about, he wanted to know where I got it. I told him it was my site and he yelled over to his friend, “Here’s the MyDeathSpace guy!” while pointing at me. They had just been lurking on the site earlier in the week.
Since we don’t purchase advertising on any other sites, the press and word of mouth are what make MyDeathSpace so popular.
Many sites are clinging to the coattails of MySpace. MyDeathSpace.com , MyCrimeSpace.com, MyWhoreSpace.com just to name a few. If people learn from the tragic deaths on MyDeathSpace.com, then I consider my time spent on the site a job well done.
———————-
Boyda says “MDS’s [b]brand[/b] of controversial popularity.” I don’t think he was implying or was [i]trying[/i] to imply MDS influenced you when creating MCS. Maybe we’re reading it differently. However, I was unaware that you had a different Crime Blog forum before this one. Sorry to pigeon hole your site as one that is “clinging to the coattails of MySpace.” :-O
In any case, keep up the good work. I enjoy reading both MCS and Steve Huff’s site.
~MP
Trench
Aug 19, 2006 at 11:36 am
No worries Mike. Your actual answer makes a lot more sense. But I can see you could think that I was trying to ride your coattails. Best of luck with MDS and hopefully we can trade tips with each other down the line. :-) And thanks for your feedback.
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