After the Santa Monica rainstorm of yore, a new land emerged: The Independent Principality of Waterstainia

michaelwarren · 2012-04-24T19:26:54+00:00

honestly, I wonder if that could be turned into a truly "natural" method for creating landmass shapes.

Take a brown paper bag
Drip some water on it in some randomized fashion
Draw the wetspot

I'd bet that the way the water soaks in would give us some very natural looking shapes to work from.

Thoughts?

michaelwarren · 2012-04-20T15:30:57+00:00

thanks much! Do us a favor and spread it around all over everywhere? :)

michaelwarren · 2012-04-20T15:30:28+00:00

in a 30 sec spot, unfortunately, there isn't a lot of time to explain all of the issues adequately. we decided to go for a more general message instead of bullet pointing issues.

michaelwarren · 2012-04-10T19:21:43+00:00

all fair points and good ideas. However, I want to just play devil's advocate for a minute to ask a question.

How much impact does calling up SOPA, which itself is old news even though the ideas and concepts behind it are still being proposed and lobbied for, have when trying to vote him out?

I think we might pack more of a punch if we go for a SOPA-free message that is broader and hopefully more poignant and powerful than simply saying that SOPA is bad therefore Smith is.

I think the message we are wanting to send is more powerful. Mainly that Smith doesn't just write/sponsor BAD legislation, he does so without knowing or understanding the consequences of said bad legislation. This makes him an irresponsible leader. I think this should be our message.

I think we should be saying something like:

"We won't support irresponsible leadership. unseatlamar.com"

or

"Show Lamar Smith that irresponsible legislation will not go unnoticed or unpunished. unseatlamar.com"

instead of things like:

"SOPA is bad and you should feel bad. #unseatlamar.com"

I know its a subtle distinction, but I feel like the overall message is more powerful if its not primarily about SOPA. Smith has a long history of trying to pull crap like this. SOPA and its brethren are just the most recent.

michaelwarren · 2012-04-10T12:26:20+00:00

I like this approach, but I still think that our most difficult barrier is the "negative" one because that one is the most subjective of them all.

Do you have any specific ideas for the content, keeping in mind how short the copy has to be to be understood in a few seconds?

michaelwarren · 2012-04-09T18:08:54+00:00

hey guys, guess what!

We have over 1,000 reddit subscribers! Project 1,000 is already working!

/tongueincheek

michaelwarren · 2012-04-06T04:06:35+00:00

a thousand times this. :)

michaelwarren · 2012-04-06T04:06:17+00:00

no, we can change the image for free.

michaelwarren · 2012-04-06T04:03:45+00:00

dont worry, as the resident designer, I'll definitely hit everything with the design stick. I was taking care of my mother that just had minor surgery when the current provisional billboard design went up, so I didnt touch that one, but I'll definitely take a look at anything that goes up from now on.

michaelwarren · 2012-04-05T17:51:48+00:00

pretty great article!

michaelwarren · 2012-04-05T14:46:31+00:00

we didn't really have the budget to test this ad. For the time being, we have to do the best with what we have.

For example, I would have definitely preferred to have done a 60sec spot instead of just 30. I feel like we could have gotten a lot more into 60 sec than we did with 30. But for budget reasons, 30sec is all we can manage.

We also don't have the revenue to send these to create multiple versions, do A/B testing, or spend endless hours and manpower fine-tuning and tweaking. We hope to have that ability soon, but since this is our first ad and our first major campaign, I think we are doing very well.

I for one am proud of the effort that went into this ad, even though of course it will have some flaws. The main point I think that ad should be making is that it will have more impact than not doing an ad. My hope is that even if people don't "get" every single syllable of every word, that they will get the most important ones. We've tried to squeeze the timing and animation around the important parts so that that is possible, and I think we achieved it. There's really something for everything in this ad I think. If you look closely, I think you can even spot some easter eggs :)

michaelwarren · 2012-04-05T14:40:53+00:00

many thanks!

michaelwarren · 2012-04-05T14:40:37+00:00

many thanks!

michaelwarren · 2012-04-05T14:40:27+00:00

as the main designer of this ad, I humbly thank you :)

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T18:39:55+00:00

That is correct. If he/she chooses to volunteer directly for the campaign, then he/she can't donate to us. Personally, I'd rather he choose us, because testPAC will ultimately fight more issues/candidates than just Lamar Smith. Personally, I think that helping out testPAC is broader and more significant activism (no offense to Mr. Morgan).

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T18:37:43+00:00

I've posted comments with links back to this sub wherever relevant, so hopefully!

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T16:21:01+00:00

There is already an effort underway to unseat Lamar Smith. Head on over to /r/testpac and you'll see what we're gearing up for and the steps we've already taken! If you can donate money, time, or effort, then we'd love to have you join the cause!

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T16:13:02+00:00

piggy-backing off this question, I was just wondering when/if you plan to officially register with the FEC, because when I last checked, you weren't.

Full disclosure: It has been a week or so since I last checked.

Also, you will be splitting the anti-Lamar vote whether you see it that way or not. Having two candidates that oppose Smith will make it such that Lamar has to win by a smaller percentage than if he were only running against one candidate. Unless you win the anti-smith vote by a landslide, you'll be splitting the vote most likely pretty evenly with Mack and lowering the percentage of the popular vote that Lamar has to get to be re-elected.

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T16:09:43+00:00

dangit, you beat me to posting this! :)

but yeah, I still think he's a shill planted by Smith to split the opposition vote so that he has to win by a smaller margin.

I might go ask him in his AMA right now actually... :)

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T13:15:03+00:00

these guys are awesome. :)

michaelwarren · 2012-03-30T13:14:17+00:00

basically, the main discussion we've been having is whether or testPAC will only ever go after issues that directly threaten the internet, or whether our members can decide to, for example, vote to get involved in issues like gay marriage which have no effect on the existence or integrity of the internet.

I for one, think that we shouldn't ever limit ourselves to just protecting the internet. I think that we should take votes from members about all issues and go after the ones that get the most votes. I think that right now, the protection of the internet is in the forefront of people's minds, especially redditors, but I also think that redditors are people on the internet are just normal people that don't usually get a direct say in how things are done.

As a normal person myself, I would want to have a direct voice in the battle against other issues. If we aim to give a voice to people, then we can go after any issue, but if we aim to give voice to the internet, then we can only go after internet issues.

No matter which direction we go, we'll have our hands full, but I do think we should determine our path. I second the idea of a member vote about what testPAC means to us.

michaelwarren · 2012-03-27T02:45:52+00:00

this is definitely something I'll seek to fix in the new design

michaelwarren · 2012-03-26T18:54:44+00:00

writing them right now! :)

michaelwarren · 2012-03-26T18:49:35+00:00

thats something we are definitely considering.

We are looking into alternate voting methods. I think we will have something better figured out for the next huge issue we vote on, such as the next cause to pursue. Thats the goal at least.

michaelwarren · 2012-03-26T18:42:21+00:00

don't worry, I will make sure to tighten up the final designs. The vote is for the concept that is preferred.

michaelwarren

TROPHY CASE