Let’s screw with people!
There are a lot of stupid publications out there. Some of them are so stupid that they are easy to troll. But fake articles can also speak to truths about the media, or, in the case of the Sokal affair, academic publishing. These are usually funny, and we’d like to see more of them, so we’re offering a bounty for the best trolling of media outlets. You may remember when Jordan and I made it into the news for our parody of Salon that fooled even pro-Salon Twitter users. It was a lot of fun, and now we want to give everyone the opportunity to put their satire skills on display. This is a rolling contest of trolling, where a winner is picked every four months.
The Rules
- Get an article published. The editor can’t be in on the joke.
- The article must be published somewhere that is a real and decently-trafficked publication. Think Wikipedia’s reliable source guidelines.
- You can’t let it be known that the article is parody before we decide the winner.
- While we were thinking more on the lines of trolling lefties, it by no means should be limited to that. You have free rein to screw with people across the political spectrum.
- Winners will be chosen at the end of back-to-back six month periods. That means it will happen two times a year, with the first winner being chosen on September 1st, 2015.
The Criteria
- It should be funny.
- The goal here is to push it to the limits of absurdity while still being believable (and therefore publishable), which is a fine line to walk.
- It has to somehow satirize the viewpoint of the publication that runs it. The more truth it reveals about them, the better.
- Proportionality will be factored in. Getting a ludicrous piece published in an actually respectable publication like Jacobin or New Inquiry is different from getting it published on xoJane. We will keep that in mind when choosing the winner.
The Reward
- 50 USD
- Your fake name, real name, and article enshrined in a dedicated section of our website until the end of time.
- The satisfaction of getting the last laugh on a publication that you presumably don’t like.
- Even if you don’t win, we will link and rank all articles in order from best to worst.
Submissions may be sent to themitrailleuse@gmail.com. Happy trolling.
Update: If you want some good examples of sites to submit to, we’ve compiled a list.