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“Rickrolling the Planet” - Live!
Help us get Rick Astley performing at this years MTV European Music Awards. I don’t need to tell you just how EPIC this would be.
The plan is to get a widespread email campaign to MTV’s PR departments.
How can YOU help?
Easy.
1) Copy the email in this linked text file.
2) Go to the contact page listed at MTV UK or alternatively you can send this email to pressuk@mtvne.com with the subject MTV EMA - We want Rick Astley to perform!
3) Digg/Reddit/Stumble/Mixx this post. Tweet it, poke all your friends, send it to everyone. Get them to do the same.
4) Don’t be a douche - We still have to convince MTV that lots of people want Rick, so don’t be a douche and spam them with emails or have anything offensive in it.
5) ???
6) Profit!
If you do this, maybe… just maybe.. we might be able to honour a great performer and see a great performance.
If you have any additions you think are good, email addressess of people we need to send emails too or have better written emails, add them into the comments below and I’ll update this post. Alternatively email me.
Do your part people - make history.
UPDATE - Loconet in the comments has provided us with this link to make things easier. Just click, sign and send. Thanks!
UPDATE #2 - This petition has appeared, please sign this if you can too
October 8th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Here you go:
http://digg.com/music/Rickrolling_the_Planet_Live
Digg It!!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I think it’s better to steer off from the “rick-rolling” label because it’s not too flattering to Rick to be a joke.
I don’t think he realizes we actually like the song and that it’s not simply a prank.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
@13 - absolutely agree - whilst RickRolling may have started as a prank it’s difficult to argue that it’s the only reason Rick has taken off in the way we’ve seen. And the fact he’s been so good (and normal!) about it suggests (to me at least) that he really deserves this. Rick Astley FTW!
October 8th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
dugg.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:06 am
Personally, I think Rick is a great and humble artist and would love to see him perform on MTV - but the title of the story is an attempt to sensationalize it a little so that people pass it on, Digg it etc.
I think that NGGYU has transcended a prank for a lot of people, it’s become a sort of an anthem of Internet culture, but unfortunately saying rickroll just gets more attention.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:12 am
When I use the rickvoter, it’s been working for a while, all last night in fact, but now it’s giving me the message that I am sending the server a bad request. It’s sort of alternating between the “Service Unavailable” message and the “Bad Request” message.
Any idea what might be causing this?
October 9th, 2008 at 4:43 am
That means that the MTV servers are overloaded with people voting, which is why I don’t understand why so many people are going “but I can vote 4 times a second with another script” when the reality is that those votes just aren’t going through.
All they’re doing is spamming the servers with a ddos
October 9th, 2008 at 6:29 am
I agree with 13. The label “Rickrolling” is just not doing Rick justice. We should send him flowers and a letter explaining how his song have really grown onto us. And that may sound like a joke, but I really like the song and the artist now a days.
I vote for Rick and mail MTV about his performance with passion!
October 9th, 2008 at 7:13 am
I noticed today that while using RickVoter I have been receiving a lot higher frequency of Server Unavailable responses today than I was yesterday. The MTV voting website mentions that votes can also be submitted through their mobile website at m.mtvema.com. Would it be possible to use a Firefox addon for User Agent Switching and submit votes through the mobile website, or all votes routed through the same server anyway? Just an idea.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:02 am
This may interest those who are worried about the 503 error:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/55f71614-ef1b-4015-b9c8-a42c1e700c25.mspx?mfr=true
tl;dr might be some bandwidth issues, or maybe too many users. In other words, keep it up! We will win this!
October 9th, 2008 at 9:56 am
*bicycles clinton thumbs*
ASTLEY 4EVER FTW
October 9th, 2008 at 11:13 am
my digg link is kinda obscured, so here it is in sight:
http://digg.com/music/Rickrolling_the_Planet_Live
Digg it to homepage!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Well, it’s official - we’ve killed the ema website as it no longer loads, just sends back this error and only this error:
Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request. Please try again later.
Reference #6.b5a99d50.1223523460.fd9398a
I have a feeling the scripts are going to broken when they get the site back online.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
that’s pretty epic that we had a direct role in playing to make the site go down. i’d love to see what the traffic was minute by minute and the vote tallies minute by minute. i’m a little sad that i have ~130000 votes in which many won’t be counting.
thanks for the nice voting methods too.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Not really - I don’t think it’s good that people took the site down.
It’s irresponsible if you ask me.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I’m still getting vote confirmations even with the site down.
Did anyone see the article about rick having 99.8% of the votes and 20mill-ish?
October 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
My bad, it was this article http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtvuk/news/449876-the-rick-astley-debate that I saw the “20mill” number quoted in.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Maybe it is a joke somewhere, but he is still quite popular here. They play that song on the radio and in the bars. He knows, of course, he recently played a show here. Go!
October 9th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Seems to have gone down just before 2am UTC according to these ‘ere logs…
Don’t think it’s “been killed” though - more likely to have been taken down so they can put steps in place to foil our scheme
(At least, let’s hope so. Killing people’s servers isn’t big or clever, etc.)
October 9th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
still having succesful votes here using the python script…
October 9th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I don’t think the site is all down. I managed to actually load it for a couple of seconds. I think that is why the python votes still count. We may unfortunately have done what we really didn’t want, which was overloading their website.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
It seems the site is back up again. iMacro voting seems to work though rick voter goes fubar.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Yeah baby! Rick roll it, thats the way we roll!
http://www.privacy.de.tc
October 9th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Phase 1: Rickroll MTV (Complete)… now on to phase 2… | Emusiclist.com…
\r\nRickroll the world\r\nI noticed today that while using RickVoter I have been rece…
October 9th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
To Whom it may concern,
I am writing you this email today as I wish to make a request for the upcoming MTV European Music Awards.
As a great fan of Rick Astley’s, I am wondering if it is at all possible to get Rick performing at these awards?
I’m not normally a viewer of MTV, but this is definitely the kind of thing that I would be interested in. I’m sure there are others out there who share the same views that I do.
Please consider my request
Yours Sincerely,
Rick Astley
October 9th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
FOR GREAT JUSTICE!
October 9th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
a Snail Mail campaign might work better: It’s much harder to ignore and to get rid of than emails.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
http://ema.mtv.co.uk/vote/#_
go to that site, click on best act ever, and vote for ricky
October 9th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
@uglatto True, but how many people will bother writing one? 1 in 1000 maybe?
I figure we might get 1 in 10 writing an email with this (I hope for many more) so it might work better.
There are still many other steps we’ve come up with to convince MTV to get Rick onstage, and these will be taken if we’re unable to convince MTV
October 10th, 2008 at 12:12 am
This won’t be a popular request, but if you’re going to organize a large group of people, why not do it for a meaningful cause? Take your pick;
- homelessness
- protest anti-citizen gov. action (Americans have over 700 billion reasons atm)
- send food to poor nations.
I think the Rick Roll phenom. is as funny as the next guy, but this type of effort just reeks of “sad” to me.
Okay, I’m done.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:24 am
@Perspective - well let me provide you with an alternate viewpoint.
Getting Rick Astley on stage is not just a prank, no - it has many other connotations.
It would prove that people still have power to change things even when all odds are stacked against them. Hopefully people will take this on board when voting in the US elections coming up.
It proves that you don’t have to be dictated too by any organisation (in this case MTV) on what you should and shouldn’t like.
This is a statement of the people, that they want to be heard and unlike those actions you mentioned, it does have an end in sight which makes it more attractive.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:49 am
This is brilliant
October 10th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Have it all setup as a simple link:
mailto:pressuk@mtvne.com?subject=MTV EMA - We want Rick Astley to perform!&body=To Whom it may concern, %0A%0AI am writing you this email today as I wish to make a request for the upcoming MTV European Music Awards.%0A%0AAs a great fan of Rick Astley’s, I am wondering if it is at all possible to get Rick performing at these awards?%0A%0AI’m not normally a viewer of MTV, but this is definitely the kind of thing that I would be interested in. I’m sure there are others out there who share the same views that I do.Please consider my request. %0A%0AYours Sincerely,
October 10th, 2008 at 2:17 am
Sent off the email, Dugg it, and I blogged about it. Share and Enjoy.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:30 am
loconet great thanks, I’ll update the post.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:20 am
@Perspective: GTFO with your moralfaggotry. It’s people like you who tuned Anonymous/Chanology into a laughing stock. This is for the lulz. If you wanna change shit like government policy, you have to do it like he Thais do: VIOLENTLY. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122350169960916759.html?
Besides, politicians (the world over) don’t care about what we the people think, be it homelessness or US economic Bailout Bills. Protesting doesn’t do shit. I’ve been protesting the illegal occupation of Palestine since the 70s; the results speak for themselves.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:24 am
I’ll just leave this here:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/2893025/petition.html
October 10th, 2008 at 5:35 am
You should change the subject to “MTV EMA - We want Rick Astley to perform “Never Gonna Give You Up”!
As well as adding it somewhere in the message so that IF MTV actually decides to bring him on the show to perform, they don’t do something stupid like play “Together Forever” instead.
Just a suggestion.
October 10th, 2008 at 6:27 am
you’re killing the whole idea the rickroll was to begin with! if mtv knows he’s performing, then it’s not really a rickroll. this is getting out of hand….
October 10th, 2008 at 8:39 am
@B MTV are fully aware of what’s going on and they’re loving it. My friend works for them in NYC and pitched an idea to have Rick perform with Tokio Whoretel backing him. IMO this would only be WIN if Rick gets the award.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:37 am
What cockjob put this on stumbleupon?
Rickrolling is funny the first time and then it’s not. Rick Astley is famously a wank.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I don’t think Rick Astley will care if it’s a joke, he’s gotta start somewhere again and it’s money in the bank for him. Look at how many other artists do odd things, what’s their concern? They still get paid. I say go for it and give him a boost, sure if it stops after MTV who cares. He got a good bit of money for it.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Rick the planet!