Check out Somewhere on the Masthead–err, Somewhat of an Asshole. MM’s big brother has taken control!
Here’s a screenshot:
This is pretty damn funny.
However…
For this to have occurred, MM must have given BB his own Blogger username and password. Then, BB must have created his own Blogger account, logged in as MM and added himself as a contributor with admin access, then removed MM’s admin access to the blog. (Since MM posted anonymously in the comments, it would appear that BB changed MM’s password so he couldn’t log in. He might have simply done this rather than removing MM’s admin access.)
Afterwards, BB was free to wreak havoc on the blog template.
I suppose it is possible that this happened. But I’m finding myself fairly skeptical. I realize MM isn’t as Web savvy as, say, me, but you would think he would know better than to simply give a guest blogger the password to his own account. There are a few possibilities:
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MM severely underestimated his brother’s blogging knowledge, and gave him his own account information so as to make the guest blogging as simple as possible.
I don’t believe this one for a second. MM knew this would happen, and knew that in the end he’d get the keys to his castle back, so he figured it would be funny and allowed it to occur.
This one is more likely. The control freak that is me would never do something like this, but it’s possible that MM knows how far his brother is likely to go with his teasing and was willing to take the risk. (If that’s the case I would hope he made backups of his blog template and posts.) BB is not a real person, but is simply another character written by MM.
I really believe that this could be the case. There are clues in BB’s first post. While it is written in BB’s established style, there are moments that feel very crafted. Crafted by, say, a very good writer. Only another writer would probably notice this.
I actually love the idea that BB might not be real. I see MM as a writer who wants to challenge himself. He’s written from other perspectives in his posts, but everyone knew it was him doing it. Could he hoodwink people into thinking that the posts made by BB were from a different person?
So he tried it, first in the comments section. And as time passed and no one blew the whistle, he wanted to go further. So he casually introduced the idea of a guest blog by BB, and when everyone responded with excitement…he took the plunge.
I would not be so suspicious if MM had still been able to post with his own account, there in the comments. Because if BB is savvy enough to change a messy blog template, he would surely know that all he needed to do was “demote” MM’s account, not change the password. This would allow MM to continue posting on the blog, but would not allow him to alter the template or edit any of BB’s posts. The reason I think BB would have done this is simply that there is now a “Contributors” section on the blog. MM can hardly be a contributor if he doesn’t have access to post, now can he?
I realize that this is all assuming a level of Blogger understanding. But to be honest, Blogger is not that difficult. And MM has blogger friends, like Shane Nickerson, who he could have consulted about how to add BB as a guest blogger.
So I really think that this is all an elaborate writing exercise.
And…
…I love it!
If not for the red flags I’ve noted, this would be perfect. And it is absolutely hilarious. Suspend your disbelief for a moment and just imagine that this guy’s brother really did hijack his blog. Look at what he chose to put on there! It’s awesome :D
Whether he’s real or not, I’m looking forward to more BB posts. Or to whatever sort of drama MM has scripted :)
[Edit 2/19 11:55am]: Check it, BB put up a response to this post! I just have a few more points:
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Pictures don’t prove anything. It could be one person writing who has permission to use pictures of other family members while spinning his tales. It’s the intarweb! We don’t know that anything is real!
Note the two reactions from the Masthead/Asshole contributors: from MM, we get the requisite righteous indignation, sure to convince the people who feel sympathy for him that this is in fact a real hijacking; from BB, we get open acceptance of the “conspiracy theory”–and as we all know, one of the best ways to discredit something is to agree that it’s an awesome “idea”. (Implicature, folks.)
No matter what the reality of the situation is, it sure is fun :D