The facts are these: Lin sponsored a short story contest with an entry fee and a cash prize, then entered a story of his under his girlfriend's name. The story won the contest as judged by a third party whose neutrality is questionable. Lin came clean about the ruse but refused to return the money, giving eight reasons including "if [girlfriend] won the contest it would promote her blog, [redacted], and the rest of her internet presence" and "I currently have ~$1300 in my checking account." (My favorite: "The internet would seem funnier and 'happier' to me if [girlfriend] won the contest, in ways that would cause life to seem 'more amusing.'" Ah, the classic "Can't you take a joke?" defense.)
I have never read any of Tao Lin (or as he styles himself, tao lin)'s work, although I did accept his friendship on Goodreads. But from years of sleeping on copies of WRITER'S MARKET I know there is many a scam out there designed to ensnare would-be writers by promising them fame and taking their cash. I can only assume that Tao Lin was attempting to archly comment on the commercial value of art and the futility of gaining market share for print in a nonreading world with this stunt, 'cause otherwise, he'd just be an asshole, right?
ETA. A few reads from around the Internet on what Tao Lin may or may not have done:
- The author's response says "misinformation" is to blame, pointing out that the media "won't cover something that isn't 'newsworthy' because things not 'newsworthy' don't get as many hits as things that are 'newsworthy.'"
- The judge of the contest maintains his independence, says he "would not 'defraud' anyone, in this way."
3 comments:
Whatev, ppl still lost $$ in an unfair contest. If he was doing as social commentary, he shd now return the entry fee $ to ppl.
He also says he has like $1300 in his bank but 2 weeks ago, mabye 3, he said he sold his Myspace page for $8100.
There are other lies from this guy. He's got a beating coming to him.
But don't worry; his bruises and cuts will be 'ironic social commentary'
why not just donate the money to a worthy charity? that way he'd have made his point yet not benefited financially from the 'scam'
contestants speak
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