Happy Fun Times ... In Mandarin!

The Chinese are crazy for Women's College Hoops.

So this is for the two people on Google+.  Chinese citizens have been spamming President Obama's Google+ account for the last couple of days.  Here's how it works.  Google+ allows a maximum of 500 comments to be made on any one post.  Whenever the White House publishes something to +Barack Obama, the comments get flooded with Mandarin.  It generally takes just a few hours to reach the 500 comment maximum, at which point anybody else that would like to add their thoughts is shut out.

It's amazing to watch.  I was online today at 4:00pm EST EDT when pictures of a dinner with Barak and Michelle Obama were posted.  This was 4:00am in Beijing, and the floodgates opened.  If you want to to view a full example, check this one out.

It was posted yesterday at 3:37pm.  There were a handful of comments, mostly anticipating the onslaught that was about to happen.  Then at 4:03, it began.  You can see from the image below that the comments come in serious waves.

These are all public posts, so I don't feel the need to cover up the user names of anybody here.

It seems that a number are Chinese nationals using this forum as a virtual occupy movement.  By repressing the ability for Americans to comment on President Obama's actions, they are illustrating what it is like to live under the thumb of their government.  Perhaps people in China think that Americans actually use Google+, care about what the President has to say, and will be devastated if they cannot post their opinions online.

The rest of the comments fall into two other categories.  The majority seem to be Chinese kids playing a game.  It looks like they are trying to see who can post the 500th comment.  It's kind of like making a stopwatch stop at exactly 1.00 seconds.  The other comments come from Americans that are irked about having this public forum so brutally spammed. They repeatedly post comments asking people to stop (thus ticking the watch closer to 500), or ask that the comments be flagged as inappropriate (so the overlords at Google can supposedly block those Chinese accounts).

I like these requests the best.  American citizens are asking that a public protest against an overbearing government be squashed so that Americans can post comments about President Obama's dinner pictures and his picks for the NCAA Women's basketball tournament.  Granted, this is not a Woolworth's lunch counter we are talking about, but the irony is a little thick.

So I say... let's play along.  First, join Google+.  Next, follow +Barack Obama.  (This is not a liberal / conservative thing.  It's a social media game, like FarmVille.  The only people you annoy are uptight Americans, instead of your friends.)  Now wait for a post from the White House and comment away.  Let me know if you hit number 500.

This game is also more fun if you comment in Mandarin.  I use Google Translate and then copy and paste.

Now that you are on Google+, you can follow me directly, or get updates from this blog.  Tricked you!