Well, the title says it all: a prankster tries to extort $35 from a non-profit. Word of advice for others that might be thinking about doing the same: don't. Or prepare to be shamed publicly.
While I also felt strange to see such a Michael Arrington-move on the homepage, it was impossible to not laugh about the idiotic effort of this guy trying to convince them to get a freebie. And what a persistent prankster he was. Towards the end it became more obvious that probably he was just a kid, having fun and practicing his social engineering skills.
Anyway, shame on him, for wasting people's time. Try picking one of the big guys next time, that have deep pockets and vast call centers (and lawyers) to deal with idiots. And btw, TI, Microchip, Renesas, all have trial programs for hobbyists, no social engineering required.
Again, I don't want to speak on behalf of R-Pi or Liz, but I don't think she's doing this just for lulz, at all. It's really a pain to manage social communities, especially tech ones. 1% of the users cause 90% of your nightmares, so you need to have a bit of humor (even if it's dark humor; it's a British foundation after all).
While I also felt strange to see such a Michael Arrington-move on the homepage, it was impossible to not laugh about the idiotic effort of this guy trying to convince them to get a freebie. And what a persistent prankster he was. Towards the end it became more obvious that probably he was just a kid, having fun and practicing his social engineering skills.
Anyway, shame on him, for wasting people's time. Try picking one of the big guys next time, that have deep pockets and vast call centers (and lawyers) to deal with idiots. And btw, TI, Microchip, Renesas, all have trial programs for hobbyists, no social engineering required.
Again, I don't want to speak on behalf of R-Pi or Liz, but I don't think she's doing this just for lulz, at all. It's really a pain to manage social communities, especially tech ones. 1% of the users cause 90% of your nightmares, so you need to have a bit of humor (even if it's dark humor; it's a British foundation after all).