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An internet meme that began as a simple website with a countdown to 12:AM EST July 1st, 2006. In general determined to be an ARG, interest in the site was fueled by alternate speculation, such as the possiblity of a terrorist site, an in-depth advertisement, or even the worlds most elaborate screamer.
As the numbers counted down, the site was pummeled by traffic, and discussion raged at sites like YTMND and GameFAQs. When the timer finally hit 0, the people able to actually get through the traffic saw that the site was a social experiment, designed to "determine the reactions of the internet public to lack of information."
The page contained a concise FAQ and a link to a final message, an mp3 containing Monty Pythons "Always look on the bright side of life."
(Following text from eon8.com/deployed21b.php)
RESULTS
We were amazed to discover that the site was instantly linked with terrorism, simply for the fact that it seems mysterious. Evil was the number one first impression people had of the site, in spite of the fact that there are no threats on the site. The only thing Eon 8 says is "We don't want you here". Nothing else.
Other less disappointing opinions were social experimentation (which was correct), James Bond movie viral marketing, and promotions for video games.
For many people, being faced with a countdown timer was an instant reason to try to shut down or hack the site. This is a worrying reaction, that if someone doesn't understand something they must destroy it. As a result, the servers have been hit quite hard these last few days, but luckily 99% of the 'hackers' could easily be described as 'l4me n00bs'.
Another worrying example of paranoia was how quickly people would jump to conclusions, such as telephoning the registered owner of a dog seen in a photograph on a server that hosts a page that links to eon8.
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A website (eon8.com) which was a mysterious site with a count-down timer on it, along with other unusuall codes and links. This website spawned many theories for its actuall purpose. Such as, that it was a global computer virus, linked to terrorism, or even a countdown to the end of the world. In the end, when the counter struck zero the website refreshed and revealed that eon8 was merely a (sucessful) social experiment conducted by a 23 year old computer programmer named Mike, who lives in Florida (according to his final message).
Geez, I thought eon8.com was a countdown to destruction but really it was just a joke...
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A website that created a lot of commotion since June 22nd to July 1st. It was a countdown website that when it reached 00:00:00, we got pwned. It was not the end of the world or a virus launch or hax or terrorism. It was simply to see what everyones reaction would be without alot of info.
Everyone waited on www.eon8.com for the countdown to reach 00:00:00.
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The website eon8 was a page on the internet where you saw a map of the world and many red dots on high populated area. Also, there was a timer that counted down on the bottom of the map. It didnt say what would happen when the timer reached zero so many people presumed it was a nuclear assault plan. When the timer DID hit zero on July 1st it turns out it was a test on how the internet population would respond to a lack of information. We failed...
-ZOMG what do all the dots on da eon8 mean? There is a countdown too!!!
-It must be da nuclear attack!
-OH TEH NOES
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Eon8 was a mysterious website which had multiple pages including one of a world map with red dots near populated areas, a page which included a list of "unapproved referrers" of which the CIA and Military were included on!
Several parts of the website were also password protected, if one were to try to put in a password it would say "Illegal action recorded", and most of all, a timer that was counting down to July 1st, 2006 at 12:00. There was also strange bits of code strewn throughout the page, and odd references such as "Commence project (randomnameand numbers", "Project status: Imminent", and long strings of random numbers more of which appeared when highlighted. There is also an Eon5, which simply shows a mysterious and eerie airvent, which was unrelated, but added to the chaos. This strange site was thought to be many things, a sick marketing ploy, a hoax, a cyber-terrorism site, or a site similar to "ILOVEBEES" or
"Neurocam".
This site was overhyped, and caused mass paranoia over the internet, but turned out to be nothing more than a social experiment. When the counter reached zero, the server experienced a meltdown, likely due to the massive amount of people viewing the page. The site's owner issued an explanation saying that it was just a social experiment, and that people shouldn't get so worked up about something which doesn't even say exactly what it is. In conclusion, everyone got pwned by a guy named Mike from Florida. Much of people's theories and further investigation (frankly ominous and harrowing theories)can easily be found.
What? There's a page predicting the apocalyspe with lots of strange code everywhere? Ah, ignore it it's probably just like eon8.
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The site that owned 9.2 million conspiracy geeks.
Also see : Owned and/or pwned.
All our base belong to Eon8.com
Eon8 made me glue my ass in front of the computer screen for hours, and all I got was this lousy "this page cannot be displayed" screen.
I hate Eon8.com
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A website (eon8.com) which was a mysterious site with a count-down timer on it, along with other unusuall codes and links. This website spawned many theories for its actuall purpose. Such as, that it was a global computer virus, linked to terrorism, or even a countdown to the end of the world. In the end, when the counter struck zero the website refreshed and revealed that eon8 was merely a (sucessful) social experiment conducted by a 23 year old computer programmer named Mike, who lives in Florida (according to his final message).
Geez, I thought eon8.com was a countdown to destruction but really it was just a joke...
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