As someone who is involved with the F40PH Preservation Society one of my jobs is to educate people about these locomotives weather it is about it's history, or workings. But Internet cultural references? When it comes to the F40PH Preservation Society I have been trying to steer clear of this Internet craze. For a while doing a Google search for F40PH would bring up a site called "Encyclopedia Dramatica" (NSFW) on the top of the search list (even ahead of Wikipedia) and even today you get "interesting" results. So anyone searching for "F40PH" will stumble across it. Although my inclination is to ignore it when it comes to the F40PH Preservation Society, but this does have something to do with the F40PH. How should I go about this? Should I mention it in my presentations or website or should I stay away from this?

It was obviously made by someone who also has an interest, and while not orthodox, it is pretty humorous. Make a joke out of it if anybody asks.

The F40PH meme phenomenon is fairly significant actually. I don't know if it was introduced by railfans, but it is definitely being advanced by non-railfans. And the very good news is, the people put the F40PH in a very positive light. It is perceived to be an ubermaschin, the mechanical counterpart to Chuck Norris; but also, an unambiguous force of awesomeness that repels what they consider bad. And they spell it right.

There hasn't been better publicity for a locomotive since Thomas.

So let it be... and use it to you benefit if you can.

It's hairy situation... or maybe a furry situation.

I agree 100% with Robert's sentiments. Much of my work week is spent counseling clients on what to do when strange or unflattering content finds its way into the search landscape or social graph of a brand.

Continue creating relevant content and working our your own search optimization strategy... that's what you can control.

It will be interesting to see who shows up for your first F40PH fantrip! ;-)

Rob

PS: At least you are not the poor soul who wrote a serious book about passenger travel called "Amtraking"

If I may ask, what F40PH are we refering to? Can I asume that we are refering to the daylight-painted model in portland?

Obviously, you've lived a sheltered enough life not to have run into what is commonly referred to as "Rule 34" (both these links are safe for work, but the domains themselves might get blocked):

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... =Rule%2034

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rule-34#.TcfRadqmQbY

The meme itself has become its own self-parody; whereas before it was just bad enough to know that someone created it with anything possible, now folks are playing parody (with grotesque exaggeration) on the subject, just because they can.

We could only wish that whatever locos/cars we are preserving were well-known enough to warrant this mischief. In the case of the F40PH, two factors are at work: the fact that it is/was a truly nationwide locomotive (Didn't the Alaska RR get some yet? And Panama!), and it is/was the first locomotive that could be seen (debatably) as a "government issue" locomotive, tied in with whatever feelings about government one cares to express via its connections with Amtrak and commuter agencies.

And, finally, the MUST-peruse cartoon:

http://xkcd.com/305/

(Please resist the urge to check out whether it exists or not. It does, sadly.)

How do you "deal" with it? That video on Encyclopedia Dramatica is one of your videos that you submitted to Youtube. Is it not?

As of right now, it is listed under your (Ham549) "uploads" along with several other similar videos and your lazer "ticket punch" video.

I remain unclear as to what you're issue is. Please clarify.

I won't even stir the pot by mentioning one of your more infamous youtube videos.

When I google F40PH the top result is the wiki and the Encyclopedia Dramatica is not listed on the first two pages at all.

It doesn't matter who started it, I am not talking about who did what I am talking about how as an organization I should handle this. Perfect example, I recently gave a presentation to the Amherst Railway Society about the F40PH and this very very issue faced me as I was making the presentation. Do I mention it because it is relevant to the F40PH or do I avoid it like the plague because of the stigma attached to it. I decided not to mention it but was I being to prude?
What I think of the whole thing is irrelevant to this discussion, what is relevant is how I deal with it when representing the F40PH Preservation Society.


It used to be but then the site shut down.

Wait, so you posted a video to youtube, and now are complaining that the video you posted is causing trouble for you?

Or, maybe, you are just in it for the lulz.

I think that you should fire the individual who uploaded this video, ban him from your group and tear up his official FP40H FanBoy Membership Card.

I have to say the F40PH video is sort of... very teenagerish... if your organization really wants to preserve an F40 I would say you need to have a different image. Amtrak painted up a non-motored F40 for it's display train. Maybe you could convince them to send it your way after the big tour. They will probably not being doing anything useful with it anyway.

Remember your groups "image" is what will dictate what everyone thinks about your group.

The F40PH preservation Society does not endorse, sponsor or have anything to do with these videos, images, text or any other media. Anything official representing the organization will ether be on our official website www.f40ph.org or on our Face Book Page. I don't see how a video that has nothing to do with the organization should represent our image.

So let me re-irate my question. If a piece of railroad equipment you were trying to preserve had this kind of notoriety attached to it how would you handle it.

And for anyone who doesn't know what I am talking about see this website http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/f40ph#.Tch5tTrQ-Dw

Talk up and link to your own site. Link to it and to the legit Wiki article everytime you post about this model in whichever forum you do so. Get people who have related forums to link to yours and Wiki.

Google does not divulge exactly how their PageRank system works but it is largely based on how many other sites link to a given site (with weight given to the comparative importance of the sites doing the linking, in turn based on those sites' PageRank level). A few mentions of your site here, and even more so on TO and other widely seen sites will probably knock the aberrant site well down, maybe even off the first page of search results.

As an example of what can be done with linking, go to Google and plug in the word "santorum" which was once nothing more than the name of a controversial US senator. Now, the top result is something else entirely!

Steve

If people who otherwise have little interest in modern locomotives think the F40PH is special and a subject suitable for artistic interpretation, you should take the idea and run with it. Play their game and play it better than they do, take the art to their children with F40PH coloring books, sell posters featuring the F40PH in colorful and unlikely situations. Maybe you can make enough to save an F40PH.

A team of talented Japanese artists made lots of money in the 1970s (and again this century) with animation resurrecting the concept of the IJN Battleship Yamato, imaginatively revised as a space battleship, and sending it on a mission to Iscandar to save the world.

All you are trying to save is an F40PH and you don't need nearly as much money to do it as they made with their animation of space battleships.

PC