Barzani or Talabani?

Scott Hardie | April 22, 2005
Check out the "trivia" section for the goo revealed today: (link)

This is a first in the game to my knowledge: That I gooed the wrong damn celebrity. I chose new Iraqi president Jalal Talabani because I thought A) he's interesting, B) he's current, and C) few of the players will know his name even though most should. I should have taken an image from the news, but instead I went searching on the web, where that was the largest photo I could find. Oops: It was a photo of similar Kurd leader Masoud Barzani, that was on a page that mentioned Talabani. I didn't read closely enough. (And for the record, this is not something I intend to let happen again.)

Denise was quick to point out the error, and I thought about rejecting all guesses up to that point and replacing the image. But really, on a goo chosen because most of the players should know him but don't, how many are guessing based on his image? Most players would guess that one based on the intentional misspelling in the clue, or so I would estimate. So, even though I knew the goo contained a glaring falsehood (it's the wrong damn person!), I decided to let it stand but allow guesses for both celebrities, Barzani and Talabani both. There were still plenty of other guesses, most commonly Hamid Karzai and John Walker Lindh, but I did not accept those.

Fair or unfair?

Lori Lancaster | April 22, 2005
[hidden by request]

Aaron Shurtleff | April 22, 2005
Well, as a person who guessed the wrong one, I'd say totally unfair! You suck, Scott!!

But, since the rest of me says no problem, I'll have to go with it's fine. In my own case, I guessed Lindh because I couldn't find a similar picture, and it bothered me to not guess. I saw an article on Talabani a couple days later, and cursed anyways. :)

Amy Austin | April 22, 2005
You already know what I think... after all, I found the source image without even realizing that it wasn't the same guy!