Disclaimer: Procrastinatr is an AppleScript that adds a week to the due date of all your iCal entries. If you value your iCal data, do not run Procrastinatr.
The following was written in April 2007.
What was the big deal about Procrastinatr? Was it the over 6,000 iCal calendar files that were hosed in the space of a double click, or was it a reputable news source's promotion of a practical joke? In June 2006, I created a small AppleScript file (with the help of an anonymous Apple developer) that added a week to the due date of every item on a user's iCal calendar. I wanted to see just how easy it was to emulate the "Web 2.0" styles and prove that the trend is foolish. So I spend the eight bucks on a domain and make some W3C-compliant pages, including a faux form that collects names and email addresses (but sends them to a nonexistant account) and links to the program. Very important: I include a read-me file with the download that spells out what the program does, albeit in fine grey print. I send the link to a couple of my friends, and leave it at that.
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006: someone submits Procrastinatr as a worthy news item to the Unofficial Apple Weblog. One of their paid writers posts "this handy little app can help you make molehills out of mountains and start managing your time again." After hundreds of downloads, people realize that Procrastinatr is not really something that should be run in sincerity. Dozens of comments are posted calling for the author to be fired. Eventually, someone performs a whois and discovers that procrastinatr is hosted at bsuto.com, which links it all back to me. Suddenly I'm in trouble.
I hastily post the code to Procrastinatr as a fix, with a negative one in the place of a positive one, to move all their dates back a week. I don't check it myself, and it turns out that the order the code is run (start date before end date) doesn't quite fix the problem. Someone notices this and posts a real fix, but before they do, it looks like I am trying to screw people over again. Still in trouble. TUAW posts a second story explaining how to run the fix, I apologize a handful of times, and a couple people still type angry things at me.
Over the next two days, the story is picked up by Wikipedia (since removed) and Slashdot, among other places. I rewrite a lot of the Procrastinatr site, adding in an explicit warning page, while trying to maintain the jokey atmosphere. Downloads are over 3,000 at this point, despite the negative press and all the warnings. However, one of the more outspoken critics of the whole event actually apologizes for his particular tirade against me and TUAW.
As a few people commented in the original thread, this is a wake-up call to Mac users that security depends just as much on the users themselves as it does their operating system. What I don't get is how this message seems to have flown right over a couple people's heads. It speaks volumes about the role of bloggers: most have no audience and no influence, but the few that enjoy a sizeable readership suddenly command great power. The omission of a "joke" or "humor" tag from the original post was all that was needed to imply legitimacy, and this is scary.
10 months and 6,000 downloads later, there's not much more to say. I regret that no one seemed to have gotten the joke, but I'm truly sorry for the amount of damage that was caused. When the concept struck me, I thought it was funny, but then again I don't depend on iCal as much as the average user. If you still need that fix, it's right here.