Phone Losers of America - Tenth Anniversary

Tenth Anniversary

The PLA celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2004. While some of the textfiles show dates as early as 1991, RBCP claims the PLA as its current incarnation didn't fully exist until 1994. Several members of Cal's Forums put their heads together to find a way to celebrate the anniversary in a unique way. Rob Vincent aka Rob T Firefly, Judas Iscariot, Big-E, Liife, I-BaLL, and Murd0c headed up a panel at The Fifth H.O.P.E. conference.

The panel occurred July 9, 2004 at 11pm and was seen by over 800 people in the audience and countless more via streaming media from 2600. Widely regarded as a success, the group played prank videos, held impromptu question and answer sessions, played recordings of prank calls, and nearly caused a riot when giving away free PLA Media CDs. All of the attention caused mentions in USA Today, Wired and The New York Post.

There were also problems when RBCP suggested that Cal (the webmaster of the PLA forums) was planning a hostile takeover of the PLA. Many agreed with this RBCP theory, and many expressed their support when he led a crusade against Cal. But some said RBCP had gone "off his rocker", and was making unfounded threats. The Phone Losers were divided until April 2006, when it was announced that they would lay their differences aside and concentrate instead on pranking people and trying to find "the original spark that united the PLA". (PLA Website Update, 2004)

A second PLA panel is scheduled for July 19, 2008 at 11pm at The Last H.O.P.E.. The presentation is said to include a full multimedia work up of the new pranks the PLA has pulled in the four years since the previous panel, question and answers and live pranks at the hotel. Returning speakers include Murd0c, Rob T. Firefly, I-BaLL and Sidepocket.