WTF? Bloggers cause Wisconsin Tourism Federation to change name

Sometimes, it's hard to resist the relentless pressure of bloggers.

They make jokes about you. They spawn commenters who make even more jokes about you. Until you finally decide that your are the serf and the bloggerati and commenterati are your whip-wielding masters.

So it has proved for the dedicated and passionately committed staff of the Wisconsin Tourism Federation. Since this Web thing has spread around the world like swine flu, more and more witty folks have made japes about the WTF being, well, you know, I mean, WTF!!!!

So, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the organization sat down around a table--who knows, perhaps in the company of a psychiatrist--and decided to stop being the bloggers' straight man. At the meeting, the group decided it will henceforth be known as the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin.

"We didn't want it to detract from our mission," said Julia Hertel, a spokeswoman for the newly renamed TFW, told the Sentinel.

Who could not feel sympathy for the WTF's pain? If you, too, had been the object of the heartless barbing of, for example, Your Logo Makes Me Barf, would you be able to successfully digest your cheese? Would not your bratwurst halt somewhere near your esophagus and complain that it was being held back by a headwind of acid reflux?

These are the people who are trying to attract human life to Green Bay in January. Can we not cut them a little slack? These are the people who want you to come watch snowmobile derbies. These are the people who wonder how they can convince a person to fly there and watch the Milwaukee Bucks.

They created their name 30 years ago, when the Web was not even a thought in the mind's eye of an engineering spider. I mean it's not as if the acronym said SLUT, is it? You're not familiar with SLUT? Ah, that would be the South Lake Union Trolley in Seattle.

Now, to the creators of the SLUT, I mean, WTF?

[cvaldes1831]

Next up, World Taekwondo Federation.

[mike_ekim]

You really gonna mess with the World Taekwondo Federation? lol

[cvaldes1831]

Hey, if the World Wildlife Fund spanked the World Wrestling Federation, anything's possible. :-)

[Pete Bardo]

FTW, ***, TFW?

What ever happened to "any publicity is better than no publicity"?

[cvaldes1831]

The correct phrase is "the only bad publicity is your obituary" (Harvard Lampoon).

[spolastre]

I wonder what they will do when they make something with TFW.

[ikramerica--2008]

That Fe Whuck?

Doesn't work... ;)

[Random_Walk]

IIRC, TFW got absorbed into some other defense megacorp eons ago...

(I just find it funny that the article-writer can say W T F (the acronym), but no one else is allowed to.)

[The_happy_switcher]

So does this mean BJ stores will have to change their name, too?

[chaderic20]

Don't forget about Sioux City, Iowa's airport code. Let's just say that it really SUX.

[jimmha]

This story is TFW......TOTALLY F*** WEIRD

[sanenazok]

These tourism people have too much time on their hands to worry about what "blogeratti" think. *** is a perfectly good name for a pseudo-government agency that promotes a cheese-based state.

[allen b--2008]

What's Funnier still is that you can't even type the Accronym on this posting board without it being *****'d out. ***? <-- I typed the letters here. W. T. F. (Full disclosure I am from Wisconsin, and I am very upset that these childish bloggers run their mouths about a NON-Profit community organization.)

[pmfjoe]

Of course their is also the community transit agency in Melbourne, FL called Space Coast Area Transit or SCAT (and yes on some of the busses it does say SCAT).

[thorsteinthestaffstruck]

They should have changed it to:

Federation of Tourism in Wisconsin... FTW!

[dubelmeyer]

they should now adopt the slogan, "TFW, Come and smell our Dairy Air". hey, it's clever and you have to admit it.