Talk:flash mob

Protests

Wikipedia leader says "The term is generally not applied to [...] protests [...]", Wiktionary says "some action (usually a protest or [...])". Which is correct? --Thrissel 18:17, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

"Flash mobs have recently become a powerful tactic for political protest, particularly under repressive conditions." [1]

I've also heard that the term can apply to, how should I put this, synchronized looting. DAVilla 03:45, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Protests that are labelled flash mobs are incorrect. The OED and Webster's dictionary specifically point out that flash mobs serve no purpose. While some protests have made a concerted effort to superficially appear like flash mobs, they are in fact still only protests. Protests commonly use other art forms or current fashions to spread their message but fundamentally are still by definition a protest. Mkdw (talk) 23:51, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

Paranoid?

I guess Im just paranoid. I had always thought the primary sense of a flashmob was an organized preplanned crime such as pushing people down to the ground and stealing what they have in their purses and wallets so quickly that the mob is gone by the time the police are on the scene. I had heard of the other meaning and thought it was just a light-hearted take on the original violent sense. But Wikipedia seems to say that the term I am thinking of is "flash mob robbery", sometimes shortened to "flash rob", implying that the happy meaning was the original. Soap (talk) 17:02, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

It's also called steaming. Equinox ◑ 19:11, 20 February 2016 (UTC)