On Pretending to Be What You Aren’t

NFL Jerseys

NFL Jerseys

Most of the spammers who are trying to break into the comments section of my postings are in the business of trying to sell NFL jerseys to guys built like me and Louis Vuitton handbags to women who have better things to do with their money. (One huckster is trying to sell people who need dialysis on a alternative non-invasive therapy, which I think could be even more sinister.)

For every legitimate comment to my posts, there are twelve spammers trying to push real or fake fashions to people, who, if they are anything like me, would not likely have anything to do with them. I take the time and spend several minutes each day vacuuming up the spam and dumping the ashes out in the ether. iI had never encountered anything like this on Yahoo360, Blog.Com, or Multiply.Com. Oh, there were always a few right-wingers who wanted to debate me—but I can hardly debate anyone for whom I feel nothing but contempt.

This Is All You Can Afford for Othing Clothing If You Buy a Louis Vuitton Handbag

This Is All You Can Afford for Clothing If You Buy a Louis Vuitton Handbag

As for the spammers, I don’t feel contempt for them so much as wonderment that they would make such an effort to sell their wares by making comments to photographs and illustrations belonging to old blog posts. Well, I guess it’s a living of sorts—but I can’t see how.

The Ugly Sell

If You’re Ugly, Our Ad Message Is for You!

If You’re Ugly, Our Ad Message Is for You!

The latest trend in Internet website advertising is to use ugly models together with some sort of interactive pitch whereby you provide information to the advertiser. Is it because people are tired of advertising models who are better looking than they are? Goodness knows, there are fireplugs I have seen that beat me all to hell in the looks department. But I’m still not sucker enough to fall for one of these.

Here a couple more horrors:

Hmm, Another Real Estate Ad

Hmm, Another Real Estate Ad

This Poor Women Is All Over the Net

This Poor Woman Is All Over the Net

UglyAd1

Oof! Enough!

The ObliterAd

Corporations Obliterate Your Favorite Websites to Get Their Message Across

Corporations Obliterate Your Favorite Websites to Get Their Message Across

Within the last year or so, there has been a proliferation of what I call ObliterAds, advertisements that shove your website contact down or just cover it with some otiose message which you have to close in order to see your website. I first saw this phenomenon at Salon.Com, and now it’s part of CNN’s news website as well (see above screen capture).

Don’t people in the advertising industry realize that tactics like this irritate Internet users and result in some antagonism. I for one would not buy anything advertised in this way. In fact, I close the ObliterAd as fast as I can so I don’t even get to see the message being promulgated.

Websites, unfortunately, are hungry for ad revenue and don’t seem to mind irritating their loyal visitors. (Please note that this website, tarnmoor.com, has no intention of selling ad space to corporations: They can tattoo their messages on their butts for all I care.)

I may decide to give up on CNN.Com, especially since it seems at any given time that most of the news stories are several days old or send me to videos. (I’d rather just read the story thank you!)