Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Thinking Outside the Brainwashing Box

Mentally Correct Marketing consists of Thinking Outside the Brainwashing Box.

Here are some examples:

* IMPEITY

A church serves communion...with oyster crackers. You know, those little oval crackers you put in chilli. It makes you want to laugh, or knock them out of the usher's hand and crush them underfoot, whilst loudly proclaiming, "That's it. I can't stand any more disrespect and sacrilege."


* SAME OLD STORY


Notice all the resignations in the United States government, secretary of this and secretary of that, and now the head of Homeland Security? And what is the reason they're giving? "I want to spend more time with my family."

How stupid and blindly obedient do these chumps think we are?

We know they didn't suddenly turn into family lovers.

Why can't they be honest and say, "It's not fun anymore" or "Honestly folks, I'm burnt out" or "I'm not the right person for this job. I'm interested in pursuing more lucrative private sector work"?

* BLOG ATTACKERS RESIGN

It's funny to see the big mainstream media chumps resign right after being exposed as liars, incompetent journalists, and political hacks.

It's also funny to note that their resignations occur right after they got together in a little pow wow and condemned the "bloggers sitting at their computers in pajamas" as though what a blogger wears has something to do with their credibility.

* THE VIOXXING OF AMERICA

We have to think for ourselves when it comes to health products and services.

The pharmaceutical companies, many doctors and medical associations, and perhaps the liquor industry, are against the legalization of medical or recreational marihuana.

This is bad news for sufferers who gain no relief from "orthodox" mainstream medical practice.

The anti-drug groups express fears that people will abuse marihuana, but fail to notice all the abuse of allergy medicine, prescription pain killers, etc., and the massive doping of children with Ritalin, Prozac, and Dexedrine, as a "cure" for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

I think the children need less television, no video games, healthier diets, more outdoor exercise, and more compassionate discipline, not "mood drugs".

The recreational drug solution is simple and obvious: make any drug or alcohol related crime more punitive.

Be less forgiving as a society when someone causes damage or injury when intoxicated by anything, from sugared/fatty junk food to heroin.

The message would then be: if you get intoxicated, don't drive or operate heavy machinery or do anything that could endanger yourself or others.

But don't make the intoxication itself a crime...

...unless you want to make gluttony a crime, since overeating and poor diets result in higher health care costs and personal problems of obesity and increased health risks.

Vioxx has proven, along with other medicines that were sold then banned, that we cannot trust the FDA or doctors or the greedy pharmaceutical industry.

We can appreciate the good these groups do, but we must be wary of their imperfections and even sinister agendas.

It seems to me that marihuana is condemned largely due to how growing a simple plant in your garden or attic would result in huge financial losses to pharmaceutical companies. The side effects and "dangers" of marihuana pale in comparison to many other "approved" medicines.

* MUSIC TORTURE AT CAMP X-RAY

How funny it is to hear that prisoners in G-Bay, Cuba, suspected terrorists, are being tortured with loud, incessant rap music.

There's nothing funny about torture, and the USA is supposed to be more civilized and moral than our terrorist enemies.

When people say, "They deserve it, they're terrorists, they want to kill more Americans, they are less than human" it makes me shudder.

That kind of talk is not patriotic, not representative of true American values.

We cannot fight the Taliban by becoming like the Taliban. If we become just as nasty, barbaric, and immoral as our enemies, do we deserve to win?

But what is funny to me is the use of rap music. To me, rap music is torture. Not black music per se, I like soul music.

And some forms of rock, dinosaur rock, outmoded bands that stick to plain old rock and roll or heavy/death metal, like AC/DC, Metallica, growl and scream bands, or Aerosmith, they're torture, too.

I wonder if any of the still living rap artists, the ones who haven't shot or stabbed each other, have anything to say about being labeled "torture" to listen to?

I suggest we use opera music. That's even more torturous than rap or old fashioned rock music.

But we must not use any music in an inhumane manner. Just enough to make them confess.

To be forced to listen to gangster rap, heavy metal, growl'n'scream punk, or operatic music 24 hours a day, seven days a week...well, that's a fate worse than death.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Content Hypertext Spam

*****

IT HAPPENED AGAIN.

Yes, precious fans, I've stumbled onto another horrible development on the web. This is so awful, I'm posting the exact same post on this site that I posted on Vaspers the Grate, my web usability blog.

This is too much. The internet is getting worse every day. Dig this...

*****

COMMENT HYPERTEXT SPAM

Well, I thought that "Comment Spam" was the worst thing that ever happened to blogs and interactive functions of web sites.

Boy, was I wrong. There's something worse.

I call it "Content Hypertext Spam." Others refer to it as IntelliTXT, from Vibrant Media, the provider company that offers this "product" to dumb webmasters.

You know I never attack a company or a product. But this time, I'm making an exception, though I'm going to concentrate on the concept, more than the supplier.

What is "Content Hypertext Spam"?

Let's say you're at some web site.

You skimmed, skipped, and scanned until you found an item of interest, an article on a topic of concern to you personally or professionally.

You start reading this article.

You enjoy it. You're learning some valuable facts.

You see a blue, underlined word or phrase in the text.

You're no dummy.

You know that text is clickable/selectable.

You click/select it, hoping to be taken to another online resource that will explain in more detail some aspect of the topic discussed in the article.

WRONG.

You just navigated to a web site that wants to sell you something.

Some product that is probably totally unrelated to the topic or issue discussed in the article.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have the distinct pleasure of introducing you to:

CONTENT HYPERTEXT SPAM.

Every time an unsuspecting user clicks on/selects such a deceptive link, the web site owner/webmaster gets some money from the advertiser.

HOVER STATE WARNING: You will know it's Content Hypertext Spam, prior to clicking on/selecting the link, because a box will pop up, like a tool tip, when you hover your cursor over the text. The box will contain a headline like "SPONSORED LINK", a paragraph of descriptive text, and a URL (web address) to click on/select.

What you thought was a legitimate hypertext link, was actually a Hidden Advertisement.

This is Spam...hidden in Content...and disguised as a Hypertext Link.

Content Hypertext Spam goes far beyond simple Comment Spam.

To be bothered or led astray by Comment Spam, you have to read an article, then activate "Read Comments" (navigate to comment posting page of web site), then read the Comment Spam, then stupidly click on/select the spammy, possibly dangerous URL contained within the (usually irrelevant) comment.

With Content Hypertext Spam, all you have to do to be annoyed or misled by this spam is innocently read an article and click on/select a linkable bit of text.

Content Hypertext Spam by IntelliTXT is "Spam" because it is:

1. unsolicited advertising

2. commercial in nature

3. disruptive of content path

4. irrelevant to topic of article

5. irrelevant to purpose of online resource

6. deceptive (pretends to be relevant content, but is really an ad)

7. destination is AWAY from topic, rather than TOWARD relevant information

8. harmful to editorial integrity

9. damaging to credibility of online resources in general

10. violates user expectations of link destinations and how links work

11. blurs distinction between editorial content and advertising

12. voluntarily, knowingly incorporated into web site content by webmaster, but users are in the dark about what the links really are (clandestine marketing ploy)

13. the link spam could target more words than the webmaster anticipated, thus making webmaster an object of ridicule and distrust

14. can result in users never returning to site and they'll start warning others: resulting in negative word of mouth advertising against you

How You Can Combat Content Hypertext Spam:

Add *.intellitxt.com to your restricted sites list.

Depart from, and never return to, any online resource, web site, or blog, that contains Content Hypertext Spam.

Contact the webmaster and complain about the deceptive Content Hypertext Spam.

MORE INFO

For more insight into this new form of internet trash, please see:

Marketing Works-Julia Hyde "Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT--the next generation of annoying online advertising"

Editors Weblog.org "News Sites: new risks of confusion between ads and contents"

Wired.com "This Headline is Not For Sale"