You Must Be Kidding

by 22 replies
30
I've been away for a while.

I really enjoy coming downstairs with you all. It feels comfortable and it's awesome to have intelligent conversations.

One of the main reasons that kept me away are the ridiculous special offers. I click on new posts and see some dude hijacking websites and slapping his opt-in on other peoples' sites. And of course, the offer is full of screen shots about the butt load of money you can make by following his technique.

It makes me sick.

I really shouldn't venture upstairs.

Go ahead, delete this if you want to. Just had to bitch.
#off topic forum
  • Lori,
    That is why I have mostly quit the upper regions.

    To me the Off Topic is the closest we will be to the atmosphere of the original Warrior Forum.

    Back then you got sincere help without a sales pitch,and developed new friendships.
    That is how it is here in the basement now, imo.
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  • Haha, well said. Only the gullible fall for them. The web is littered with these kinds of offers though so it's something we just have to put up with and move on to the next post.
  • Web is littered with them is not a reason to "put up" with them. When people put up with scum it encourages them. Keep bitching Lori. It's the right thing to do - maybe some dumb twat will learn the difference between right and wrong when they find they are learning to be pond scum.
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    • Still laughing. Thanks. Pond scum. Exactly right.
  • Lori,

    That's one of the reasons a good many of us spend more time in the OT than any other areas of the forum.

    Shh...keep our little secret safe.
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    • Thank goodness our posts count here. I'm just here to get my post count up.

      And to rain on someone's parade.
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  • Rule number 1: Always add value to the forum! Rule number 2: Always add value to the forum!
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    • Wow. Are people really that disturbed by ideas that are different from their own?

      You may see that stuff in the paid ad sections, or things you believe are 'that stuff.' You don't see it in the discussion sections much, and ads get nuked there when they're reported.

      There's still a lot of the old-style networking and helping out going on in the discussion areas. It's not as 'in your face' as it once was, because this place was originally small and filled mostly with savvy early adopters. Members found the place by referrals, not search engines.

      It grew, just like the rest of the net.

      If you're selective about the topics of the threads you read, you can still get far more out of this forum than most people ever do. If you're focused on accomplishing something, you will barely notice the extraneous stuff.

      Of course, if you're actively bothered by the stuff that doesn't fit your ideas, you'll go crazy. Or just lose sight of what you were here for in the first place.

      As individual sites go, this is a pretty big place. 6 million posts and almost a half million threads. Hundreds of thousands of real members. If you can't find what you're looking for, the problem likely isn't that it's missing. It's likely you need to adjust how you look for it.

      The way to deal with it may be to avoid certain sections. It is not helpful, though, for anyone to start making generic rants about how there's something wrong with the forum simply because it doesn't match their personal preferences.


      Paul
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  • I've always considered this forum the upstairs.
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  • I'm not sure where you are coming from here Paul.
    Seems to me she was complaining about finding illegal and unethical posts and threads.
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    • Kim,

      The "hijacking" techniques I've seen that do what she mentioned aren't even spammy, much less illegal or unethical. They use ridiculous language to make the thing seem exciting, but it's really usually just buying ads from a pop-up or pop-under network.

      Sort of like the ads that say you can FORCE Google to rank your page, or FORCE money into your Paypal account. Stupid descriptions, which people should realize are over the top, but that doesn't mean what's behind them is necessarily an abusive system.

      If something posted here really is illegal or clearly unethical, there's a way to respond: Report it.

      Edited to add: I wasn't just addressing Lori in my post.


      Paul
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  • It's not unethical to slap an opt-in on someone else's website and steal a subscriber's information?

    I have no idea how that can be done and I don't want to know. It's my opinion that practice is completely unethical and borderline illegal.

    I don't put this type of promotion into the same category as forcing Google to rank a page or putting money into a Paypal account. Those types of ads are clearly "over the top" but they don't advocate putting a device on someone else's property.

    You can report a WSO? I honestly don't know. That's why I'm asking.

    Edit: My gripe is not a matter of being disturbed by ideas that are different than my own - far from it. I welcome ideas that are different than my own. That's how I learn new things. That's how I work on keeping an open mind.
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    • You can. It's done the same way you report spam or other problem posts anywhere else on the forum. Use the little red triangle with the exclamation mark in it at the bottom of the column where the user's name is.
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  • Paul,
    I do not see how hijacking anything on someone else's site is not illegal or unethical?

    I do understand what you mean about buying ads,but that is entirely different than what was described. What you describe is certainly legal.

    Just want to add you know I love the people here Paul, especially you.
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  • I was wondering where the real interactions were! Glad to have found this, and to find that there are some real people having real conversations. Sweet.
  • I apologize, I must not have made myself clear. My judgment was a result of reading a WSO that touted putting opt-in boxes on websites you don't own, taking the site owners' subscribers. I call that stealing.

    It's the method of creating an opt-in box and instructions on how to carry out such an unethical act that I don't want to know how to do.

    Thank you for the explanation of hijacking. However, the WSO that I was griping about is not in keeping with the description you provided. I doubt there is a mutual agreement with the parties involved in this case.

    I am guilty of making a judgment based on an exaggeration of the content contained in one particular WSO. We can call it hijacking, stealing, unethical business practices, immoral behavior, etc.

    Paul, thanks for the musical recommendation. I love music.
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    • Lori,If you PM me the link, I'll be happy to take a look. If it's something else, it may well be as bad as you say. I can't comment on a specific situation without knowing what it is.

      The number of offers that really do fall into the sort of ethical category you're talking about is very small, and they tend to get reported and nuked pretty quickly.


      Paul
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  • I spend an hour cleaning my email accounts from the redundant offers by all the gurus. I am a therapist does that makes me a guru?
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