Saturday, February 15, 2025

July 30, 2001– Newsletter #141

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Goodies to Go ™
July 30, 2001–Newsletter #141

This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
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Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors,


I received a piece of unsolicited mail today that made a
statement that was so goofy it actually seemed smart.
The first line of the email read:


“This is not SPAM, but rather a cold call to tell you
about…”


Ah. It’s a cold call, not SPAM. OK, then. I didn’t
“trash” it. I handled it as a waste management artisan.


Did you hear…


Have you seen the new Capital One banner ads? They
shake. The image sits still for about five seconds and
then it quickly moves to the right and then back. It was
quick, non-invasive, and attention grabbing all without
popping up a new window. Huh.


M-I-C-K-E-Y F-I-R-E-D. Disney has announced it will
close up its Web portal, Go.com. Four hundred will be
unemployed. If you own stock in the Disney Internet
Group (DIG), your shares will be converted into regular
Disney stock (DIS) at the rate of 0.19353% of Disney
stock per DIG share.


It seems Ebay is being invaded by honest to goodness
brick-and-mortar stores. According to a report I heard on
a talk radio investment program, some major retailers are
using Ebay to rid themselves of unwanted or out-of-
fashion merchandise. The report stated that
Bloomingdale’s now has a staff of 12 whose only job is
to take digital photographs, post to Ebay, and ship when
sold. The retailer is said to make more than 1000 posts
per day.


Now onto today’s topic…


Three newsletters ago, I wrote a small blurb at the very
top of the text that said I would buy an X10 camera if
only the company would stop the blizzard of pop-up
windows. It was quickly pointed out to me that the
windows were not “pop-up” windows but rather, “pop-
under” windows.


Uh-huh. That’s much better.


I was joking at the time, but I think the words may have
rung more true than I first thought. Among the emails
that discussed “up” and “under” and agreement, I
received one that I thought was a gag. The email told me
that all I had to do was go to the company’s Web site and
I could allow them to set a cookie that would stop the
windows, completely, for 30 days.


Really. Try it. The direct URL is:
http://www.x10.com/x10ads.htm.


The page is also a great deal of interesting reading. The
company takes the space to describe what kind of ads
they are using and how the ads are “unique,” “legal,” and
“100% safe.”


The page reads more like a rebuttal then a Public
Relations piece. It ends with the company explaining that
people once disliked banner ads but became comfortable
with them. I especially liked the line, “Please try to
understand that this type of advertising is what keeps the
Internet enjoyable as it pays for operational costs behind
the sites you enjoy visiting for free.”


I get the feeling that the X10 ads bothered people to the
point where the company received panicked emails
asking if a virus was being set or if what the company
was doing might be illegal or just general emails filled
with surfer discontent. Those can be pretty nasty. I know
and I don’t pop under any ads.


Now, many of you might now want to hurry up, finish
this newsletter and race right over to the site and get that
cookie. It’s actually two cookies and it does stop the ads.
As soon as I got the cookies and began surfing to a few of
my favorite sites, sans X10, a question kept rolling over
and over in my mind.


Why would X10 offer to do this?


I called the X10 company to discuss the matter and was
not able to talk to a representative. I was only given an
email address. My emailed question went unanswered so
rather than speculate on why they did it, I’ll explain my
original question.


X10 is in the business of selling cameras. That’s how
they make a profit. That’s how they stay in business.
Advertising is the method by which the company lets
possible consumers know about the product.


As one email asked me, “Why are they targeting me? I
don’t want a camera.” Here’s the short answer, they are
not targeting you specifically. They are targeting visitors
to certain sites. You just happen to be a visitor to that
site.


It’s the advertising way of the Web. People are
bombarded with advertising that simply doesn’t appeal to
them. Because of the concepts of privacy on the Web,
advertisers are simply not allowed to create enough of a
profile of a person to provide advertisements for elements
the user wants. Thus, mass advertising meets a huge
group of people. Few buy while the majority does not.


Now, here’s where I get into trouble. You may think that
the ability to shut off the ads is a great thing. I don’t. At
least not the way it’s being done now. X10 wants to sell
cameras. I may not want a camera today – but I might
tomorrow. That’s why McDonalds runs ads all the time.
I might not want a hamburger today, but I might
tomorrow. Stopping the advertising without any input
from the consumer, in my opinion, will create an “out of
sight, out of mind” climate that X10 probably doesn’t
want.


Here’s a better idea. Why not make it so that the when
you buy a camera, you can have a cookie that turns off
the ads permanently? Advertise it that way. Here’s
another idea. Why not have it so that if a user comes to
the X10 site and watches a one-minute Flash-based
presentation regarding the camera, he or she can have
something that turns off the ads for good or for 30 days.


X10 succeeded with their pop-under ads. People were
talking about them. If I were X10, that would make me
happy even though the sheer number of ads was
bothering people. Obviously that got back to X10, and a
decision was made to offer the ability to stop the ads with
no input from the possible consumer. I think that’s a
problem.


X10 is in business to sell cameras and the ads are making
the camera something people are talking about. Yes, it’s
often bad talk, but it’s talk nonetheless. That’s good.


I say to X10, don’t allow the ability to stop the ads
without something being done on the user’s part, and
coming to the site is not enough. It must be an interactive
something.


I say to surfers that this is the level of “in-your-face” that
must be met to get people talking about a product. If you
want ads that appeal to you, then tell the advertisers about
you. Tell them what you like and what you do not like.
I’m sure they would be more than pleased to tailor ads to
your likes and dislikes.


If you refuse to give up any information, then get ready to
close window after window because the X10, mass-
marketing, shot-in-the-dark method is what’s working.
At least it’s what’s working now.


I don’t see many other companies allowing you to shut
off their ads and I would be surprised if X10 allows their
own ads to be blocked for a very long time.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


That’s that. Thanks for reading. Don’t go to the X10 site
just yet. There’s still the “And Remember” segment
below.


Joe Burns, Ph.D.


And Remember: I’m going to turn this one around. I
have a nice fact, but even I don’t think it’s true.


I spent last weekend in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
Nice place. There were great walking trails in the
Research Triangle Park. While there, I ate three dinners
at three completely different restaurants. The food may
have been different, but the free appetizers were the
same…hush puppies. Don’t get me wrong, they were
great and I ate enough to not really want my meal. Now,
here’s what’s bugging me. One of the servers took pride
in explaining to me that the name “hush puppies” came
from Confederate soldiers feeding pieces of fried dough
to dogs to keep them quiet while food was cooking and/or
being transported. Get it? Hush. Puppy.


That just sounds like a load of fried dough to me. I
searched for the real origin of the word. I found the dog-
feeding story attributed to soldiers, slaves, numerous
chefs, and a few other people. It still just seems too
goofy an origin to be true.


My one saving grace was a research book that offered up
the suggestion that the term came from southern
Louisiana. In the mid 1800s it seemed poor people would
eat a type of salamander that was nicknamed, “mud
puppy”. The little critters weren’t very tasty alone so
they were killed, dipped in corn meal and deep-fried.
The name just grew from there.


That just seem more plausible to me. I have a very hard
time buying that troops would waste valuable food by
giving it to dogs to shut them up.


I rant therefore I am.

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