frivolous motion: 11.2007

As a young web designer who cares about standards and accessibility, but also about paying the rent and having enough left over to buy some slick gadgets, I often find myself stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place when it comes to designing HTML emails for a client.

You see, on one hand there’s a strong part of me saying, “No! Don’t do it! It’s not worth it to revert to web practices straight out of 1999. Tables are bad! Inline styling is bad! People hate HTML email! Your code is ugly! Fish are friends, not food!”

But then the devil on my right shoulder (wearing a blue dress, not a blue beanie) speaks up to say, “Dude, you need money if you want that [insert latest Apple product here]. Clients will not settle for text-only emails, or at least they won’t pay you for them. And besides, studies show that HTML emails are actually much more cost-effective for businesses. Suck it up a code a table, you sissy. Everybody used to do it, why do you think you’re exempt?”

To some of you, this whole discussion might seem to be flying 50,000 feet up, but here I’ll try to summarize:

In web design, it is now widely accepted that using Tables (grids of rows and columns, just like one you’d create in MS Word) for the structure of a website is a bad practice because it doesn’t allow for the separation of content (the text and pictures and videos) from presentation, and requires a ton of maintenance, among (many) other things. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) emerged years ago as the solution to this problem, allowing designers to change the look of an entire site simply by editing a couple lines in a single external file (instead of every line on every page), and after a lot of activism in those early days, is now widely accepted as the proper way to code a site. Standards-compliant pages tend to load faster, have shorter development times, and are readable by every device now and in the future that has support for these standards.

The trouble is, most email clients don’t have this support, and some (like Outlook 2007) have even less support than their predecessors. Worse still, every single email client has vastly different support for various CSS/HTML elements, and will render your code in disgustingly problematic ways. So, by and large, many web design companies have abandoned email design, or if not, done it begrudgingly, ashamedly.

I’ve done my share, and it’s not glamorous work. Looking at what I’ve just written sometimes makes me want to cry (in pretty much the same manner that coding all-Flash sites does, but that’s a post for another day).

Finally, some of the big guns in web design and standards-advocacy are taking a stand and beginning to fight for standards support in all the major email clients, rather than ignoring the practicalities and pretending that HTML emails don’t or shouldn’t exist. That kind of denial sounds nice in theory, but in practice it’s totally flawed. Today, the default in nearly every email program is to send an HTML-formatted email. Any time you change the colors, or the fonts, or add some underlining or embed a picture - that’s HTML. So, if it has to exist anyway, shouldn’t it be done right?

These reasons (and others) are why the announcement of the Email Standards Project is such a big deal, and why I can hardly wait for the day when I’ll have coded my final bit of inline styling.

If you’re in the business, please join me in supporting this initiative. Here’s how you can help.

28 November 2007

Tasty Del.icio.us Links of the Day

Never Buy Toilet Paper Again!

The Problem
Why make a shopping trip once a month to buy toilet paper? (Or once a week if you live in New York and can only buy as much as you can carry on the subway.) Why should you have to remember to replace your toothbrush, or to buy more vitamins, or a fresh box of tampons, or those energy bars you eat every morning and buy in enormous quantities? Why, if you have a small business, do you pay one of your employees run to the store every week to buy more instant coffee? What about diapers? Babies poop a lot, and carrying huge packages of Pampers home from Costco every week is a major chore.

Constantly procuring all these everyday items, these necessities of living, uses up a lot of what might otherwise be free (or more productive) hours.

The Solution
What if you didn’t have to shop for these anymore? What if they just showed up on your doorstep every 1, 2, 3, or 6 months? What if shipping was free? What if everything was automated, yet you had the flexibility to change shipment frequencies with a click? What if there were a way to get toothbrushes every three months, vitamins and cereal and shampoo every month, and laundry detergent twice a year? What if it were possible to have coffee delivered to your office, tampons delivered to your apartment, and soap delivered to your ex-boyfriend’s place? What if there were no commitment, no minimum order, no fees whatsoever?

And then you save an additional 15% off your order. Off all your orders. Forever.

So About That Flying Car...
This awesome scenario is no George Jetson Pipe Dream, it’s a reality called Subscribe & Save, a new offering by - you probably guessed it - Amazon.

Sounds great to me.

The only slight problem I see is that most items are sold in bulk, which means having to clear out some space for storage. It’d also be great to have a weekly delivery option, but I understand the financial and logistical issues with this at the moment. However, a program like this is a wonderful step into the future, and will no doubt become even more flexible, and capable, as volume increases, and Amazon finds more cost- and time-efficient shipping methods.

What do you think? Useful?

What everyday items would you like to never have to worry about again?

27 November 2007

What Do You Want For Christmas?

Everyone likes presents, right?

Well how about leaving a comment with your wish list this holiday season (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.), so everyone else can see and compare and supplement their own lists with other cool stuff.

If you have an Amazon Wish List, post the URL, otherwise just write up a nice little list, and add a bit of commentary if you’d like.

Here’s one thing I’d love to see under the tree (but don’t actually expect). It’s a set of prints by Billy Davis, sold by the extremely cool people at Coudal Partners as part of their equally-awesome Swap Meat. The silkscreen prints, which are 12" by 16", are hilariously funny, depicting a cute little ghost horrified at some really idiotic things that people are doing, such as sticking a fork in a toaster.

Even cooler is that the ghost is screened in glow-in-the-dark ink.

It’s limited to 100 sets of the 4 prints, shipped in a tube (which means getting someone to mount them), for the great price of 90 bucks. Buy it for me (or yourself, or someone else) here.

Lots of great stuff for gifting this year. And it’s high time to start weeding through.

So, what do you want?

26 November 2007

Tasty Del.icio.us Links Of The Day

“Post Tofurky Weekend” Edition:

Move On MoveOn.org, Nothing To See Here

I’ve said plenty in the past about both Facebook and privacy on the internet.

And I think it’s pretty clear from my earlier thoughts how I lean on the current debate about Facebook’s new (but not particularly innovative) Beacon advertising platform, and the whole MoveOn.org uproar, so I’ll keep this relatively brief.

Basically, again, people are crying wolf over a loss of privacy when in actuality all that’s been lost is a bit more of the comforting but dangerous illusion of privacy. Facebook Beacon, which allows partner sites to communicate your actions back to Facebook, differs from existing ad networks in only one real way: rather than sending the exact same information to advertisers in the network, they are sending it back to you, making it visible to people with whom you have chosen to share information about yourself by befriending them. Yes, the advertisers get it, too.

And while this increased visibility of your actions can lead to some humorous but unfortunate outcomes - as in the case of a ~~guy~~ girl whose ~~girlfriend~~ boyfriend found out he she bought ~~her~~ him gloves for Christmas (lame present, yo) - this, like the News Feed before it, does not show any information about you that someone couldn’t already see.

Now, this isn’t to say I disagree with calls for further openness of Facebook’s data, and I do think that Facebook creates mini PR nightmares for itself by making these new “features” opt-out instead of opt-in, but this is yet another case of much ado about nothing. It will blow over soon, to be replaced by the next pseudo-scandal, and that won’t be a problem, because nothing has really changed.

Move On, MoveOn.org. Get back to the war. Last I checked, that was still happening.

23 November 2007

Amazon Digital Text Platform

It is unofficially Kindle week here on Frivolous Motion, and I’ve got more related news today. When I checked out the Amazon homepage this morning hoping to see some Black Friday must-haves, I stumbled upon a link to a new program called the Digital Text Platform.

Digital Text Platform is a fast and easy self-publishing tool that lets you upload and format your books for sale in the Kindle Store.

If you’ve written a book, or think you could write a book (anyone participating in NaNoWriMo this year?), here’s your chance to sell it to your Long Tail audience with absolutely no publishing costs. You get a third of the retail price for each copy sold (even if Amazon decides to sell it for less, you still receive the same royalties), and adding your book to the marketplace seems like a breeze. Just upload it in any of the several supported document types (HTML works best, and there are some formatting guides on the site, along with plenty of support in the forums), set a price, and you’re good to go.

The hard part, of course, is marketing the thing, but getting your title published at no cost whatsoever leaves you with a ton of cash (right?) to devote to your viral video campaign and outfitting your Street Team. One of the hardest things for new writers is finding an audience, and while the success of the Kindle Marketplace hasn’t yet been determined, the absolutely gigantic size of Amazon’s customer base works in your favor.

If anyone decides to publish using DTP, I’d be interested in hearing how things work out.

22 November 2007

Happy Thanksgiving, American Readers...

And to all those from outside the US, my condolences for having to go to work today.

I’ll be back with the posting on Friday (yes, this means I don’t get an extended weekend!), after stuffing myself silly with Cornish Hen and other assorted gluttony, in the great American tradition of hyper-consumption.

Cheers.

21 November 2007

Kindle Already Sold Out

According to Blankbaby (via Engadget), the Amazon Kindle (my thoughts here and here and here) has sold out a mere 5.5 hours after going on sale.

No word on how many this is, but it just goes to show that the average consumer isn’t swayed much by negative reviews from people who have yet to touch the product. And, contrary to many opinions, there just might be a market for this thing, after all.

Back in stock on December 3rd, as of this writing. Crazy.

Did you buy one for me, yet?

20 November 2007

Big Ugly Font Quickie: Times New Roman

Times New Roman is gross gross gross gross.

Why Aren’t People Talking About This?

Is it just me, or are people not making a big enough deal about the absolutely FREE web browsing that Amazon Kindle offers?

For a mere $400, you get access to the world’s information everywhere you go (well, in the U.S., at least), with no contract, no fees, no passwords and no hot-spot dependence. Sure, the browser isn’t great (at least compared to MobileSafari, but then again, what is?), but you are connected. 24/7. At no cost.

I don’t know if there’s a single device on the market today - for any price - that offers this kind of experience.

Picture this:

An iPhone with no monthly payments.

How amazing, amazing, amazing would that be?

Am I missing something here?

Tasty Del.icio.us Links Of The Day

“Dude, it’s time for some freakin’ links” Edition:

19 November 2007

Kindle Scandal

Interesting controversy over on the Amazon Kindle product page. As of this writing, there are 82 reviews and ratings - the vast majority of which are from individuals who have never seen/touched/used the device. Based on looks and announced functionality alone, the Kindle has a paltry 2.5 stars, with nearly half of all reviewers giving only 1 star.

The biggest complaints I’ve seen so far across the web are as follows:

It’s ugly and looks like a device from the 80s.
You have to pay for blogs. WTF?
No backlight.
Books will always be better.

To which I might respond:

Maybe. I’m not sure how I feel about the look, though seeing it in context being unboxed makes it look pretty cool. As does this shot with the pencil.

There’s been a lot of uproar about this “feature” in particular. For $0.99 a month, you can subscribe to content from one of (currently) 250-ish top-tier blogs. Opposition has been of the “why would I pay for something that’s free?” variety, to which I reply 1) It’s usually not really “free,” just ad-supported and 2) You’re paying for the subscription feature and the local storage and conversion, but as far as I can tell (and I’ve flipped through the manuals) there’s nothing to stop you from navigating to these sites manually, nor, even, from using Google Reader. I’m not sure what the capabilities are of the web browser, though it does support Javascript.
The E-Ink technology is incredible and easy on the eyes. Backlighting drains the battery and causes quick fatigue. You can use a book-light if you want to read in bed. Or you can read on your iPhone.
You’re probably right. As long as they still exist, that is. But the Kindle doesn’t aim to replace books, it aims to add functionality that books could never have. It aims to leverage the connectivity of the Web to provide a new, though familiar, reading experience that is a huge improvement over LCD and CRT monitors. I don’t know how much Amazon is pushing this idea, but the Kindle could easily be seen as a greener, more sustainable, and ultimately less expensive alternative to books. So, better? Yes and no and maybe and we’ll see.

Amazon to Re-“Kindle” Book Sales?

Run, don’t walk to read this article on Newsweek announcing Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader. Though more official details will be announced later today, Steven Levy’s cover story, “Reinventing the Book,” is more than worth a read.

I’ve long been fascinated by the idea of electronic book readers, which some might find odd considering my near-fetishistic love of books-as-objects. What strikes me in the gut as an absolute truth, however, is this line by Jeff Bezos:

The key feature of a book is that it disappears.

He goes on to say this, in explanation:

I've actually asked myself, 'Why do I love these physical objects?' says Bezos. 'Why do I love the smell of glue and ink?' The answer is that I associate that smell with all those worlds I have been transported to. What we love is the words and ideas.

If I were to be asked why I thought that the Amazon Kindle would succeed where many others (like the Sony Reader) have failed, my answer would be, “Because Jeff gets it.”

By all accounts, Amazon has thought long and hard about what it means to be a book (they should know!), and what it means to improve upon this centuries-old form factor.

Here are some other reasons:

The Kindle is constantly connected to the Web via Sprint’s EVDO network, and this connectivity is free, allowing ubiquitous one-click downloads across the U.S. Talk about an easy impulse buy before a plane flight.
Book prices are standardized, taking a cue from iTunes.
You can subscribe to newspapers and blogs (and search Google/Wikipedia) on the device.
Millions of people already trust Amazon when it comes to books.
Amazon, better than pretty much anyone, understands how to make low-margin, high-volume profitable.

All of these are good reasons. But for me, the important thing is a gut feeling that they will get this right. It’s been nearly time for ebooks to take off for years now. Today, with Amazon’s announcement, the floodgates have been opened and the future is nigh.

This will be going on my Amazon Wishlist for sure.

16 November 2007

CBS Bringing Free WiFi To Midtown Manhattan

By the end of November, 36 blocks in New York City will be wired for free wireless internet connection courtesy of CBS Corporation (along with help from the MTA and some key advertising partners). From 42nd Street up to Central Park South, 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue, this chunk of prime real estate will be called the CBS Mobile Zone. It’s a pity they aren’t extending this to 5th Avenue, to encompass Rockefeller Center, but it is a sizable start.

This is only a six-month pilot program, but I can’t wait to take advantage of it with my iPhone. If it works out, and CBS is happy, this initiative could serve as a proof-of-concept for other groups considering implementing ubiquitous municipal WiFi. Let’s hope it does, because this is something that a city like New York could definitely benefit from. Next step - wiring the subways.

I know some people aren’t sold on the idea of cell service underground, but how can you argue with being able to watch YouTube and read the (soon-to-be-free) Wall Street Journal online during your morning commute?

15 November 2007

The Alphabet As Art

David Airey has a beautiful collection of pics of the alphabet up on his blog. Pulled from a number of sources, these are incredible examples of thinking outside of the box to find typography in alternative environments, and create art through letterforms.

This one, from c71123 is simply amazing: the American sign language alphabet as demonstrated by matchbooks.

Check out the rest here.

13 November 2007

Hello, Hulu

I recently received an invite to the private beta of NBC and News Corps joint venture in online video, Hulu.

So far, I’m pleasantly surprised, though not overwhelmingly, and I spent several hours late in the night watching Kitchen Nightmares on Sunday.

The site itself is simple and sleek, and the video quality is pretty nice.

But right now, there are two big issues:

First, and most problematic, is the limited selection. With only Fox and NBC signed on at the moment, there is a lot of TV programming missing in action. For currently-running shows, episodes are kept for only a limited time, which means that as of right now, there’s no way to watch the first or second episode of the season for shows like The Office or Heroes or (ugh) K-Ville. This is annoying, but becomes extremely problematic if you decide to embed a video on your blog. After a few weeks, it will expire.

Second, there’s no way to take these episodes elsewhere. I can’t watch them on my iPhone, or a Zune, or on my laptop while on a plane (or in some other off-the-grid location). If NBC or ABC or anyone truly want to take on iTunes, they need to provide a real alternative to the super-easy method Apple has devised for making content mobile. Until this happens, a site like Hulu is little more than another (admittedly legal) way to watch episodes online - something you can already do on dozens of sites.

I’ll keep my eye on this site, though. It’s much better than what the major networks have offered in the past, and has much more potential.

12 November 2007

Quotation Mark Overload

IMG_0242.JPG
Originally uploaded by frivmo

This huge sign on the front of recently-opened Pret a Manger on 6th Avenue and 47th Street, is nothing short of a typographical travesty. It also fails miserably from both a marketing and a linguistic standpoint.

But a sign doesn’t a restaurant make, right? How is the food?

‘Good.’

Tasty Del.icio.us Links Of The Day

“Shaken, Not Stirred” Edition:

09 November 2007

What You Should Be Doing On Friday Afternoons

If you aren’t catching Layer Tennis at 3 p.m. Eastern on Friday afternoons, you’re missing out on an awesome way to spend the final few hours of work doing practically nothing.

If you’re in a creative profession, you can even pass this off as “research.”

Layer Tennis puts two fantastic digital artists head-to-head in a battle that takes place within the Adobe Creative Suite of applications. Ten lightning-fast 15-minute rounds of creative remixing and reimagining, with expert commentary from some of the internet’s finest writers (including John Gruber of Daring Fireball and Heather Armstrong of Dooce fame.)

The forums are really exciting to participate in as the match goes down, and Coudal Partners (who sponsors this event) has created a bunch of mini-competitions, so those watching can win some sweet prizes.

And when the match ends, all the source files are published for downloading, remixing, and sharing with everyone else. More prizes for good remixes, too.

Don’t miss it. This week: Scott Hansen v. Rob Cordiner with play-by-play courtesy of Alissa Walker.

08 November 2007

Tasty Del.icio.us Links Of The Day

Linkety Split!

Where Are All The Brands?

Facebook’s new ad platform is in day two, and I had the chance last night to check it out more thoroughly.

I remain underwhelmed, and am finding it extremely difficult to locate brands, products, and stores to befriend. With over a 45 minutes of intense searching, I was only able to locate 10 “pages” of which to become a “fan.” Pretty sad, especially considering that about half of these (I’m talking about the Apple ones) are pretty likely to be fake pages created by some random guy or girl on Facebook. Here’s what I’ve got:

Does Facebook have any sort of verification process for these pages? How do they know that I’m not authorized to create the MySpace page?

And are they going to make these pages easier to find? Or will companies have to pay for this “privilege?”

Can you find more companies? Become my friend and I’ll be able to see them, or just post your list in the comments.

If you’ve got a company or product on Facebook, let me know in the comments and I’ll be your fan. Definitely.

07 November 2007

Facebook Revolutionizes Advertising!

Gaping Void

Are you a fan-sumer?

Does that term make you want to stab yourself on the inside of your elbow with an electric-pencil-sharpener-sharpened paper clip?

Well, beware of Facebook these days, dear friend. Today they’ve launched a new advertising initiative aimed at letting you do what you’ve always dreamed of: become an unpaid shill for products and brands you like. And, perhaps even more so, use Facebook to “stalk” Coca Cola or Apple or Product (RED). I know, I know, hold back the tears of joy.

Here's what is changing:
You now have a way to connect with products, businesses, bands, celebrities and more on Facebook. (You mean aside from the Sponsored Pages and Groups that already existed? Wow! Amazing!)

Ads should be getting more relevant and more meaningful to you. (Like this one?)
You now have the option to share actions you take on other sites with your friends on Facebook. (More specifically, you have the option to opt-out of sharing actions you take on other sites on a case-by-case basis, which for some will raise privacy concerns, and for others - like me - it will be seen as kinda stupid. )

Nick Carr:

Facebook, which distinguished itself by being the anti-MySpace, is now determined to out-MySpace MySpace. It's a nifty system: First you get your users to entrust their personal data to you, and then you not only sell that data to advertisers but you get the users to be the vector for the ads. And what do the users get in return? An animated Sprite Sips character to interact with.

Ultimately, I fail to see how this is new. Or interesting. And I’m sure Facebook will make plenty of money with it, but don’t think advertisers will fare as well. I stand by my assertion that the future of advertising is being shown ads when you are looking for something. Ads as information, not as roadblocks. Yes, I see the value in being able to befriend brands (and I’ve talked about this before, too), but what Facebook’s doing here isn’t new. MySpace has done it forever, and even Facebook has - though they used to charge companies for the “honor” of creating a profile page.

Now, you too can make a page for your product, just like I have here for Frivmo Design (new site on the way soon, by the way!).

Some screenshots:

More discussion here.

06 November 2007

05 November 2007

Where’s My Gphone?

No such thing But something pretty awesome, anyway.

Despite all of the very interesting speculation over the last few months, we're not announcing a Gphone. However, we think what we are announcing -- the Open Handset Alliance and Android -- is more significant and ambitious than a single phone. In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today.

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications -- all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation.

Cool stuff. Can’t wait to get a look at it.

One of the most important things this will do: Accelerate the migration into The Cloud.

BREAKING: Microsoft Rips Off Companies Other Than Apple!

This was the easiest Photoshop job ever.

Microsoft’s slogan for the new Zune 2 is “You Make It You.” The second part of that, which was removed at some point in the committee-run design process, was “We Make It Like Somebody Else.”

This time around, the fabled Redmond Photocopiers (great video by David Pogue here, by the way) turned their lasers on South Korean wireless handset-maker LG Electronics and its popular(?) “Chocolate” mobile phone. If we’re being generous (really generous), we’ll say that Microsoft did this on purpose so that fashion-forward (that term seems so inappropriate here) gadgeteers can purchase a music player that matches their cellphone (that, uh, already plays music). I guess it was too hard for Microsoft to copy the curves of iPhone, even though pretty much everyone else is doing it (check Gizmodo or Engadget for frequent cases of this phenomenon).

Gosh, can no one design their own gadget these days?

Just one more reason not to buy a Zune this Christmas (or EVER).

Special thanks to my one true human love for pointing this out to me last week, and to Microsoft for being exceedingly easy to mock.

Tasty Del.icio.us Links Of The Day

Huge-mongous List O’ Links:

Google Phone?

Today at 11a.m. Eastern, Google is supposed to be making an announcement related to its (much-rumored) mobile strategy. According to everyone in the know, it will involve something of a partnership with a long list of major players in the mobile carrier and handset markets.

What is this mystery phone?

How does this affect Apple?

And will I have to choose between my two favorite companies?

More here, after the announcement.

02 November 2007

It’s Not About Facebook

Updates on OpenSocial:

It’s now live.
I don’t think this has anything to do with competing with Facebook. I don’t think Google cares about Facebook, to be frank. And I don’t think there’s a single thing worth being scared of.
MySpace is now one of the partners.
It’s in Facebook’s best interest to join.
It’s in our best interest that as many sites join as possible.
Dave Winer says this about Google: “It's the hurt of the software industry, moving away from serving users, and getting spun in its own drama.” In doing so, he completely fails to grasp what’s going on here, while coming across sounding like a crochety old man and small infant simultaneously, with his complaints about not being told about it personally (“But Google is keeping people like me far away, which suggests that there may actually be no “there” there.”). Boo hoo, Dave, sir.
Very interesting thought from Nick Carr: “But given the fact that the OpenSocial consortium includes Oracle, Salesforce.com, LinkedIn, and Google itself, it's clear that businesses are an important target of the initiative.”
OpenSocial brings everyone together. Just like in real life, social networks will be connected. The new leading social network is not Facebook, not MySpace, not Orkut. It’s called The Internet.
I wonder what kind of monetization will happen.
This has a lot of Google Apps implications.
Facebook is the soupe du jour. It’s hip and cool now, but users like to move around to . The brilliance of OpenSocial is that it’s not an all-or-nothing approach. It recognizes that there is a benefit to niche communities, and that not all users have a desire for an all-in-one portal-style network like Facebook or MySpace. Allowing the niche players to communicate and connect is a big deal.

01 November 2007

BlogRush Sends Evil Emails

UPDATE: After a comment from Andy Beard, I have changed the title of this post, because accusing (even hyperbolically and in the heat of the moment) John Reese of spamming me is wrong, and potentially harmful to his reputation and business. The email is clearly not spam, and I am, after all, on a list that I (apparently) opted into when signing up to try out BlogRush.

I’ve pretty much ignored other emails I’ve received from BlogRush in the past couple weeks (about one a week), but this one caught my eye, because I was genuinely surprised by the subject line. I read it, and, as I mention in my response to Andy’s comment below, I was insulted and offended by the assertion that if you aren’t a totally hardcore member of the BlogRush network, then they have no desire for your business and will delete your blog automatically. This is, in my view, an unfortunate move for such a new service, and raises some real concerns about the strength of the network, which, by all accounts will only work well if made up of power users. To me, this is a shift from the initial promise of the network, and now sounds like another “fat get fatter” kind of thing. Maybe I’m wrong, and I’d love the hear that I am, because BlogRush did seem interesting at first.

All that said, my main point - which is that the email is horrifying - still stands. From a buzz standpoint, it has certainly worked, but the long, rambling, finger-pointing, and LOUD message isn’t something that works for me when it comes to selling your service. If I were to write a tutorial on how not to do business email newsletters, this would be a prime example.

Anyway, my apologies to John, who I’m sure is a really great guy. Here’s the rest of my original post:

One day late for Halloween, I received a horrifying email in my Inbox from BlogRush, a traffic-building widget service I got wind of from Andy Beard’s Niche Marketing blog and tried out for a couple weeks back in September. At the time, I was making some layout tweaks to my blog, and ultimately decided against keeping the widget on my site, and I haven’t paid much attention to how BlogRush has been doing since then.

Until now. Or rather, ten minutes ago, when I received this most terrifying message with a subject line so spammy I’m surprised it made it past Google’s Spam Filter (“42% Increase In Free Traffic”), and I am now reposting it below with comments in brackets, emphasis (though not capitalization) entirely mine:

THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS *CRITICAL*
INFORMATION. PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT
TO READ IT RIGHT NOW. [Holy God, Save Me]

In This Message:

- TrafficJam.com Is Coming [Woo!]
- 42% Increase In Free Traffic [Double Woo!]
- Widget Performance Monitoring [Blah...]
- All Members Must Be Displaying The Widget [WTF?]
- Closing In On ONE BILLION Blog Headlines [Nice work, BlogRush]

We’ve received TONS of positive feedback on the
release of “Phase 2″ for BlogRush! [And boy is it heavy! Whew!]

Members are really happy with the new Dashboard
stats and reporting as well as all the new
features — including the new “thin widget” option
and “BUZZ” meter. And many are especially excited
about the important news we released about our
upcoming “TrafficJam” sister site.

If you haven't yet experienced the new
"Phase 2" of BlogRush (and viewed the
new VIDEO inside) make sure to login
to your account to check it out:
http://www.blogrush.com

*********************************************
TrafficJam.com Is Coming [Dun dun dun...]

*********************************************

TrafficJam (which will be located at
TrafficJam.com) will take the hottest posts from
across the BlogRush network and rank them by
category based on our “BUZZ” meter technology.
This site will be another way for our users to
drive more free traffic to their blogs.
We expect many Internet users will start using
TrafficJam to keep up with the latest news about
the niche they are interested in, as well as a
great resource for bloggers to find important
blog posts from other bloggers so they can then
write about them (and link to them!) on their own
blogs.

*********************************************

42% Increase In Free Traffic

*********************************************
42% Increase In Free Traffic Sent To BlogRush
Members In Last 48 Hours

Since releasing Phase 2 we’ve seen a 42% increase
in click-rates (i.e. the free traffic members
receive) across the entire network. This is
mostly due to the release of the thin widget
option.

Many of our users had blogs that could
not accommodate the standard widget size and
were forced to place the widget at the very bottom
of their pages — this was contributing to lower
click-rates across the network.

And we’re about to make additional changes to
dramatically improve the click-through rates
which is what will send every member even more
traffic…

*********************************************
Widget Performance Monitoring

*********************************************

The #1 reason BlogRush isn’t sending the maximum
free traffic to all of its members is simple…
many users are placing the widget very low on
their blogs where most people won’t even see it.

Did you know that over 1,500 BlogRush users
(across nearly all network categories) are
receiving average daily click-through rates
between 1% and 2% on the BlogRush widget on their
blog? [OMG, Really?]

And it should also be no surprise that these
users are getting a higher rate of referral
activity than everyone else — more bloggers click
their “Add Your Blog Posts” widget link and sign
up for BlogRush. (Because more people SEE their
widget.)

ALL of those users have ONE THING in common…
they have the BlogRush widget positioned high up on
their blog where a lot of people will see it! [Wow, insightful]

So right now you could be receiving 10 TIMES (or
more) traffic from BlogRush, but the reason why
you don’t is because so many of our users are
placing the widget very low on their blogs where
it’s not being seen — and those poor performing
widgets are hurting the overall network
click-rates.

YOUR BLOG POSTS are only appearing inside those
1%-2% click-rate widgets on rare occasion (which
is what will send you the most traffic). The rest
of the time your posts are appearing inside
widgets that no one can even see! (Which is why
you aren’t getting more traffic.)

Here’s What We’re Doing About It

[Here’s where things start to get really scary...]
We’ll soon be adding “widget performance
monitoring” to our network. Any users that have
low-performing widgets will be automatically
notified that they need to improve the
positioning for the widget on their blogs.
Failure to improve their widget performance (which can be done by giving the widget higher placement) will remove that user from the network. THIS IS THE ONLY *FAIR* WAY TO DO IT.

“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, I KNOW, I KNOW…”

Since we originally launched BlogRush about 6
weeks ago, we encountered some problems that we
had to deal with… we had to increase our security
measures to stop people from abusing the network,
which we did… then we had an issue with
low-quality blogs in the network… and we worked
very hard to manually review ALL blogs, we had to
make some tough decisions to remove over 10,000
from the network, and now we have a fantastic,
high-quality network of member blogs, BUT…

Before we fixed all of these problems, the
quality and performance of the network was poor
and it didn’t send as much traffic to our members
— which we were very unhappy about, and the sole
reason we’ve worked so hard to fix things. SOO…
it has been a “Catch-22″ for many of our
members…

“Why should I give the BlogRush widget higher
placement when I’m not getting much traffic from
it!”

And for those that have this reaction, it’s
PERFECTLY UNDERSTANDABLE...

*I* would, personally, feel the exact same way.

But we now have the data that PROVES that
BlogRush, as a system for driving valuable,
targeted blog readers to other blogs, 100% WORKS.
It just requires that our members give the widget
high enough placement so visitors will see it and
can use it.

[SCARIER!!!!!]

So here’s what I’m asking all of our members that
currently don’t have the widget placed very high
up on their blogs… PLEASE immediately move the widget higher up on your blog. (Thank You.)

Just give it a chance as we encourage everyone to
give the widget higher placement and at least see
what happens. If you aren’t happy later, then by
all means, remove the widget from your blog. It’s
that easy.

BlogRush was created as a truly COOPERATIVE
system to drive tons of valuable targeted traffic
to blogs. It only works for those willing to be
fair to the other members.

BY THE WAY, if you’re one of our valued members
that DOES have the widget placed high on your
blog, “Thank You!” You’re doing your fair
contribution to the network and we sincerely
appreciate it. (And you’ll be rewarded for it.)

[EEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!]

Do we require that the widget be placed at the
absolute very top of your blog? NO. But if you
place the widget so that it is immediately in
view when someone loads your blog, or at the very
least is seen shortly after someone starts to
scroll, you can pretty much guarantee that you
won’t be receiving a “widget performance WARNING”
from our system asking you to improve the
placement.

If you will be unable to give the widget good placement on your blog (similar to what is mentioned above) then please go ahead and remove the BlogRush widget from your blog, because I’m afraid you won’t be able to meet our new widget performance requirements. It’s just not fair for our other users to be giving YOUR BLOG POSTS great exposure on their blogs if you aren’t willing to do the same for theirs.

[Absolute terror.]

*********************************************
All Members Must Be Displaying The Widget

*********************************************

This is something that we’ve let slide a bit as
we’ve been fixing all the major issues we
encountered. We understand that many users took
the widget off their blog so they could take a
“wait and see” approach before putting it back.

But now the time has come to enforce a new rule
for the network… if you’re not displaying the
widget on your blog you cannot earn or use
syndication credits for your account. [No way?!] For any
time that the widget is not active on your
blog(s) that you have set up in your account,
none of your posts will be syndicated and your
account will not accumulate any additional
credits.

Your referral network and activity will remain
intact, as will any existing credit balance, but
you will not be earning any new credits (or using
any) during the time the widget is not being
actively displayed.

This is the only FAIR WAY for the network to
work. Many of our members that have been making a
solid effort to contribute to the network have
complained that they click on links inside their
widget only to find a blog that’s not showing the
widget.

So we’re putting an end to this as it just isn’t
fair.

And any members that have an inactive widget for
an extended period of time (30+ days) may be
terminated from the network and have their
accounts permanently closed.

Please know that we are working VERY HARD to help
drive tons of traffic to your blog. We’ve got
lots of new services and plans in the works! Our
success with BlogRush is based solely on YOUR
SUCCESS of getting lots of traffic from our
network. So please know that all of these “rules”
and moves that we are making are with that sole
focus in mind.

We are quickly heading towards our ONE BILLIONTH
blog headline served!

Maybe we’ll throw a little party when that
happens? :)

And a big “Thank You” to everyone for their
patience, understanding, and also valued
constructive criticism!

Best Regards,

John Reese, Founder of BlogRush

I mistakenly left this most important part out at first:

If you want to cancel your BlogRush account and no longer receive
emails from our system, please click here:xxxxxxxxx

This is just terrible. Horrible. Unimaginable. What kind of response is Reese expecting? Does he think that there will be cheers of “Oh yes, Johnny, we looooove BlogRush. We want to have a party with you, so we’ll put the ugly-looking no-good non-high-quality wannabe-traffic-bringing widget right next to our logo and hold hands with other scammy pathetic blogging losers and sing ‘Perfect Harmony’ all day long.” God.

Now, I’m sure John Reese knows something I don’t about sending ~~spam~~ marketing emails - after all, he made nearly a million on a domain name sale years ago - but if anyone ever sends me an email like this, you can rest assured that the absolute nicest thing I will do with it is swiftly move it to my spam folder.

A Blog About Nothing has some issues with BlogRush worth checking out, too. Gosh people...

“Do Not Track” Stupidity

A do-not-track list has been proposed by some privacy and consumer advocacy groups, to allow web surfers to opt out of behavior-tracking online as it relates to advertising. This list, unsurprisingly, is modeled after the popular “Do-Not-Call” list that takes your number off telemarketing directories, but there are some important distinctions that make this a really stupid idea.

First, it’s important to clarify what happens in behavioral advertising and why privacy groups are concerned.

Watch this video:

Now, the video is made by Google, so it’s got some spin on it, but the basics are spot on. Behavioral advertising keeps track of your search queries and clicks to serve up more relevant ads. Using your IP address to get a rough idea of your location (only your Internet Service Provider knows precisely who you are), and any other information you explicitly choose to provide (like if you opt in to Google’s Personalized Search and tell them your address and browsing history, for example), the company serving ads is able to bring you more targeted and relevant ads. The benefits to this are obvious: if you search for the word “bass,” for example, keeping logs of previous queries you’ve made will help Google decide whether you’re looking for something related to fish or something related to music.

And so the privacy concerns come in mostly in regard to a company like Google being able to “remember you” as you surf the web and encounter AdSense ads on sites in its content network, but also (inexplicably) for individuals who explicitly agree to share their personal information.

I’ll be the first to say that I have always been confused by the focus on things like this for the simple fact that, unless you give Google explicit permission to know who you are, all it can possibly know (or assume, rather), is that you are the same person who initiated the browsing session and that you live somewhere in New York City. Also, I’m baffled by the concept of a machine being able to invade your privacy by feeding random bits of data through some algorithm and automatically returning some response. Last I checked, a machine is not a person and can’t know anything about me unless I give it information. This is a deep philosophical question that I don’t believe we’re fully ready to grasp at this point in time, but is important to keep in mind as artificial intelligence inches closer to becoming a reality.

Anyway, I digress. Skepticism about privacy concerns aside, what about the proposed Do-Not-Track list is idiotic?

Well, unlike the Do-Not-Call list, being on this new list doesn’t mean you’ll be able to avoid ads. Actually, a quite negative side-effect of being on such a list is that you’ll encounter far more completely irrelevant ads while you browse from site to site. You can’t avoid them altogether (unless you’re willing to pay cash to view websites, and unless you’re crazy you aren’t going to want to do that), so it strikes me as counterproductive to opt in to being more annoyed by ads than you are likely to be if they have something to do with what you’re looking for or interested in. Seems dumb.

Additionally, it’s hard not to appreciate this irony: in order to be on this list, you have to tell these companies who you are. You are basically consenting to be tracked to the end of not being tracked. Yes, there’s a difference, I guess. But it works exactly the same way. As a matter of fact, it seems like being on the list works more like signing up for Personalized Search than the default cookie-storing and session-based behavior of search engines and ad networks. Of course, the people overseeing the list would never ever use it for evil. Right? Right?

In the end, comparing the Do Not Track list to the Do Not Call list is unfair and misleading. Unlike the DNC list, you’re not getting rid of anything by signing up for this one. The only way you benefit is if you have an irrational fear of companies like Google and a lack of understanding about how they operate and what information they collect. You’ll feel some peace of mind, I guess, but little else will change.

As I’ve said before, if you’re truly concerned about privacy, you should be looking at your Internet Service Provider, who knows far more about you and your online history than companies like Google ever could. These companies have your real name, address, phone number, credit card information, browsing and search and email history, p2p and BitTorrent activity, often also all incoming and outgoing phone calls, and your television-watching habits. Unlike Google, this information is stored in a far less transparent way. Google at least lets you see precisely what information it has about you and tries its hardest to resist handing over this information to the courts. Comcast and Optimum and Verizon and these folks keep everything to themselves, except when they feel like selling it to marketers and freely sharing it with the government.

In any event, watch this space. The ~~FCC~~ FTC is having a town hall meeting today about these very issues. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of it.

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