But first a nerdy side note on the story; some funny things happened when I started my research on this post.  I first turned to Google (naturally) to discover the links to Seth’s blog post.  I used the following search:

Google: link:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/ads-are-the-new.html -site:typepad.com Which returned 0 results, surprising for Google.  MSN had the same problem, link:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/a returning 0 results.

Yahoo however found what I was looking for: link:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/08/ads-are-the-new.html -site:typepad.com = 100+ items

Next I looked at Nielsen’s Buzzmetrics tool BlogPulse which shows a nice quantity (25+) of links to the blog post. The problem being they missed the most important one- mine!  Now I’m not a Top 100 blogger by any means, but I do have a decent following and readership.  I’ve a got a fairly good Technorati score (220+) and Alexa Rank (322,000), so why doesn’t 1 Good Reason make it with BlogPulse?

This then led me to look at Seth’s blog post again and wonder about the Trackbacks.  It seemed that the only Trackbacks Seth was showing were for complimentary blog posts.  So I wrote to him and asked him about it; Seth answered that he approves “EVERY SINGLE trackback that comes through typepad”.  Which made me wonder why my trackback wasn’t coming through Seth’s Typepad blog.

There I discovered a difference in the way that WordPress handles trackbacks form other WordPress blogs, compared to the way they handle them with other bloging platforms.  Let’s skip the tech stuff and just say you should be sure to include trackbacks for blogs in your posting, it’s a pain but worth it.

And finally a last point about Seth’s blog.  In my correspondence with Seth I suggested to him that revisit his commenting system.  Several years ago, Joseph Jaffe over at Jaffe Juice commented that Seth’s blog didn’t take comments.  That’s my first recollection of this, perhaps you have others?  But since then I’ve been not alone in the impression that Seth holds himself to be above the fray, and doesn’t accept comments on his blog.  Well I found that is wrong.  Seth does accept comments, it’s just very hard to find them in the 8 point small print at the footer of each blog post.  So I would suggest to Seth that unless he doesn’t want people to comment, he should make it a bit easier and more apparent.

CORRECTION: Seth, doesn’t take comments on his blog.  I was confused by the comments link on the Diggs for the post, where there are a number of comments.  Seth explains his reasoning for not taking comments here.  After reading that post I have to say that I don’t agree with Seth.  Thinking about the reactions of others to your writing, or speaking, is called being “SOCIAL.”  And that’s what Social Media is all about.

Here are the main articles I’ve found surrounding this issue:  (this list is stolen, in part from BlogPulse, and I’m not sorry because you didn’t list my blog.)

• 08/22/2008 The stupidest thing Seth Godin ever said. (from: THIS VERY BLOG!)
• 08/22/2008 Seth Godin Wants to Cheat Advertisers with Fake Clicks (from: This Feed Powered by FeedBurner.com)
  • 08/25/2008 Seth Godin May Be Costing You Money (from: More Than Scratch The Surface)
  • 08/26/2008 Bloggers deserve real tips not stolen goods! (from: Joe Hall)
  • 08/26/2008 Do NOT Click Here (from: Apogee Weblog)
• 08/22/2008 Please leave your €1 at the sidebar (from: Carl-Johan Hunefalk » Internet Marketing Strategy by Carl-Johan Hunefalk)
• 08/22/2008 The Thank You Click (from: SortiPreneur)
• 08/22/2008 Is Seth Godin encouraging click fraud? (from: BlogStorm)
  • 08/22/2008 Controversy: Seth Godin Asks Blog Readers to Treat Ads as the New Online Tip Jar and Click (from: Gauravonomics)
  • 08/22/2008 Not Seth Godin’s Best Advice (from: Ask Shane.org)
  • 08/23/2008 Seth Godin Mis-Speaks on Click Thru (from: Blog To Great)
• 08/22/2008 Ads the New Online Tip Jar? Maybe in Small Quantities (from: The Daily Igniter Customer Analytics Blog)
• 08/22/2008 Online tip jars (from: My Digital Life)
• 08/22/2008 Click Fraud? (from: Mining the Store)
• 08/22/2008 Do You Know How To Thank A Blogger? (from: YourHRGuy.com)
• 08/22/2008 Online Ads Aren’t Quite the New Tip Jar (from: Bootstrap It!)
• 08/22/2008 In the economy of ideas (from: Perspective 2.0)
• 08/22/2008 Friday Stupid (from: Tech Soapbox)
  • 08/24/2008 Should You Click an Ad to “Support” a Blog? (from: Portland’s Finest Advertising Blog)
• 08/22/2008 Seth Godin vs Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (from: karchesky)
• 08/22/2008 Seth Godin wiffs one. (from: The Disciplined Marketer)
• 08/22/2008 The Seth Godin Tip Jar (from: Some Rights Reserved)
• 08/22/2008 Seth Godin: Help Publishers; Screw Advertisers (from: freddie.dot.see.eh? two.point.oh)
• 08/23/2008 links for 2008-08-23 (from: contentious.com)
• 08/25/2008 Web Ads 2.0 (from: Buzz, Balls & Hype )

However this list is not nearly complete because it missed among others, this post by Joseph Jaffe.

So what do you think?

OH yea!  Be sure to look for next weeks BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Tanks for reading,

Chris

Seth today proposes that we should simply click on ads on blogs that we like.

Seth Godin’s Blog: “If you like what you’re reading, click an ad to say thanks.”

Seth’s post today promotes theft of services!

There is no difference between Seth’s post today, and a Bank Manager telling you how to successfully kite checks.

A store security guard giving you advice on how to shoplift.

Seth is a Marketer.  And a very internet savvy one at that.  His site search lists 136 results for Website Design, and 246 for SEO.  So Seth knows how the internet works.  He especially knows how Pay Per Click (PPC) works as evidenced by this post written back in 2006 when he still explained technical details, now he just does “big picture, high level, strategy stuff.”  I’m telling you this so you know that Seth understands the details of PPC and the details of how the PPC economy works.

Seth today proposes that we should simply click on ads on blogs that we like.  This will pay the website owner for the free content they have provided.  This way only the advertisers will have to pay for the useless clicks they receive. Seth even goes on to say that, “Pretty simple, but not an accepted online protocol, at least not yet.”

For a big picture guy like Seth this a really stupid idea. For an experienced online marketing expert like Seth- this borders on criminal conspiracy.

On successful sites people start clicking all sorts of ads.  Good advertisers leave these sites in droves because the ROI drops out the bottom.  Click Fraud becomes the accepted Standard Operational Procedure for people to do business on the web, if this becomes “an accepted online protocol.”

Just to clear up any confusion here is Google’s take on the idea: (quoted from the Adwords Help section

Google defines invalid clicks as:

• Manual clicks intended to increase your advertising costs or to increase profits for website owners hosting your ads
• Clicks by automated tools, robots, or other deceptive software
• Extraneous clicks which provide no value to the advertiser, such as the second click of a double-click

Don’t be fooled by Google’s spin, “invalid clicks” is CLICK FRAUD.  Seth’s idea is to promote Click Fraud as a way to encourage Bloggers to write more.

Maybe SEO’s should Google Bomb Seth? Seth Godin is a thief.

A Better Alternative

Hey Seth, why don’t you suggest that we enter a friend’s name on a subscription for a good blog?  That’s good for the blog and good for the environment.  How about building things up instead of tearing them down, eh Seth?

What do you think?

Tanks for reading,

Chris

A good friend sent me a job posting that was on MediaBistro.  The job described was a perfect match so I applied for it.  It turns out that that job didn’t exist, and never existed.  The recruiter had created the posting to gather emails and resumes.

I wrote an angry email to the recruiter telling them they were being deceitful and to remove me from their database.  The reply included the following:

“We wrote a general posting and purposely made it look like a ‘general’ posting. That general posting is currently on our site including this line: “We service a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 100 powerhouses to small boutique digital ad agencies. They all have one thing in common – they trust and depend on Aquent…The same posting on our site has the city listed as New Jersey indicating that there is no specific city.

…Aquent does NOT make a practice of attempting to deceive its talent or prospective talent. We make every effort to set realistic expectations with everyone we work with.”

My response included this:

“You are creating postings for the purpose of collecting emails and resumes with no specific product to offer the respondent to your ad.  If you were selling hard products in a brick and mortar store you would be clearly guilty of fraudulent advertising. The flaw is in writing a job posting to begin with, no amount of fine print or qualifications in the posting will circumvent the fact that you have no job (product) to offer with the ad.

Surely you can find a better way to contact qualified candidates where you can begin your relationship on a honest footing?  Because a relationship begun in this manner will never be mutually beneficial.  I will always know that you are deceitful and I can therefore never trust you to be honest with me or to work with my best interests in mind.

I suggest that you reexamine your moral perspective on this.  And please honor my request to remove me from your database.”

Last week I attended the Digital Publishing & Advertising Conference and during the Keynote Panel, a man proudly introduced himself from the stage in this way; “My job is to make loans online, by any means necessary,” he is a VP at CitiGroup. Hearing him describe himself in that fashion sent chills down my spine.

The point here is that CitiGroup, Aquent, and too many others in the service industry feel that fraudulent or misleading advertising is fine.  Advertising non-existent products simply to gather information on qualified prospects is accepted as the norm.

I won’t be using CitiGroup or Aquent any time soon.  And companies who employ these tactics will find that the web and the power of social media will be following them. Google has a very long memory. Hopefully the shame and social pressure to do the right thing can cause people to do this type of wrong thing less often.

NOTE: I thought long and hard about whether to include ANY names in this post, company or individuals.  I decided that individuals are not to blame, but that the pervasive attitude accepting these tactics at the companies and in the industries is to blame.  Therefore I excluded the individuals but included the companies- hoping that the notoriety of this blog post will begin to turn the tide.  (If you would like to help with this effort Digg, or Sphinn or StumbleUpon, the article with the company names as keywords.)  And by the way I’m still looking for a job…although not at CitiGroup or Aquent.

Tanks for reading,

Chris

But no, I didn’t decide to write about the rapidly evolving Social Media landscape.

How to connect with people in the social realm, now that’s a good topic. People always want to know about that. I recently wrote the Guide to Social Media Guides which is a good place to start. A while ago I also discussed my personal experiences with How I Game Social Media which was also popular with all 4 of my readers (thanks family.)

That’s what I could have written about,
if I had half a brain. But Noooooooo

I still had to look for something different. Hell, I could even write about Mariah Carey, that post got lots of traffic, too.

Now, I don’t want to shoot the president (of the United States). And I should probably steer clear of writing about that again. Although I got lots and lots of friend requests from the Middle East on Facebook after that. But it’s best not to stir up that hornet’s nest again.

Hmmm, seems to be a theme building here. My most popular posts are about Sex (Erin & Mariah), and Politics (The President) and Guides (Social Media).

So maybe I should write a Guide to Sex and Politics?

But honestly, there are many that are much better qualified than me to write about these things. (And now you’re wondering why there aren’t any links here? Links to these better guides to sex and politics? Because I’m an SEO guy and I know that Google doesn’t like links to unsavory neighborhoods. So you won’t find them here. But you could find them here.)

So now I’ve avoided the obvious best choices to write about, what’s left? Well, I could have decided to discuss the discussion. Talk about talking. It is after all, the Age of Conversation, so it would appropriate to discuss it. So is that what I decided to write about?

Actually, I’m not allowed to tell you, show you, or post the chapter I wrote about for the book The Age of Conversation. All I’m allowed to do is show you a little snippet of what I wrote:

There are Non-Human Entities among us. Many people have seen them, or claim to have seen them. They move amongst us quietly, unseen by most. However, they carry immense power. These things can make or break companies, individuals, and careers.

There that’s it. I can’t tell you more. No! Don’t Ask Me Again! You’re just trying to get me into trouble! So just leave me alone about this. OK? Why don’t you read what some of the other authors write about:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

BLUF: in the spirit of www.WebPagesThatSuck.com these are examples of what not to do in marketing your products, or ideas.

#1 Boy Scouts of America- The man in the new BSA Monument (erected in Wash DC) is naked. Let me repeat that the man is naked! WTF? I was a boy scout and I think this is the stupidest possible representation they could have chosen. For god’s sake people it’s about the boys- not the men and women they become.

I can understand how via some convoluted path that they got there. But how could all of the people involved let it happen? Didn’t someone say something like, “Hey the Man is Naked!” Don’t you moron’s read the papers? It’s just stupid, IMHO.

#2 Google Friend Connect- Google’s new Friend Connect service promotes itself with their first Example Site which shows the following video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Is it just me, or do you think that a soulless person killing himself is a poor choice for a promotion?

Maybe I’m too old for this stuff anymore, but I think it’s a poor choice and a terrible perception to give your visitors. There are literally a gazabijillion sites Google could have chosen, why pick something depressing? Why pick something with religious overtones? Why not pick something good, uplifting, positive instead? I just don’t get it.

#3 E*Trade Baby Puke- This commercial has been saturating CNN recently. The version I found on YouTube is 30 seconds but the most common version I’m seeing is 15 seconds ending with the baby puking.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So Mr. E*Trade Marketing person answer me this- why do you wish to leave the image of a baby, or anyone at all, puking as the last impression your potential client sees? Why not have the baby laughing/excited/joyful, instead?

I just don’t get it- can someone, anyone please explain this crap to me?

My First Facebook Chat Was Spam!

Below is the complete text of my first Facebook Chat Session using the just released Facebook Chat Feature. Let me set the stage for you:

A lazy Saturday morning, nearing 11AM I’m poking around on the net and happen to have Facebook open. I’m surprised to receive my first chat request from someone named Nay. I have 645 Facebook Friends, not a huge number but enough to make them not all known to me. You can only chat with people you are friends with. So obviously Nay and I are friends but unfortunately that’s about all I know about Nay. Until that is, I receive the following message:

Nay

hi
how are you?

10:53am Chris

hi, i’m fine

10:54am Nay

that’s good
please visit www.freerohingyacampaign.org

10:55am Chris

so you’re just chatting me to pump your cause? In other words- SPAM?

10:56am Chris

you there?

10:56am Nay

oh! really sorry

10:57am Chris

you should be.

10:57am Nay

i doesn’t mean that i am pumping you

10:59am Nay

anyway, sorry again for bothering you

take care , bye
have a good day

Now it does appear that Facebook is taking precautions, I think.  You can’t use separate Instant Messaging software with the system.  And it is closed to all of the FB applications, but there is no indication if that’s permanent.  On the other hand it could just be that they are releasing features gradually because you can’t chat with more than one person in a single conversation.  So to have a 3-way chat you have to play monkey in the middle.  And you can’t block any of your friends from sending you a chat- although they say they are working on this feature.  And you can’t review older chats after you close the window- so if you want a record of a FB chat you need to save it immediately.

I guess my question is does the world need yet another online chat application? I don’t think so. (that’s another blog coming soon) Tell me what you think…

Tanks for reading,

Chris

Some dork has decided to sell his Twitter account complete with thousands of people who follow him. And people are up in arms over this. He’s selling “my friendship” on eBay. What’s a community worth?

Let’s see how do I deconstruct this in a level headed dispassionate business manner?

Get a f#$%ing life people!

These people behave as if they own his friendship. It’s the same as saying- my town owes me because it’s “my” town. Or, Maria Carey loves me because I love her! (wouldn’t that be nice!)

I am going to demonstrate my love to Jodie Foster by Shooting the President of the United States. I’ll bet that I have a whole bunch of Secret Service types looking at this blog right now. (Hee, hee; enjoy the Maria picture, boys, it’s just for you. My web analytics are going to be interesting this month

That’s the idea here- If I follow you on Twitter, Link to you on LinkedIn, Friend you on Facebook, etc, etc… Then you owe me!

WTF?

OK, that was fun! Now here’s the business aspect: Engaged people take ownership. They want to be a part of the thing that has become a part of their lives. So stop thinking about writing a blog, or becoming active in social media, and all of the other Web 2.0 stuff. And start doing it!

If you’re not writing a blog or connecting with your “people” your friends, then you’re not getting it. And if you’re not getting it, chances are are competitor who does get it, will eat your lunch.

Tanks for reading,

Chris

PS: Dear Secret Service, I don’t want to shoot Mr. Bush. That would put the Great Satan, Mr. Cheney in charge, which would undoubtedly be worse for all of us.

Since I blogged about the Bloggers Social, which most of my readers don’t likely care about, earlier this week I figured I’d stay in the personal vein with this post and get it all out of my system.

I’m in the final throws of finishing a major rebuilding my master bathroom. Now I’ve completely rebuilt that tiny (not so tiny anymore) room into a fantastic oasis in our home. And my wife Joanne who with infinite patience waited for me to complete it, has designed an incredible space.

Her most unique design idea was to take our old dining room sideboard that had been originally designed as a china cabinet and convert it into a bathroom vanity. It is a stunning place that the pictures don’t do justice for.

I’m very proud of the work because we did every single piece of it, the plumbing, electrical, framing, drywall, tile- everything! And it’s turned out fabulous!

And let me tell you the tile was a real be-atch! Diagonal on the lower wall, with a tile chair rail and square on the top and floor. We tiled from floor to ceiling. And it looks incredible!

And the shower is a dream- huge and spacious with the handle near the entry door and the shower head at the other end. That’s so you can turn on the water and let it warm up without getting wet.

But you want to know the coolest part? I put a plug in the medicine cabinet so you can leave your toothbrush in there to charge with the cabinet door closed. No little glowing lights on the counter. There’s also a plug under the sink so I can plug in my shaver too.

The thing that keeps my wife happy is the whirlpool tub. We’ve not had that kind of luxury before and it’s really fantastic.

So if you don’t mind now I’ll excuse myself to go take a bath-Ta, Ta…

1 Good Reason is an SOB!

I wanted to thank Liz for failing to recognize her error in choosing to give me this honor.  Shhhhsh, don’t tell her and maybe she won’t realize she’s made a mistake!

 Tanks for reading,

Chris

At some point about 2 or 3 years ago I accepted the free subscription to eWeek Magazine. OMG what a mistake! I have been receiving their junk in my email ever since.

Now I am sick to death of the Buyer’s Guides they keep sending me via email. I’m pretty technical and I can’t make my junk mail filter grab them. So I decide to unsubscribe. I want to meet the genius that dreamed up the idea that anyone would want to wait 12 seconds looking at an ad on their way to unsubscribing from their email list.

So besides ticking-off a few people what does this really hurt? If people find it too hard to unsubscribe then they’ll just hit the SPAM button. That will chalk one up in the “bad boys” column for Z-D. It’s not likely that Z-D will be marked a spammer, but have you tried to unsubscribe from your email list recently? Here’s a handy guide to Unsubscribing in 2007 (it’s still relevant) from Lyris and a synopsys blog post too.

The next step in the process is to be presented with a list of over 50 newsletters (small portion of this list at right.) Now in the 21st Century you may think that a big company like Ziff Davis would have a computer that could tell me which of the plethora of stuff they offer I receive. NOT! So I try the easiest approach I just click unsubscribe, where I’m greeted with the cheery:

My delemma; A) I’m trying to UN-subscribe, not subscribe, B) I’m not sure which of the newsletters in your impossibly long list, I receive. C) I’ll ignore the poor grammar even knowing you are a Publisher.

I’m in a hurry, this is painful, I just don’t want your stuff in my mailbox anymore. Frustrated and confused, I select each and every thing on the huge list and UNSUBSCRIBE TO EVERYTHING FROM ZIFF DAVIS.

Now Ziff-Davis, you’ve wasted my time and frustrated me, and I’ll think twice before I ever subscribe to anything you offer again. And remember it’s the 21st Century I have lots and lots of alternatives to the information that you provide.

That should be the end of the story-except it isn’t. Because this isn’t the first or even the second time I’ve tried to get off of the e-Week lists, I’ve unsubscribed at least 3 times in the past 6 months. So if you know anyone over at Ziff-Davis please ask them to get me off of their damned list! OH, and Mr/Ms Ziff-Davis welcome to the age of Social Marketing where any fool with a blog can make trouble for you.

BTW, Gentile Reader you can subscribe and easily unsubscribe to this blog if you like it. The email subscription is a double opt-in process and the unsubscribe is quick and simple.

I promise to remove your name from the list promptly if you encounter any problems.

Tanks for reading,

Chris