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Showing posts with the label advertising

Move Over, Dotcom: Here Comes the New .Whatever! The Ongoing gTLD “Debate”! And Let’s Go Viral!

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Public Domain Photo (Remixed) Wikipedia -- Royal Navy Official Photographer ______________________ He who frames the question wins the debate. – Randall Terry __________________ This post has been divided into three parts, targeted to the following readers: 1. End users and casual internet surfers 2. Domain industry investors 3. The gTLD registries, both new and established 1. For Readers NOT Involved in the Domaining Business: If you are not in the domaining business, you are probably not yet aware of the internet disruption coming your way: the proliferation of the new gTLDs (generic top level domains), the dot-anything revolution. Eventually – perhaps sooner than you might think – you will start seeing websites that look like this: www.Sioux.land (Disclaimer: this is mine) No .com, .net, or .org. Instead, the extension (gTLD) itself is a dictionary word or branded term, often focused on a niche product area (.shoes and .land), specific bran

Chase Bank: Are You KIDDING?

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As a blogger, I am always thinking about finding and developing solid content for my blogs, but, sometimes, gems arrive in my junk mail... The following piece of grandiose wishful thinking, worthy of a Saturday Night Live (SNL) spoof, fell into my lap (personal info deleted, snark in red added): Dear Currently, our records indicate that you are not being mailed offers from Chase [Let's keep it that way; now I will have to waste my time filling out this stupid form] and we wanted you to know we are continually developing new products and services that may be of interest to you [Seriously? I am panting with anticipation at the prospect of being inundated with junk mail from Chase Bank.] . We are updating our prospective customers' preferences for receiving these mailings. We want to be sure that you know about available offers and that you have the opportunity to consider them. [Thank you for thinking of me and my well-being. How considerate!] Please completely fill in

Legalized Lying

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Winston Churchill, 1874-1965 ___________________________________ A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. --Winston Churchill Have you ever had a day when thoughts seem to flow like an oozing sludge? Today is such a day--it must be the back thing caused by the treadmill mishap: I have a compression fracture of the L1, so I'm a bit concerned about that. Tomorrow I'm going to the spine specialist, so that I can get a treatment plan and put the injury out of my mind. Meanwhile, I keep going back to the H.G. Wells quote: "Advertising is legalized lying." Seems especially timely right now: my husband Jerry is shopping around for tires, and the various ads appear to be offering some good deals. However, when he inquires about the so-called deals, suddenly the fees begin piling on: taxes, recycling fee, disposal fee, installation fee, balancing the tires fee, breathing fee--well, almost. Jerry is normally a patient person, but

Shame on You, Jenny Craig for Hawking Your "Breaking News," "Best Program" BS!!!

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Advertising is legalized lying. --H. G. Wells When I wrote the May 12, 2011, article Shame on You, Consumer Reports , I was careful not to include Jenny Craig in any negative way, for JC did not make the decision to use the Jenny Craig sponsored trial "Effect of a Free Prepared Meal and Incentivized Weight Loss Program on Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance in Obese and Overweight Women" to decide "the best" program, but, rather, to test long-term efficacy of diet programs that provide both food and program fees to members for free. I even stressed the following: ...this article is not meant to disparage the Jenny Craig Program, which may be a fine program; I have never been a Jenny Craig member. My issue is with Consumer Reports and its research source for its rating of Jenny Craig. I believed (and still believe) that the underlying objective of the research was to prove that overall program efficacy and members' overall health would improve if

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment