What is referral spam and how do I discourage it?

A note from the management. If you run a blog and you suddenly see an influx of traffic in your referral log, take care. Some of the traffic may be from what are called "blog spammers" or "referral spammers".

Detail is not wordiness

I've noticed a current trend in United States written discourse. "Cursory skimming" is at an all-time high. It stands to reason given the on-demand, internet-search-driven mode of information delivery today. Compound that with Twitter and texting becoming more prevalent and the trend seems pretty pronounced. I'm observing this "skimming mania" in many modes of communication from websites, to emails, to brochures.

With this skimming comes a side-effect. If you do not very explicitly state your meaning on every key point you write, with detail and in several clauses apiece, the reader doesn't find enough key words to catch their eye. They skip right over major points.

What is the result?

Bubbles... tiny bubbles...

Are you experiencing the world? Or are you experiencing your world? With the increasing importance of the Web and Internet Search in our daily lives, it surprises me how many people still don't know...

The Death of the Channel?

So, I am channel surfing the "modern" way... via the channel guide grid. As I do so, I end up stumbling into a channel with the schedule:

The 700 Club religious program at 7.
The Jerry Springer show at 8.
A hunting show at 9.
Some random 90's sit com at 10.

At first this seemed peculiar. Then I considered several options. I'm only hypothesizing, but one reasonable explanation is that this "channel" has lost all cohesion as a brand because it really doesn't intend to be viewed as a channel that holds your attention. One can nimbly schedule content in each half-hour block to compete with other channels' offerings, forgoing any attempt at a channel brand identity. In the new paradigm of on-demand tivo and content that is often discovered by a Search function moreso than channel surfing... this may be the next step beyond the virtual programming blocks like Adult Swim we saw surface a few years ago.

Perhaps to some in "the industry" they know this and can confirm it. But to me looking in from simply a technologist's perspetive, if it isn't the strategy, it certainly makes sense that it can now BECOME the strategy.

How to lose audience by thinking you're "oh so clever" in 3...2...1...

Here's how you can simultaneously show you are incompetent, untrustworthy, show no attention to detail, and have no business speaking to or referring others on important matters... all at the same time! Ready? <Click the jump link>

sin non city...

The recent release of Sim City, in a design driven by paranoid digital rights management and a resulting need to force traffic through centralized sites, has fallen on its face spectacularly. Here is one of many articles outlining the headaches Electronic Arts has pawned off onto paying customers.

This prompts me to share part of the reason I have deliberately not played an EA game since the year 2005.

Hush! We were never here…

When I read articles like this, they bring me to a simple conclusion. We need to evolve our institutions, education and morality at a much faster pace.

We are entering an era where time and the ability to prove someone was ever present are becoming uncertainties. Without careful consideration of what technologies individuals have a right to use in their own defense, we will face astounding challenges of predation.

Brother, can you spare a Yuan?

I’ve seen this argument a lot lately. We’re in a pretty bad spot when even the apologists for debt and the security of the dollar are basing their case on the technicality of, "well, people need the dollar because people use the dollar.” Or worse, “in a world of bad alternatives, the dollar is the best one." It really doesn't take a lot for that to change.