[thelist] RE: link spam a new spam

[ANDREA STREIGHT]

Just to clarify for everyone who was confused or bemused:

No, this is not "a Microsoft smart tag" nor is it a SOP of Microsoft. Show a 
little mercy, please.

No, I don't think I have any spyware, nor is this a typical spyware 
procedure, as far as I know, but I'm no expert on this topic. Others 
probably know tons more about spyware than I do.

No, it doesn't seem to occur on Firefox, judging from anecdotal evidence 
reports on this list. Busted! I haven't had time to install Firefox, I got 
caught up in a project on Seniors and Internet Dangers, a presentation I'm 
doing for some local organizations.

Yes, it seems to be a weird form of advertising, which Roger Ly has 
explained as IntelliTXT from VibrantMedia.com.

Yes, it is the word "entrepreneur" and "non-profit" that contain the foul 
beast.

Yes, it is a type of "spam" in that it is: unrelated to the topic, 
commercial in nature, deceptive and counter-intuitive, in that user 
expectations are violated, a big mistake in web design, unless there's a 
darn good reason for it. Advertising is not a darn good reason, IMHO.

So where is the next pollution of the web coming from? I sure hope this 
idiotic practice doesn't catch on. I dislike, avoid, and ignore ALL 
"sponsored links" in search engine results pages, so I'm sure not going to 
click on them when they lie hidden in hypertext link text.

Wow.

Steven Streight
Web Usability Analyst/Web Artist
astreight at msn.com
vaspersthegrate at yahoo.com
www.vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com
www.streightsite.blogspot.com
www.arttestexplosion.blogspot.com