It's gettin' better all the time...
Don't you just get the feeling that the dot-com shakeout is finally forcing web-based companies to get their acts together?
One of the biggest headaches in the Net world used to be dealing with the dreaded Network Solutions. After being acquired by Verisign, it seems that the good old registrar of domain names has finally got it right. You can now log in with a user name and password and manage your old domain names registered under the old regime of complicated forms, NIC handles and so on. Jolly good.
Posted by Cory
| | Permalink
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
First Kurt, Now This
A-propos of nothing, it seems that Courtney Love's dog recently died from choking on her discarded breast implants. There's a recording we'd all love to play backwards.
Posted by Andrew
| | Permalink
Monday, November 11, 2002
ClickZ Executrix Ed. at it Again
She's on her high horse again. Fresh from her summarily-rebuked, Gator-defending email to the online-ad-industry-enfant-terribles-du-jour, AdBumb, Rebecca Lieb opines (and I paraphrase slightly out of context) that if Coke, Nestle, P&G, and other "allegedly unethical companies" had a hard time finding places to advertise, "there probably wouldn't be society as we know it."
While I'm on the subject of Lieb's column, there is a factual error in it. She refers to "Google's list of allegedly unethical companies." That list is in fact an Open Directory category overseen by one Robin Lionheart with input from subcategory editors like Bruce Richardson. Rebecca, if you mean to dispute the viewpoints of these self-appointed Masters of Ontology, look out! You don't know who you're up against! (From Lionheart's bio: "I bought a PlayStation video game console just to be able to play Bust A Move: Dance & Rhythm Action.")
These Kings of Kapricious Kategorization have managed to maintain subcategories for Yahoo's alleged lack of ethics while leaving AOL out entirely. DO NOT CROSS THESE PEOPLE.
Posted by Andrew
| | Permalink
I agree with Overture's bid hiding, Cory
The larger point - Overture's many self-serving rule changes are beginning to grate on loyalists' nerves - is well taken. An increasingly-creative Match Driver, monthly minimums, questionable affiliate traffic... where does it end. Still, irritation for me does not add up to complete exasperation. Overture has improved many aspects of their interface and reporting.
I'm not against the practice of hiding bid amounts to the general public. Google has done this from the beginning. Large visible bids are just an invitation to click fraud, and will tend to distract the customer, as well.
Overture competitors *can* see one another's bids if they simply enter the Overture interface and, as you say, type in the security code when they go to "see all bids." This makes it difficult to look at bids, but far from impossible.
In my view, this turns this ad medium into one that looks more dignified to the general public. On TV, you might hear "brought to you by" - but they don't literally tell you the amount paid for the 15-second spot for Pledge shown during "Everybody Loves Raymond."
Sorry to throw cold water on a good rant...
Posted by Andrew
| | Permalink
