This is a collection of e-mails I have sent to people who post classified ads. My goal is to mess with them, confuse them, and/or piss them off. These are the ones that succeeded.
Coding Horror: How Not to Advertise on the Internet
Topic: Miscellaneous
11:07 am EDT, Jul 10, 2009
Apparently that ad didn't perform up to expectations at Evony world HQ, because the ads got progressively ... well, take a look for yourself. These are presented in chronological order of appearance on the internet.
With infinite eyeballs, all content on the Web approaches porn to gain attention.
How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Annual Paycheck
Topic: Society
10:25 am EDT, Jul 10, 2009
Brought to you by the Department of Labor:
Reading: $118 "Entertainment": $2,698
John Lanchester:
If I had to name one high-cultural notion that had died in my adult lifetime, it would be the idea that difficulty is artistically desirable.
Motoko Rich:
As teenagers' scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading -- diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.
But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount.
