Website Listing Service!

Category : annoying + stupid

If you check your access logs regularly, you’ll often find hits from spiders that aren’t googlebot or any of your garden variety net spiders. While most spiders actually index content, some spiders simply look to see if: A) the domain is up and B) if there are publicly available domain records. Since this is also the most popular way to get spam bombed via listing your email, it’s also a marketing tool of sorts for companies who want to reach you. I get tons of neat stuff from these companies, it’s so cool that my trash can is always the first to read it and I never see it again. Bastard trash can…

Recently, I’ve been getting hit again with more crap companies who are soliciting themselves as a “website listing service”. I can have my domain submitted to 20 major search engines if I pay them $50 along with 8 keywords OR phrases. I also receive quarterly search engine and ranking reports, this is awesome! I’m thinking along the lines of “listingcorp can get fucked if they think I’m going to fall for this shit.”, damn that’s 14 keywords, ok, I think I’ll stick to phrases instead.

The most ammusing bit for me is “DO NOT SEND CASH” printed just like that under the “how to make payments” section of the mailer. Well, guess who’s getting back 50 pennies duct taped in their original non-postmarked envelope with a shredded invoice?

+ TrackBack

Episode One: A Mini-Review

Category : games + half-life + review

So now I finished playing through Episode One for quite possibly the fourth or fifth time, and have come out with a small assortment of screenshots from various stages within the game. I won’t reveal any big spoilers or give you walk-throughs here, you’re hopefully smart enough to figure all of that out on your own. What you will find here is just a quick look at some of the improvements and some general observations I’ve made while playing. more…

+ TrackBack

Yes. No. I… This Is.

Category : entertainment + internet

If Vlog the Impaler has a real name, its very likely to be Ze Frank. Home to rubber ducks, love for poop, and the “League of Awesomeness”. Don’t believe me? See for yourself as Ze does all the thinking so you don’t have to, via the show.

+ TrackBack

JavaScript Candy

Category : ajax + javascript + programming

While I’m not a huge fan of most things javascript or “ajax”, even I must once in a great while admit there’s some things which do impress me. Mainly how far it’s advanced over the years, and those who’ve invested time to make it all happen. With all the ready-made classes available like Prototype, JQuery even Yahoo! UI with optional mixed effects from Script.aculou.us and other places, one can quickly add some interactive function where there once was little or none. And with most of the heavy lifting pretty much done for you, like with Lightbox, implimenting some simple functionality to an existing project or layout changes things completely.

It’s almost like candy. Deliciously sweet candy stuck to even more candy. And so far, what can be done within a browser these days, appears limited only by your imagination. Mmmmm compliance candy…

Ok, enough… “But, why Lightbox2“, you may ask? Primarily, because it degrades gracefully without me having to write extra rules for unhandled exceptions. Meaning, if you have JS off, you can still reach the content, so that’s both sweet, and deliciously simple. Also it’s so very easy to impliment once refined to ones taste, and only requires 2 extra elements applied to existing link tags, so that’s even sweeter. Additionally, I added an extra class to distinguish image links like this from standard variety links, like those everywhere else on this page. So now that you have an idea of what I’ll be posting about next. Well, sit tight, I’m still summing it all up.

+ TrackBack

SiteMap