highway51r - 1:58 am on May 29, 2005 (gmt 0)

This, I believe to be Also Missed, by the Vast Majority of those in the Serious Advertising business, so I'll note it here, for your consideration.

I just spent, (again, lol), the past 15 minutes, reading the tos of one of the major players on the 2nd tier, and their 'partners' tos as well.

I picked on kanoodle, but it doesn't really matter, 2nd tier is 2nd tier, they are all bolted together with the same bolt.

Now, if you go over the TOS Carefully, you will at first glance, feel pretty well protected from fraudulant clicks. This, of course, is the Intended air you are to leave the pages with. Closer Examination Reveals, to Me at least, that the 'Wording', is NOT so very carefully Worded, to Weed Out the undersireable traffic, but On the Contrary, to Carefully Protect and Perserve the Primary Source of Traffic, The Paid To Read Email Biz.

When You Read, the terms of service/use, of Any 2nd tier, you'll note, that they convieniently 'Forgot' to Include the Term 'paid-to-read', in their rather Large lists of Unacceptable Traffic.
-Kanoodle goes so far, as to carefully Omit 'php' Scripts, including only cgi and java_scripts, in their exclusions, as php Scripts, are what Drives 90% of All PTR Programs, lol. gotta luv fine print...

*I'm long winded, but please Bare with me, as The Following, IS the crux of the Entire Matter:

*The 2nd Tiers, (do), (depends on what your definition of the word is, is), refer to 'Paid'to-read programs, when they refer Repeatedly to 'Incentivized Traffic', Right?
Nope! Depends on What your Definition of the word IS, is....

How it works, is like this:
-The 2nd tier, for the benifit of their Advertisers, Clearly State, that they do NOT accept 'incentivized traffic:
-The 2nd tiers, Dictate, To the 3rd Tiers, that They Too, Make the Same Claims, in Their TOS's as Well, No 'Incentivized Traffic'.

And, indeed, the 3rd tiers Don't allow, (for the most part, lol), What They, define as 'incentivized'.

Here is the Working Definition of the phrase 'Incentivized Traffic', as it IS Applied Accross the Entire Large 3rd Tier:

'Incentivized Traffic', constitutes Any Paid Email, that Asks, Begs, or Otherwise Incentivizes the Clicker to Do A Search! That's it in a nutshell.

*The Cent that the ptr clickers get for 'viewing the advertisers website', lol, is NOT considered 'Incentive' to search, so it's Perfectly Acceptable Traffic, for Both, the 3rd And the 2nd Tier.

That's where your Money, And your ROI Are Going!

Now, Is It 'Fraud'?
Depends, on what your definition of the word is, is...

I just checked out another ptr program recently.
What a Goldmine, rofl.
39 1-Cent Each, Paid Search Emails Every Single Day of the Week, lol. Around 2,200 members at that one. Are those Links 'Incentivized'?

The ptr clicker, Recieves 1 Cent for clicking the link, and letting the 30 second timer expire. Whether they do a search or not, well, if they Don't, likely there won't be as much money to make next week, as the 'advertisers' will Stop advertising there, and move on to more fertile ground.?....
(What happens, when someone tries to 'support the advertiser', when the 'advertiser' consists of nearly 40 Search Portal Pages Every Day? Blind Clicks on the Directories of these portal pages, That's What, lol).

If the Second Tier, did Not try and Hide it, it would not constitute fraud, that's for sure.

But you see, they Don't 'hide' it, it's Left, to that 'gray area' of Definitions.

I don't bother confronting 2nd tiers with this stuff anymore, they just throw it in the trash, and never reply to me, rofl, big bucks in the blind eye.

My Point, if I have one, lol, I guess is This.
I don't 'Mind' them Allowing it to Continue, I just think it 'Appropriate', that Someone Tell, their Advertisers they Are...

good luck all.