Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
I want to hear your opinions SOLELY on your business instincts.I want to hear your opinions SOLELY on your ethics and moral standards.
But please keep them seperate.
There are so many ways to make money today, especially on the internet, one example.
You make a site targeting outrages things, lets say videos and images that are funny/disturbing/'wow'-factor. You begin submitting these links of your cool videos to link dump sites like f*rk, f*zed, kontrab*nd, etc. Very quickly you get a lot of traffic, tons. Link goes up, traffic goes up, peaks, traffic comes back down untill again, next link is posted, or people bookmark/catch on to your greatness during their most boring hours. Now how do you convert on surfers who are simply there to view a specific thing, and then close their window? The simple answer to me, are active x installs. I know (compartively) non-malicious/infectious companys that pay $0.20+ cents per install. That would be like having a $200CPM an ethical way :) You could very easily have the scripts removed when they are checked by the admins, and add them when they are put up.
I know this because it's possible. I know this becuase PEOPLE DO IT. I know there because there are ATLEAST 10 sites I can think of off the top of my head that do this.
Now as a business plan, is this reasonable? How about long term? Is this viable or will it fall apart over time?
Now I would personally never think of doing such a thing, I know how it makes me feel, and I have a soft heart. I certainly hope I haven't given anyone any ideas.
But I'm interested to pick your brain. How do you feel about darker techniques? Are they worth it? Is a quick stab better then a long slice?
Also, on the morals/ethics side of things...
Are popups ok? Can you rationalize it by the fact that if people don't like them, they will block them with software? If that's ok, then is using script to get around maybe 50% of software blockers, is that ok too? And if so, is installing something on someone's computer without them knowing reasonable? They'll just use spy software to remove it, so why not, right? What about malicious software? Malware? Stealware? Dialers? Where does it stop? What makes a dialer worse then a simple popup?
For those that take these sitations very seriously, where do you draw your line, and how have you come to this conclusion?
I'd really like everyone's opinion on this situation, because it's very real. I can't find a single person who hasn't had an unwanted popup, or toolbar, or c*metc*ser/b*ddy or some program simmilar. It affects us all, so how do you view it? Does it just come with the territory? If so, what's next?
If this is unacceptable, how do we stop it, how is it detained? Hit me, I want to know how you feel.
On the other hand I can't see anything unethical about pop-ups - they may be irritating, annoying and a pain but no more so than commercial breaks in the middle of your favourite TV show.
Fidibidabah , Money is money but why opting for something more evil when you can do profitable things that are less evil say spamming a search engine :)
<Un-Related>
If MicroSoft SP2 become widely used will the entire spyware industry will be put out of business?
Actually the second point is the reason why people do not pay attention for the first one :)
gopi, SP2 will not help. I know at least two holes, which allow to upload file and to launch it (it's illegal). I know code for pop-ups, which works with SP2 perfectly. (by the way, Google tool bar cannot stop it also) It's legal, I am using it, and I can sell it if you want to. SP2 changes nothing.
What you're asking has no answer except in your own soul or in your own profile as regards your business and what you do; what you give back; your karma, perhaps.
The net right now is all things to all people. A percentage of that "all people" regard the sort of thing you're doing as totally evil, without any redeeming factors at all. If that percentage of "all people" is something you can live with as far as not making sales or not converting whatever, then you have your answer.
I tend to believe that the percentage of people regarding what you are doing as evil will grow rather than diminish. But that's just me, and I'm sure someone will point out how wrong I am....
There is nothing okay about preying on people's ignorance. Anyone who knows what's going on will never visit your site again, and those who do not know what's going on have had their trust betrayed. Do people do this sort of thing all the time? Sure. But they should at least have the decency to be ashamed of themselves.
And incidentally, asking a question like this but insisting that people keep their 'business' views and 'ethical' views seperate is probably at the very center of this problem. As soon as you start believing that it is Okay to hold those two realms apart, to make one not answerable to the other, you get into trouble.
