Re: where are the newbies?
- From: Eldon <EldonB123@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 05:38:49 -0800 (PST)
On Jan 6, 8:26 pm, Tihomir <t...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Instead of taking 15 puffs of smoke, Lynn spoketh upon us:
It seems like each year we get less and less newbies, which is a good thing
if it meant less people are quitting because less people are smoking.
If you are a newbie and trying to quit or working up to a quit we would
love to get to know you a bit better. How about stepping out of the shadow
of lurkdom and saying hi. We don't bite... well Jef does and Mike likes to
send the Gnomes out on unsuspecting people ,but the rest of us are pretty
normal
I think it's because 10 years ago there were very few forums and blogs
and whatnot. And people discussed things on Usenet. And it was Good.
I think this is probably the main reason. Hey, Pfizer even has an
online support group (with live 24/7 phone hotlines) for people who
are taking Chantix.
So what has happened. Usenet has no ads. No one makes any money from
it. So things are being pushed away from Usenet. By people who want to
show us ads. That is the basic truth.
If you access usenet through Google Groups, there are a few little
"how to quit smoking" ads in the righthand column. I don't object. It
may be worthwhile to consider that Google bought Deja News when the
company went broke, and greatly improved their searchable Usenet
archive. If Google wasn't a successful company, there would be no
comprehensive Usenet archive today, period.
See how we jump on every poor spammer that shows up here, and how good
it feels. And you know who those poor souls are? Usually people who
are struggling to make ends meet.
The last one who got reamed and insulted here wasn't even a spammer,
but a would-be entrepreneur putting together a commercial (gasp!) stop-
smoking program. He was soliciting people to try out his program for
free, which was a legit request. Even if he did it clumsily, his
solicitation wasn't an attempt to sell anything. As I told him, he was
looking in the wrong place, because there are few newbies here to
begin with.
Now, I arrived here recently without introducing myself, but I had
already quit for more than a year and was finally past the point where
I suspected I might ever have a relapse. In fact, I wanted to check
out this group to see what's up with former smokers because I'm
working on yet another book about smoking cessation, which I hope to
(gasp!) sell once it's finished. Wanna call me a spammer? Go right
ahead; abuse rolls right off me. While you're at it, send some nasty
letters to Stephen King and Deepak Chopra complaining that they don't
give their books away for free.
As for genuine spam, you might go check out some of the quit-smoking
blogs and Google groups. As soon as people recognize them as covertly
commercial, they leave. The same cannot be said of overtly commercial
websites, because they're transparent, honest efforts to sell
something. Take Amazon for example. Does it upset you that they sell
stuff and make a profit? I doubt it.
Well when a giant pop up jumps on you on that blogspotyoutubefacebook
site, there is no one to yell at. And those who set up those ads are
basking in money.
Or maybe making a little money unless they're wildly popular.
Example? Google. Need any more?
Google Adwords revolutionized and democratized advertising for the
little guy, and they did it pretty unobtrusively for the most part. If
you want to cite an example of excess, you might consider TV
commercials, which take over your whole set like a full-screen
popup.
Tihomir 1Y7M, Knin, HR 44°N 16°E
http://www.quitbuddies.org
Quote 3713 of 9190:
"Nonchalance is the ability to remain down to earth
when everything else is up in the air." - Earl Wilson
.
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