This is my honest opinion - People don't care anymore

I don't usually reply to rants like this however Falling Down has hit all the right points in all the right places. It is true what many of the replies have said, that this is no different to the greedy, corrupt way of the real world. There will always be people who want to take shortcuts for personal gain rather than building a service for others without the first thought being personal gain. It is unfortunate that the internet is the easiest place to take shortcuts.

My view on the issue is that what goes around comes around. Someone who deceives and lies may have success, but the scope will not be anywhere near the webmaster that builds solid foundations without cheating or deceiving.

 

wow man, I dig your post.

 

Really great first post there. As to the other I don't believe however, search engines are to blame for the failing economy, many variables there. I do believe the internet will someday be federally regulated though.

 

This post is probably the longest piece of written text i've read online.

Every word is agreed with!

 

You pretty much nailed it. (1) If you're not adding original content, why bother? And (2) if people are not seeking that content, why bother?

Thankfully, amidst the multitude of spam and junk on the net, there are still a lot of webmasters — I humbly include myself — who have not been caught up in the race and have not compromised their methods.

I write a simple, self-funded, nonprofit website with no ads, no affiliate links, and the like. No fancy flash, no black-hat, and I keep my format simple and easily readable (site is signature link #1). Yet, to my continual surprise, over 60,000 visitors come to the website monthly.

I think that proves your contention that "The internet should be used to spread knowledge and meet people's demands". Put out some decent, original content that is of interest to people, and a webmaster won't need to join the junk-and-spam crowd.

Nice post, Falling Down. Green rep added.

 

Internet marketing = quick and easy money. People jump on the train

 

Hi There,

I am good friends with Falling Down, she and I have worked on many things together and have been friends for a good number of several years.

I agree with every word stated in her post, I have owned and operated webhosting / design businesses for a few years and always had arguements from forum posters on a web forum community who believ that things like coding is supposed to be the be all and end all of webdesign, i say as long as the site that you create is asthetically pleasing to the eye and doesnt have malicious adverts or poisoned code that would maliciously take you to 3rd party sites then there is no great need to be worried abou coding.

It is websites such as those mentioned that give internet browsers cold feet about using the net, or things like PayPal being hacked, which is what happened to me just a few weeks ago, yes I got the money back however it has given me much to think about in that if a websitelike Paypal can easily be hacked, how safe is your online information?

i would like to think that my website www.hostscotland.com is the example that all webdesigners should be adopting, simple clean website with no clutter and no obtrusive adverts.

 

Hi Brett, thanks for adding to the discussion

The thing that you just said about PayPal just reminded me about a blog post I did a couple of months ago:

And people have disagreed with me on the IP binding, and I now see their point, what if they change service providers?

But, here's another solution, and I think Chase has it down correctly. Basically, when you first sign up, they remember that computer via some form (nothing to do with IP, not sure if it's cookies). If you try logging in with another computer, they ask you to verify by sending a PIN to your phone or e-mail address. I guess if someone stole your iPhone, you'd be history, but it'd be a rare occasion.

 

Excellent post by thread maker !

People need to concentrate on keeping the Internet clean and not being greedy over making money and mocking the Internet for us all with their motive of providing content for only to make money on.
Spammers are also annoying.

we need to focus providing good content that is needed in terms of helping searchers in a honest way.

Anyhow rep to thread maker and I highly agree.

peace Out !

 

Very True !

It should also be used to show people how to use the technology
available to them that could not only make their life easier, but
make them more money or more time to do the things they
should be doing besides having their nose in the computer
screen for hours a day.

 

My wife recently made a comment about how she was looking for specific information online, but every site she went to was just affiliate links & fluff. No real value
The trouble is that you get so tired of slogging through it looking for a nugget of valuable info, that you eventually get sick of it & just walk away
S>

 

You are quite right about going through the trash to find a nugget
that is worth reading.

But.. for us who do not make "trash" sites, it means we really do shine
in the dark. Real value is something to hold on to when you find it.

Dont give up though. You just need to find what you are looking for
and once you do, things are fine. Dont give up.

You are sure to NEVER find it if you give up.

 

I want to point out that the website Paypal is seldom going to be
at a loss for up to date security. It was most likely the spyware
in your computer that allowed the break-in to your Paypal account to
occur.

If you get online with an infected computer and start using
your credit card, you are literally begging for a theft. The bad
guys are hard at work. You may not have even been on the real
Paypal site.


I am just going on what past people have done and found out.
Your experience may be different. It was their own computer that
did them in, thanks to the malware on it from the "crackers" ( inaccurately called "hackers" ).

Just a note to others reading this, use a program called "Spybot Search
and Destroy" LINK
to get rid of a lot of malware and junk from the bad guys.
Its free. The best things in life are free.

 

People need to stop falling for unbelievable crap claims like "Make 1 million online in 7 days" ebooks and products from some random nobody [Even if it is a semi-famous nobody]. Stop buying em and idiots will stop making them.

John Chow made a million. Will I make a million if I read his ebook? I don't think so. Will I gain some insights and learn some stuff? Yes. Each one has to find their separate way and not ape those who tasted success.[The way is different for everyone]

You CAN'T make large amounts of money easily no matter what others say. There is no easy big money for every idiot. [Exceptions are rare enough to be negligible]

 

I agree with you about people wanting to pay you pennies for your writing. I am new to writing for webmasters. I read forum posts that complain about the quality one gets for a 25-cent, 500-word article, yet no one wants to pay me $2.00 per 100 words that are grammar and spelling perfect, completely search engine optimized, and interesting to read. You get what you pay for.

I don't agree that the Internet is a cesspool. Yes, there are a lot of things wrong, but it's not the Internet--it's the people on the Internet. Wherever you find people whose god is money, you will find a cesspool. But I still say it's not all bad.

 

The problem is .... That's what all of them say.

 

It's weird I've made more through AdSense when I had a crap content site than any "legit" content on my other sites

What does that tell you

But I too agree the internet is a reflection, though on a global scale which can screw things up (like pay)

 

You're right. Everyone is here to make money one way or another.
Shut down AdSense and affiliate networks and nobody is going to register a domain ever again!

Blame affiliate networks and AdSense, not the small webmasters!
Blame AdWords, Yahoo, AdCenter, etc. They promote crap for money!

The offline business is same crap, believe me. People kill other people for money! That's the way it is. It always used to be like that...

 

The internet is no different from anything else in our society now-a-days. People have lost respect for others in most almost all cases. Sad but true.

Jim

 

Just thought I'd update this thread as I've just seen this link on Twitter: http://davidbinkowski.blogspot.com/2009/01/ftc-takes-on-blogger-compensation-among.html

It might just be what we're looking for, the end to sponsored posts and affiliate sites.