Search Engines' Reward Programs
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Search engines are dangling rewards and cash prizes to attract customers to their sites, the Wall Street Journal reports. MSN is offering free nights at the Four Seasons and other goodies to people who search for one of roughly a thousand terms on a rotating list. Yahoo's GoodSearch donates a penny to charity for each search. And Blingo hawks giveaways including iPods. But, the WSJ reports, 'There are strings attached to some of the reward programs. Some require users to register personal information like a name or email.'"
Some require users to register personal information like a name or email.
Wait a second - you mean they want to be able to contact me if i win?
Honesty may be the best policy, but by process of elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy.
So this is kind of like when you go to a conference and they have door prizes being given away by companies.
You can register for said prizes; all you have to do is fill out your name, telephone number, address and date of birth. Then, after you don't win, you get to put up for the rest of your time at that residence with crap junk mail. May the lord have mercy on your soul if you give those people your e-mail address.
If you have to log in to use your favorite search engine, I'd suggest finding a different one.
My work here is dung.
already hacked.
always mosh clockwise
MSN is doing it (offering free nights at the Four Seasons); Yahoo's "GoodSearch" is doing it (but nicely -- donating pennies to charity); but Google is not doing it, but Blingo is.
If you look at the Blingo "about us" page, at the bottom you'll find:
Just wanted to set the record straight, since I still kind of believe Google means it when they say "do no evil".
Why don't you pay me to use your search engine instead? That's a fair trade. :P
And if they catch you searching for pr0n you'll get a really, really big prize, delivered right to your door by a couple of FBI agents.
This sig, aah-ah, is comin' like a ghost-sig...
1000 terms, eh? I don't think any Slashdotters will ever win.
Asian sluts [click]
Teenage sluts [click]
Paris Hilton blowjob [click]
Hardcore action [click]
MILF [click]
Mail order brides [click]
Mother's Day Presents [click]
Online dating [click]
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
You win a 4 night hotel for seaching on MSN. There you are, enjoying your fine stay, browsing the net with your laptop in your room...
Some guy steps in. You look at him. It reminds you of someone. In your astonishment, you remain quiet. He moves his eyes on to your laptop. His pupils dilate. He begins to speak:
"Just tell me it's not Google".
You nod, frightened as ever. At that point, he picks up a chair and throws it across the room hitting a table you don't care about cause it's the hotel's anyway.
"I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Google".
My 0.02 cents