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The Software Awards Scam

Posted by kdawson on from the bottom-feeders dept.

jamie sends us to a blog post about the worthlessness of some download sites' "5-star" awards. Andy Brice, a UK-based software developer, packaged up a little text file full of the words "This software does nothing" as an EXE and named it "awardmestars." So far his self-proclaiming useless program has garnered sixteen 5-star awards from download sites he submitted it to. Brice concludes that many of the download sites are "just electronic dung heaps, using fake awards, dubious SEO and content misappropriated from PAD files in a pathetic attempt to make a few dollars from Google Adwords."

13 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Mod me up! by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny

    Let's see if it works here.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:Mod me up! by lyz · · Score: 5, Funny

      You only get modded up if you increase traffic and therefore ad revenue to the site. Try using often searched words in your post.
      Boobs Torrent Paris Hilton Leprechauns

  2. Egads... by downix · · Score: 5, Funny

    Couldn't he have at least had to say "Hello World"?

    --
    Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
    1. Re:Egads... by abb3w · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, that would have been more useful, and might have conceivably deserved stars.

      --
      //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
  3. An exe? by ephesus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe they were just happy to see an .exe that didn't muck everything up, and rewarded him with stars.

    1. Re:An exe? by greenguy · · Score: 2, Funny

      You ain't seen nothin' 'til you've seen an ex muck everything up.

      --
      What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
  4. Fake Awards?! by CaffeineAddict2001 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean my website in 1998 may not have really been "BEST OF THE WEB"?! Now that I think about it, what about all those poetry contests I won? The other poems they published sucked. It was Almost like they accepted anybody!

    OH MY GOD. SO MANY GOLD STICKERS -- WASTED ON MEDIOCRITY!

    1. Re:Fake Awards?! by multisync · · Score: 4, Funny

      Does this mean my website in 1998 may not have really been "BEST OF THE WEB"?!


      You think that's bad, the guy in the next office to mine has a coffee cup that reads "World's Greatest Dad!"
      --
      I don't care why you're posting AC
  5. You mean *the* Andy Brice? by quokkapox · · Score: 3, Funny

    He must know what he's talking about, he's listed in Who's Who Among UK-Based Software Developers .

    --
    it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
  6. He's too modest... by Otter · · Score: 3, Funny
    So far his self-proclaiming useless program has garnered sixteen 5-star awards from download sites he submitted it to.

    I dunno -- Lotus Notes has won all sorts of valid-sounding awards and I bet most users would be happy with an upgrade to Brice's app. At least his thing probably doesn't actively destroy your email.

    --
    What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
  7. Re:What a suprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    WTF is a "PAD"?

    Googling didn't help, and wikipedia tells me things like "Pipe Acquisition Disorder" and "One of the transliterations of the fourth syllable in the Buddhist six syllable mantra Om mani padme hum".

    Clearly it's not really an unambiguous term. I have never heard of it.

    Also, if this "PAD directory" (whatever it might be) is so useful and known, give a link. I can't easily find it on google.

  8. Re:Is this any surprise? by russ1337 · · Score: 4, Funny

    >>> The lesson to be learned here is that you should never believe anything you read on the Internet that you don't know to already be true or that you get from a source that has proven its trustworthiness repeatedly.

    ..... unless it is written in Times New Roman font. If it's in Times New Roman.. it's true.

  9. Re:Is this any surprise? by GNU(slash)Nickname · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think it's absurd that we can't build an informational network or communications infrastructure without having it jammed pack full of ads and scam-artists, but apparently that's the world we live in.

    You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or Allow?