So maybe this only happens to me since I have a stupid computer, but the other day, I'm on AIM when I sudden get a message from my friend that says "Hey dude, what's up?! Check out this sweet picture cube I made of you." Now the first time I saw this, I was a bit confused, but didn't click the link since I had a feeling it would probably be a virus. Over the next couple of days, I kept seeing the same message over and over again. By this point it became pretty obvious to me that this was yet another Internet scamming method, and like everything else in my life, this made me begin to think about this trivial form of advertising. Now obviously, the point of adds like these, are so people don't think, and only act, but if you do actually stop and think, the ad seems very silly. For instance, the person I got this message from was someone I was barely even friends with, which made me wonder exactly why someone like him would have enough pictures of me to make a "picture cube", and secondly, why would this person care to take the time and make one? Now just in case you forget to think before you click an ad, or are just entirely incapable of thinking, here's a quick, handy guide to spotting a Internet scam.
1. A flashing, seizure inducing ad that looks more like a strobe light than a web-banner. Seriously, unless you're product is meant for epileptics, I really don't see a point in a flashing banner.
2. A shaking alert message. (When was the last time your computer showed you an alert message that shook and had a smiley face printed on it?)
3. A banner saying your the millionth visitor. (If you seriously believe you were the millionth person to visit Facebook or MySpace, then maybe you do deserve to get a virus.)
4. Trust me, you didn't win that brand new laptop or Audi, just move along to the next page.
5. And no, you will not meet hot, single college girls in Omaha, Nebraska, I don't care how good you look.
No comments:
Post a Comment