This week on Facebook, I’ve posted several provocative graphics — funny visual puns that lead up to …what? Today was the Big Reveal: the point.
Let’s start with the visual puns.
Online Life
Sorry You Weren’t Offended
This is True has tackled the issue of people choosing to be offended on a number of occasions (such as in the tagline of this story).
Most times, of course, the offended are complaining about a story, not embracing it. On most of those occasions, when someone is writing to complain how they’ve chosen to be offended by something I said (or, often, didn’t say!), I’ll often get an amusing response from other readers — the ones who don’t unsubscribe in protest.
Click Millionaires
YAIBB — Yet Another Internet Business Book — arrived here on Friday, sent to me because it’s YAIBB that mentions me, This is True, and the GOOHF cards.
Looking at its Amazon reviews elicited a chuckle.
A Cautionary Tale
I made a little graphic which I posted on Facebook earlier this week, and it seems to have hit a chord with the crowd there:
The Nigerian “419” Scam
If someone — probably a friend — sent you to this page, read it carefully! This is a true story, from This is True’s 15 January 2012 issue.
Rural Electrification, Meet the Rural Internet
Back in the early years of the 20th century, as cities were starting to get electrical power, that was the problem: only cities were getting electrical power.
Reader Survey: Should True emails Be HTML?
Both the Premium (paid) subscribers and the Free edition subscribers were asked:
Take-Down Show-Down
I noted in Friday’s free edition that I received a “take-down” demand from an attorney about an article. The letter was dated August 4, but I didn’t get it until Thursday, August 18.
Don’t Forward That Warning!
Old jokes clogging your inbox are bad enough. Stupid “warnings” about the most unlikely hazards are worse: they irritate the smart people and panic the dumb ones. Now and then, when someone forwards an urban legend to a bunch of people, they really pay a big price.
This is True List Break-in
From True’s 17 October 2010 issue.
On the whole, This is True readers are a pretty technically savvy bunch: many of you use “tracking” email addresses — addresses which readers have used only to subscribe to my newsletter(s) — and I’ve had a number of reports this week from readers who have received spam to those unique addresses. That’s obviously a big concern to me.
Facebook Protest
OK, I’m a crank: I really don’t like Facebook. But one of the things I hate about it is how all up-in-arms people get about nothing.
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
A few weeks ago I grumbled in a newsletter about the lousy ads I was getting on one of my sites, which were bringing a whopping 4.8 cents per click. I said “I may try Bing ads instead if Google doesn’t get me better [ads] soon.”
A Picture Worth 1,000 Anytime Minutes
…or, The Birth and Death of a Spinoff Web Site
Sure: a picture is “worth 1,000 words.” Sometimes it’s worth 1,000 minutes on your cell phone plan, as in this case. The story, from True’s 27 December 2009 issue:
Dell Hell and Dumb People
I know This is True is about people doing dumb things, but it still amazes me when people do dumb things to me. (But for once, this is not about a dumb reader!)
How I Beat Spam
…Without Having to Change My email Address
My email address has been around online for many, many years, and it gets a lot of spam — many hundreds per day. For most users, spam far outstrips legitimate mail. It was 1996 that I realized that spam would become a huge problem, which is why I wrote my Spam Primer to educate my readers about it. And sadly I was right: it’s estimated that more than 90 percent of all email transmitted is spam. And how many of them get to my inbox? Lately, I’m averaging less than one a day.
The Future of Newspapers
When I started True back in 1994, there weren’t too many people online — especially compared to now. Once I quit my Day Job to pursue online publishing full time, I was constantly looking for peers — people to talk with that would understand what it was I was doing.
Crash Boom Bang
I’ve been using computers for many, many years now, and finally had something happen to me that has never happened before: a disk crash. It happened yesterday.
TANSTAAFL, Baby
Very often readers ask me for advice about starting an online business — when I started in 1994, there wasn’t anyone to ask, and I’ve learned a lot in the nearly 15 years since. Obviously one can learn some things by watching what I do, but there are others who are in the business of teaching such things, and that’s faster (and more generic).
Weird News Video #42 — Facebook Addict
Episode #42: “Virtual Life”, from True’s 22 March 2009 issue.
Laugh, or the World Laughs At You
It’s so sad to see how people just can’t take an obvious joke. (Say, like on a site called Jumbo Joke!) There was a political item today, and it resulted in a lot of whining — and protest unsubscribes.