Page 3: The anatomy of a spam page...
Conclusion: Zero Content
Once you begin judging websites on this kind of criteria you begin to agree with the 62% of the web surfing population who agrees that these scenarios are as bad as email spam.We believe they are potentially worse, because everyone seems to think such sites are okay. And when the masses support spam sites -- spam sites proliferate. The TV industry has thrived on the commercial formula, so I guess we're destined to evolve to the same end.
Add up the losses
The web site advertises 250,000 visitors per week. If this were true, then the total time incurred on this page would be 4,861 Days, 11 Hours and 56 minutes.
If that's just one week's stats -- in one year, web visitors to this page will have spent a total of 247,911 days -- or -- roughly 5-million, 949-thousand, 8-hundred and 64 man hours on this page. This is equal to more than 60% of the amount of time civilization has been on this earth since the birth of Christ.
If only half of this time was spent while at work, or on company time, (2,974,932) with an average hourly wage of $10.00, then this site has stolen $29,749,320 dollars from business and industry. If that doesn't seem earth-shaking, then consider we're talking about just one page. There are hundreds of thousands of pages on the web just like this one. No wonder the telecom infrastructure is in such bad shape.
- Hours = 5,949,864
- divide by: 2
- total: 2,974,932
- Wage: $10.00
- Costs: $ 29,749,320.00
Categories that defy evaluation
How do we deal with a couple of scenarios that won't fit into the above profiles? Unfortunately we are compelled to thumbs-down any site that
- won't release your browser
- throws up a second window not content related
- throws up an exit page (or more)
- pops up a "behind" page or a one-pixel page
- runs .swf or video in sky scraper ads
Then there are the big boys like America Online. How do you rank them when you're unable to measure their code? However we do know that they throw up a spam window immediately upon arrival, and every single arrival page has at least two totally unrelated spams. And who knows what's going on in the background. Did you ever check the "files modified" on your hard drive after an AOL session? After installation? Don't look. Actually, we shouldn't pick on AOL, since MSN is a lot worse.
Zero Content
Finally there's a special category reserved for the most abhorrent kinds of spam sites: Zero content.
These sites include those which have NO content other than spam. Most porno sites get this black-ball, as well as many of the advertising hub sites. Most recently we're seeing hijacked sites falling into this category. Someone lets their domain lapse, then a porno, gambling or porno hosting site grabs the domain and puts links to all their other spam sites on the page. That's all, just links to other spam sites.
You go to these specifically to get the spam... in other words, spam becomes their content and most of their regular readers like it. They must be making money; how else could the porno industry stay in business?
Unfortunately some people are forced to locate on "free website" providers because they can't afford web space, have something to hide, or simply don't know any better.
There are many solutions for free web hosting for those who can't afford their own, and no one with valuable information to publish on the web should have to swallow house-advertising windows opening on top of their content. If I'm wrong, then tell me so.
For $45 a year you can have a wonderful web site at TypePad.com, Blogger or any of dozens of automated online providers. If you don't have $45 worth of content to say in a year's time, perhaps you shouldn't have a web site.
Ranking your favorite web sites
Use this simple Score Card along with our math formulas above and you'll be on your own to discover Noise to Content ratios...
- 1-to-1 an impossible, dream -- It's not on the web.
- 3-to-1 comfortable level.-- An acceptable mix
- 3-to-1 -> 5-to-1 -- only if you really want the content
- 5-to-1 -> 10-to-1 -- Heavy Spam site: no sense in it
- Black-List - Zero content -- 100% spam, pop-up windows: Banned.
If you agree or disagree, then tell me. I want to know.
So next time we mention a "spam site" in any of the articles you read, this is how that designation was arrived at. You can spam us, or you can rank the sites along with us. If you develop a better ranking system, we'd like to know about it... perhaps even adopt it.
Stay tuned to DTG News because we'll be measuring sites on today's internet to see how they measure up to the sites analyzed in this article from 1998/99.
Thanks for reading
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