E-Scribe News : a programmer’s blog

About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Colophon

This runs on Django, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

The Book

Book cover I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Published by Addison-Wesley in October 2008, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well. Click on the book title above to learn more.

Pile o'Tags

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Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

Spam Report

At least 45543 pieces of comment spam killed since January 12th, mostly via Akismet.

I hate those SitePal ads

Feedback sent to Technorati today:

Please, I beg you, kill those talking "SitePal" ads. I keep my PowerBook plugged into an amplified speaker setup all day, and when the "Pal" begins talking after having been displayed for X seconds (without me so much as mousing over it, I'm pretty sure), it's heinous. And embarrassing if anyone is within earshot.

Plus, they creep me out.

Thanks,

Paul

Update: After some testing I think that I was in fact mousing over the ad -- my Dock is on the right side of the screen, so with a vertical ad on the right side of the Technorati page it's easy to do. So, I was wrong that I wasn't triggering it, but it's still incredibly annoying!
Another update: Similar complaints have appeared here and here and here and probably elsewhere. (I complained first, though!)

Friday, September 8th, 2006
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6 comments

Some related posts: Spam, del.icio.us spam • eBay, fraud, filtering, and Web 2.0 • Blog Usability Showdown: Me vs. Jakob Nielsen • Is eBay doing all it can to fight phishing?
• Comment from Yujin Sohn , 2 weeks later

I’m Yujin Sohn from SitePal Marketing. I sincerely apologize if hearing our speaking ads led you to have an unpleasant experience online (or to have an unpleasant headache). We designed the banners to speak only when initiated to play by users, and also added a mute button, so users can turn the audio off anytime they like. However, we realize that accidental roll-overs do occur, and I apologize once again for the inconvenience. Your feedback is really valuable, and I appreciate that you brought this to our attention.

If you are willing to give us another chance, we would like to offer you a SitePal custom speaking character to use on your blog and websites. After you experiment with SitePal, direct feedback about your likes and dislikes of our product would be very helpful to us. Please shoot me an email at yujin@oddcast.com if you are interested in this offer or have any questions about ways in which other bloggers use SitePal. Thank you, and I apologize again for any inconvenience our Technorati ads may have caused you.

• Comment from Jessica , 2 weeks later

Yeah, I'm sure he's just dying to drive away his own visitors...

• Comment from Paul , 2 weeks later

Yujin, thanks for your post and good luck with your damage control.

I'll take a pass on your offer, though -- I'm really not your target market! Trust me on that.

• Comment from Brandon , 3 weeks later

You know I found this site after performing a query using the key phrase "hate sitepal" after being once again forced to turn down my speakers.

These "pals" do not increase conversion rates but like Paul experienced increase visitor bounce rates by annoying visitors.

The damage control by SitePal's marketing on this blog is not only tacky but extremely transparent.

Sitepal, please for the love of god develop another product and stop invading my surfing experience...ugh

• Comment from Brandon , 3 weeks later

Better yet...read any of Seth Godin's books on permission based marketing. After a few short paragraphs you'll realize why these products end up like the dodo bird.

• Comment from Bryce , 19 months later

Thanks for the comments guys! I have been considering putting SitePal on our websites... but guess you are right about the permission based marketing. Darn, it would be fun to configure... LOL!

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