Targeted Online Advertising

[Ian Batten]

>
> Sadly, 99% of the internet using population are the kind of people who
> click on unrecognised .exe files in attachments or think they can make
> loads of money from some generous guy in Nigeria.

I am constantly irritated by this sort of claim.  In the background is  
the ``how so unlike me, who so clever and wise'' claim.  It's like  
people on Slashdot constantly referring to ``sheeple'': in their  
contempt for others, they are bolstering their own self-image.  99% of  
the population _don't_ reply to 411 mail.  90% don't.  9% don't.  0.9%  
don't.  A miniscule number of people do: that's why they send so  
many.  There are idiots on the Internet, as in every other walk of  
life, but although it might make you feel like a big man to believe  
you are a 1 in a 100 genius, it just isn't true.

>
>
> With my I.T. support hat on, it's scary how many people are out  
> there whom
> you think "this person shouldn't be allowed a computer, let alone  
> access to
> the internet".
> I was called out the other day to fix someone's PC, and found it had  
> no
> security and an old version of WinXP. The 'problem' turned out to be  
> the
> fact the person was unsure what onscreen messages meant (such as  
> "Updates
> available. Do you wish to install them?" etc) so automatically clicked
> 'cancel' on *everything*,

Hang on, a paragraph ago 99% of the population will click OK on  
everything, which makes them idiots.  This person has learnt the  
lesson that clicking OK on random pop-ups is a bad idea, and they're  
_still_ an idiot?  Is anyone other than Paul Vigay qualified to use a  
computer?   You'd be the first, presumably, to condemn someone who  
clicked on an `Updates Available' popup which was fake and got  
infected: people can't win, can they?  Do you never make mistakes?

That computers are sold as white goods, bought as brown goods and are  
in fact Maplin kits is no surprise.  That people are assailed with  
endless streams of modal dialogue boxes, some of which are real and  
some of which are fake, is our fault, not the consumers'.  If Updates  
should always be applied, why does the OS offer the choice?
>
> I took pains to carefully explain things to them, but they still  
> clicked
> cancel when I let them install another CD themselves! Agggghhhh!

Explain what?  Suppose I'm sat in front of a windows box.  A modal  
dialogue comes up, saying that I should click to install some  
unspecified stuff.  How do I (thirty years of experience with  
computers) distinguish real from false?  Hard, isn't it?  Now, how  
does someone who bought a computer do it?  It's the autism and poor  
social skills of the computer industry that means we ship crap to  
consumers and then sneer about them behind their backs.  If you work  
for an ISP, those idiots pay your wages.

Meanwhile, I've got a Windows VM on my Mac which is asking for  
updates, but when they are installed and the machine rebooted it  
immediately wants to apply them again.  Presumably I've done something  
wrong: do you want to pop over and call me an idiot, or will you give  
me some help and leave the name calling for later?

It must be great to know everything and never make a mistake, being,  
as you are, in the top centile of the population.  I wish I had your  
abilities.

ian