Note: This column represents the opinions
of the writer and as such, is not purported as fact
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Here we are, just two sleeps from Christmas and a huge percentage of
the population have already finished work for the year.
With any luck, most of those who work with the Net as part of their job
for most of the year will now be able to take a long-deserved break away
from the numbing glow of the screen and relentless click of the keyboard.
However, I suspect there are more than a handful of people who will
find the Net to be an even more important tool or component of their
daily lives at this time of the year.
Check Out The Aardvark PC-Based Digital
Entertainment Centre Project
Updated 2-Dec-2002
I wonder just how many of the physically disabled members of our society
have discovered that they can now do most of their Christmas shopping without
leaving home -- or even their bed for that matter?
I suspect that the Net also provides those same people with a valuable
communications link to friends, relatives and others in the "outside world"
at a time which is for some, very lonely and potentially depressing.
Even many able-bodied folks are probably taking advantage of email to save themselves
the hassle and expense of sending a Christmas card or letter.
Which raises one of the worst aspects of Christmas on the Net -- the evil
cyber-card!
Anyone who sends me such a ridiculous piece of digitritus (look, I made a
new word!) will be forever
cast onto my black-list.
While a personally written email that includes a note conveying seasonal
good wishes is okay, sending someone a cybercard is the online equivalent
of saying "I really don't care enough to put any effort into this" and,
in my book, is somewhat of an insult.
Interestingly enough, I haven't received a single cybercard (yet) this year,
for which I'm eternally grateful. I wonder however, whether the web's
spam-filters are catching and discarding much of this garbage?
And speaking of spam -- how many copies of the "mini RC racers" spam have
you received so far?
It seems that in the USA, these miniature radio controlled cars are all the
rage this year -- which has also seen them in short supply. Spammers
have leapt on this "opportunity" to send bulk email touting these gifts
to millions of email users.
I fear that many parents, unable to find such things in the shops, will
respond to these "special offers" and thus endorse spam as an effective sales technique.
On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that more than a few of these emails
are outright scams and that the senders have either stock, nor any intention
of sending the advertised cars to any gullible idiots who are stupid enough to send money to
a spammer.
Either way however, the spammers will likely walk away with wads of cash
in their pockets and a determination to spam even harder next year.
Just a reminder that tomorrow's Aardvark is the last "official" edition
until next year -- so don't miss out because stocks are strictly limited :-)
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