Nationwide Domain Name/Yard Sign Conspiracy 324
robertjmoore writes "Everywhere I go lately, I see these lawn signs that say "Single?" and then give a URL with my town's name in it. Being a huge business intelligence geek with too much time on my hands, I decided to track down who was behind them and wound up uncovering ten thousand domain names, a massively coordinated and well-funded guerilla marketing machine, and the $45 Million revenue business hiding behind it all. Hot off the presses, these are my findings."
Conspiracy? (Score:4, Insightful)
Do the yard signs read your thoughts and beam them to a satellite? Are they emitting high levels of gamma radiation? Are the dating sites linked to Al Qaeda?
Guerrilla Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Fines? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now that we know who is behind putting up all these signs, apparently without permission, won't there be some huge fines coming up?
The "from the..." Department (Score:4, Insightful)
I know I'm slightly off-topic here, but I really have to wonder about timothy's choice of department for this article. It is:
from the tragically-yes-I'm-single dept.
Now, I am not trashing people who are in relationships or who are married or anything else. Please do not take my response that way. But my question is - why is it so "tragic" these days if someone is single? It seems as if everybody spends much of their waking time thinking about whether or not they have a date Friday night and the never do something with their lives. I personally have a number of a friends (girls tend to be the worst offenders) that gain their self-esteem from whether or not they are in a relationship. That seems horrible to me (and a really crummy way to live).
I don't know...mini-rant I suppose. I guess I just don't see what the big deal is about being single. Yeah, it *can* be lonely at times. But even people in relationships can be lonely. (On the flip side, I do know singles who can be alone, but their not lonely.) Being single offers so many advantages - your time is yours, your money is yours, you aren't tied down, and single people (especially ones who are content with that) tend to adventure a lot more.
Why being single = a bad thing, I don't think I'll totally understand.
Any response back from anybody here on Slashdot?
Yep, in NC Too (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Guerrilla Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
Guy observes something odd related to his field of work.
Guy notices more oddities, all related.
Guy gets an itch to figure out what is going on, and scratches the itch.
Guy keeps on scratching until he's completely satisfied.
Seriously, what nerd hasn't done the same thing in their particular field of interest? Whether it's the grepping to find instances of an odd item in your logs, or statistical analysis to compare voting records by state to federal balance of payment figures, or figuring out how to make the pelvic actuators on your girl robot work properly, one thing all nerds have in common is sleuthing.
Nerdhood, to me, is defined by inquisitiveness and a strong dedication to finding answers and increasing our knowledge. So yes, it's news for nerds, since we can all relate to the author's search for truth.
Re:The "from the..." Department (Score:1, Insightful)
But my question is - why is it so "tragic" these days if someone is single?
Because people in relationships find them so pleasing they dont know why anyone wants to be single. They like having someone and never being lonely.
In reality, you can find fulfillment any way you like, but typically people prefer to couple up.
Re:The "from the..." Department (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Guerrilla Marketing (Score:3, Insightful)
It's news for nerds because they're gobbling up space on nameservers. It does affect you.
BTW, these signs are all over NE Ohio as well. I concluded it was some local get-rich-quick schmuck with a magic marker. Seriously interesting to find out that's not the case.
They are in Dallas and Irving, TX too (Score:3, Insightful)
DallasSingles.org, LasColinasSingles.org. Isn't it illegal to plop these signs on public land? I hate this crap.
Re:The "from the..." Department (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that, quite frankly, one of the most painful issues with being single for geeks is when we have friends who constantly enjoy the pleasures of physical relationships. I, for one, have a friend who is constantly "pulling women from the bar" because "variety is the spice of life". Sure, he's always complaining to me that he will never find a good girl... But at least he's getting to have some fun in the sack.
For us pragmatic geeks who think about consequences, consider other peoples feelings, and simultaneously have the same mammalian urges as our more risky, wreckless friends, it's clear how one can feel that being lonely is tragic. ... comming from a 24 year old virgin who has more experience writing in assembly than hacking into panties.
Re:It's an interesting story... (Score:4, Insightful)
If you can understand what these terms are, I can communicate with you professionally, and maybe you could use my services.
If you don't understand these terms, I hope you enjoy this story.
If you don't understand these terms, or only somewhat understand them, but feel like you want to use these terms to impress your bosses, you need my help. Contact me and we'll work something out.
Good read... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Together (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Together (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:peh. (Score:1, Insightful)
It's not like they're refusing to serve you anyway. They will help you find a girl, you just don't want a girl, so you don't need their service. It's like being pissed because Coldstone won't sell you soy ice cream. They'll still sell you regular ice cream, you just don't want it.
Re:Guerrilla Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
This is extremely fascinating. I'm not quite sure how it becomes news for nerds. But fascinating none the less.
Maybe you're being sarcastic, but i really don't see why this is interesting, really. Upon reading the article, it seems to me the guy has the reasoning powers of a shrew - it was obvious to me after seeing just two identical signs with different addresses that this company must be doing this all over the place. The author makes it sound like it's some crazy complex conspiracy and blah blah blah. Hey, guess what!? BayAreaHelpWanted.com is also part of a similar situation! There is also SacramentoHelpWanted.com and a bunch others. Gasp! Someone is using location specific domain names as a way of appearing more local!
Next he'll find out that the Shane Co. is not a local mom and pop diamond company, but a huge nationwide chain, with ads targeting specific areas (our ads only mention the 3 local stores, for example, and Tom Shane always makes himself sound so down to earth that he couldn't possibly be the head of a huge chain).
Really, i'm surprised that anyone is surprised by how this works.
-Taylor
Re:Together (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess they went bankrupt because you scored on the first try.
These places make money by keeping you coming back... "hitting it off" is bad for business.
Re:The "from the..." Department (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe the "moral" imperative to "be fruitful and multiply" comes from a desire of certain subgroups (mostly religious and ethnic in nature) to grow themselves. People born in to your church/ethnic group are pretty likely to stay loyal to it.
From this simple goal come many other "moral" values: anti-abortion, anti-birth control, anti-homosexuality, anti-promiscuity, anti-interracial marriage, and anti-singlehood.
However, the world in which these values formed is very different from the world we know today. A few centuries ago, with high infant and childhood mortality, a much higher birthrate was necessary to produce enough adults of childbearing age (the extra hands on the farm helped too).
Today, childhood mortality is incredibly low meaning most children make it to child-bearing age. The threat of overpopulation, rather than extinction, is now looming. Additionally, birth control dramatically alters the consequences of sex.
Our moral values are only slowly catching up, hence the intense clashes over abortion and homosexuality.
In short, being single is "bad" because we still have yet to shed some antiquated moral beliefs that aren't nearly as applicable in the modern world as they once were.
Re:but do they work ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Together (Score:1, Insightful)
$200 a night for going out!!! Where are you going the Russian Tea Room?! Especially considering the towns that this service is focusing on, $200 would make you the town high-roller and you should end up with some girl that is hot but dumb as a rock and will leave you the moment the money is gone or she finds someone richer!
Re:but do they work ? (Score:2, Insightful)
"Being ripoffreport, "disgruntled employee" has a rather broad definition that could also often mean "customer who should have known better.""
True. but either way it still means they took an insane amount of $$ (IMHO) from SOMEBODY, and that reinforces the suspected business model.
So whether the report came from a disgruntled lackey that took the money, or the disgruntled customer that paid the money is irrelevant (for this discussion). Either way they are douchebags that are contributing to the litter problem in our country.
Re:The "from the..." Department (Score:2, Insightful)
Coming from a 26-year-old geek who's not a virgin: don't worry about it so much, sex isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's fun, but it won't change your life or suddenly turn you into a different person. You're better off waiting to have sex with somebody you love than picking up some cheap lounge lizard, anyway, it's a lot more fun that way.
The best thing you can do for yourself is just go out and do some more social activities. Join a club, find a gaming group, or something like that. (note: that list does not include bar hopping)
Re:Together (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The "from the..." Department (Score:1, Insightful)
Coming from a 26-year-old geek who's not a virgin: don't worry about it so much, sex isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's fun, but it won't change your life or suddenly turn you into a different person. You're better off waiting to have sex with somebody you love than picking up some cheap lounge lizard, anyway, it's a lot more fun that way.
As a 34 year old geek who only recently stopped being a virgin, I couldn't agree more. Yes, sex can be fun, but so can lots of other things. While I love my wife and can't imagine my life without her anymore, I can't honestly say that sex is really more fun than playing a good game with friends. There are lots of great ways to have fun.
In fact, after my first couple of orgasms (never having been one for masturbation), I thought: is that it? This is what everybody's been raving about? IME it's best when you take your time, do it with someone you really love, and make it part of something bigger than just the act of sex itself. A quickie is nice, but so is reading a book or listening to a good song. So take your time and don't be too impatient.
So why do other people constantly talk about sex and the joys of it? My guess: it's all they have. A lot of people lead surprisingly boring and empty lives, and then sex, even meaningless sex with a complete stranger, can be the highpoint of your day (week, months, whatever).
So just keep focusing on what YOU like, and not what others like. And if you stay open and interested in other people, you'll eventually meet someone you want to start something beautiful with. And 30+ is a great age to start with serious relationships.