The Horror! The Horror!

Have you ever done something utterly against what you believed in and been horrified? What if you didn’t actually do this awful thing, someone else did, but the result was the same?

It’s probably just me, but I am really tired of websites where you can’t get the time of day unless you “sign-up” which means that you agree to add your name to a list that will be used to bludgeon you with irritating emails twice a day for the rest of your life and probably for a decade after you’ve gone to your reward.

And yet, unbeknownst to me, someone with more technical skill than I–actually changed the nature of MysteryShrink by setting the site up so that you could not read a post without “signing up.” Gulp.

The horror. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it is dishonest to tell a person something is “free” or a gift and then that’s not what is being offered at all. What’s being offered is going to cost you those endless though cleverly worded emails that promise you eternal life. 

Example. DFW Airport. I pay a nominal fee for a service, Boing, that provides internet at many airports. Recently at DFW when I tried to log in to Boing I was informed that ATT now provided internet services for the airport and that this service was free. So I click on the link. A gleaming SUV swims across my screen taking curves on a scenic highway. The audio promises that if I buy a similar SUV, I will have a happy family and all my neighbors will be so envious they can’t sleep at night.

So, you’re thinking, “Turn off the sound.” Well, they’ve got that covered. You can’t do that. So, you’re thinking hit the little “x” in the upper right-hand corner and get rid of the ad. Right. You can’t do that either. After a couple of tries a voice comes on and says, “Welcome, we’re glad you’re here. ATT wi-fi is free at DFW Airport. You must earn your way to the internet by watching the two minute ‘message’.”

Clap. That was the sound of a laptop closing.

I don’t know about you, but for me the words “free” and “earn” don’t go in the same sentence. Sadly, it appears that the most valuable commodity we possess in our envy-based consumer culture is our willingness to put eyeballs on the screen and bang product names into “the little gray cells.” (Talking back to the stupid ad doesn’t work either but I did get a few “thumbs up” from my neighbors in the lounge.)

I frequently receive offers for advertising and guest blogs on MysteryShrink, but that’s not going to happen. I respect my readers. I’m clear about my own goals. I want people who want to read books I’ve written to know they are out there, but that’s as far as it goes. When you click to read an article because something sounds interesting, you can know the title isn’t a come-on but an honest effort on a pay-it-forward site. I believe when you click you should receive exactly what you expect.

Maybe I’m out of touch with the real world. I believe that once you turn your focus from writing because you love writing or doing therapy or doing whatever you do, to making the most money possible and impressing people– you lose purpose and the joy, which is the whole point. I probably am out of touch. Those who want to use the site for commercials or for guest blogs which are really a way to get the eyeballs of MysteryShrink readers over to whatever they are selling—tell me I’m crazy. That advertising money is the dream of people who have websites like mine.

Well, there are a few of us for whom the idea of promising information and fun isn’t a front. It’s the truth. I apologize to those of you who were refused access without “subscribing.” I really do. Such rudeness will not occur again on my watch.