http://www.internet-tips.net/Email/SPAM.htm

Email harvesters - Since we manage several dozen websites, my wife and I have had to take extreme precautions to ensure that our email addresses do not get picked up by email harvesters. These are software robots that scan websites for email addresses, which are then added to those "bizillion contacts" CD collections. Putting your email address on your web site used to be normal, now it's become suicidal.

Pop-up Windows - These include pop-ups and all of clever derivations like pop-unders. In years past, a pop-up was sign of a free site (such as Tripod or GeoCities) or some tacky spammy site. Now everyone seems to be doing it. I'll put up with one pop-up once and only once from a site. But if they want me to return or purchase something, they had better not put up another.

Anti-Microsoft ranting - I know that Microsoft has it's faults (more than their share of them) and I know company often is it's own worst enemy, but is it possible to write about company (positive or negative) without producing a slew of rantings? It used to be entertaining, now it's just more of same.

Web Bugs - These are little 1x1 pixel graphics designed to help marketing companies track performance of their advertising campaigns. More insidiously, web bugs can be used to track people's movement throughout web. Life would be better without them, especially in HTML email messages.

Advertising for that "tiny little wireless camera that goes anywhere" - This has to be one of most annoying advertisements on web. Can't we just ban it forever?

Webmasters that are more worried about getting listed by search engines than creating quality sites - I understand that search engines are necessary for survival of a web site. But adding countless link farms, keywords and other things is getting ridiculous. Removing content or links or webrings just to get listed is even worse. I believe we webmasters should just create good sites.

Sites that try to prevent deep linking - The web is all about linking. While it is indeed bandwidth theft to link to an object such as an image, movie or audio clip, linking to any HTML (or ASP, PHP or similar) page is not only fine but must be encouraged. You will hear similar arguments against fair use. As you no doubt already know, fair use laws (part of copyright) allow you to quote or make minor usage of copy written works without permission or notification. The uninformed will often argue that any copying is bad - however, fair use is not only good but essential in a free world (how else could you write a movie review, for example, or a term paper).

Webrings are intended to link together sites which share a common theme. They were created as an alternative to directories and search engines, which are frequently run by faceless corporations or uncaring individuals who don't really give a hoot about anything but how to get more revenue and improve quality of their "image".

You see, webmaster who is interested in "making a living" from his website or getting a ton of money is actually in minority. In fact, entire phenomenon of cashing in on this vast communication medium is very new. The internet and web was originally intended to be a shared pool of information, freely available to all. It was an ideal of many of founders to be able to share information, experiences and have endless conversations freely and without bounds.

Perhaps this ideal is one of factors which led to huge internet explosion a few years ago: it was ripe virgin territory for commerce and abuse. Unfortunately, dream of founders has often been overshadowed by vast corporations and legions of webmasters intent only upon cashing in as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, though, dream is still alive behind venor of corporate greed. There are still many millions of webmasters who have no goal other than communication. The vast majority of people on web simply want to "talk" to someone, to become educated, to learn something, and perhaps to be entertained.

The search engines and directories were begun by some of these early dreamers, and for years they offered surfers true value in terms of information. Of course, huge influx of greed (primarily from unethical adult and other webmasters), these portals found themselves involved in a war. I still remember time when just about any term in any search engine would produce more adult sites than anything else. In fact, search engines were rendered useless to most surfers and directories even more so.

In addition, these engines were bought up by huge corporations who saw them simply as a way to create income. They have become, in reality, useless to surfers who desire useful information. Surfers have more and more come to understand that engines are simply vast money making machines, and this is primary reason why these have been croaking right and left lately. They are useless to average user who only wants to find something useful - not something popular or something to purchase.