8 ms·

For this same reason, ads that advertise miracle cures, tricks and dates tend to have spelling errors and terrible graphics. They do NOT want to attract any att

For this same reason, ads that advertise miracle cures, tricks and dates tend to have spelling errors and terrible graphics. They do NOT want to attract any attention from people who see right through it.

LoSboccacc 10y ago
ah! I never looked at it that way
Aelinsaar 10y ago
Exactly. They prey on the weak, the disabled, the mentally ill, the old and isolated, and the desperate.
pmcollins 10y ago
I never noticed the terrible graphics nor spelling errors. I must be one of the idiots. :-)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Razengan 10y ago
That is more likely just a result of the people available to them for drawing/writing those ads, i.e. in non-English communities, rather than a willfully intended effect. Haven't you seen all the legit Chinese/Japanese/Indian/etc. ads in their home countries with spelling errors and "terrible graphics?" It's even somewhat of a meme [1] especially some of the stuff written on their t-shirts. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/engrish https://www.reddit.com/r/engrish
- siegecraft 10y ago
  While I can't say for sure in this case, there are plenty of examples where ads are dumbed down because otherwise they don't appeal to the target market. Besides, if your target is dumb/gullible people, why take the risk of wasting a click on a smart person who you won't convert anyway?
- barrkel 10y ago
  Anecdata: once upon a time, I got into a conversation with the chap writing the sign outside a restaurant in Morocco, with the dishes of the day. With a smile on his face, he pointed out a spelling mistake on the sign: it was one he made deliberately, because he found (or believed) that more customers came in with the mistake than without. Less professional, more informal vibe? My whole trip to Morocco was very enlightening. The locals were extremely sharp WRT tourists and word got around surprisingly quickly. It's foolish to leap from an economy's development level to the intelligence or education of individuals within it. Economies usually suffer for more structural reasons.
  - dasboth 10y ago
    "he found (or believed) that more customers came in with the mistake than without" I love this piece of (unintentional?) data-driven decision-making!
  - blowski 10y ago
    I used to work for a price comparison website in the UK. After a big redesign which took them from being a horrendous mess to "glitzy web-2.0 style" (this was 2006) their conversion rates went down. They did some user research, and a lot of users said they trusted the site less after the redesign, because it now looked more like a typical advertising business.
    - vocatus_gate 10y ago
      I worked for a sketchy MMO site back in the day (MMOEdge), and my friend who ran the site paid $20k for a very professional and slick-looking pre-built site from a team in Australia. It looked really good, much better than the old amateur-looking site that was currently running. But when he switched to it, he found conversion rates went down, by quite a bit actually. We couldn't figure it out and eventually switched back to the old "cheap" looking site, and traffic was restored. There's something about looking TOO professional that turns people away, I guess.
      - 099182919 10y ago
- tormeh 10y ago
  I read an interview with a woman in the industry. She was a native speaker and she had instructions to use spelling errors.
- heeen2 10y ago
  I read an interview with a professional designer of ads on porn sites (maybe in wired?), she said they are crappy and amateurish on purpose. I'd provide a source but this is not something I will google at work.
- mabbo 10y ago
  It can actually work both ways. Imagine 100 new scammers start posting whatever they want on the internet. The ones who post with perfect English get lots of people replying, but most of the victims realize it's a scam quickly. The ones who post with bad English get fewer people replying, but those who do are the most likely to fall for the scam. You have a lovely Darwinian scenario here in which the highest return on investment comes from those with lower skill levels.
13of40 10y ago
For a long time, I wondered why all of the orgone / chemtrail / crystal worship web sites seemed like they followed a stylistic theme -- black background, spinning gifs, centered text in different colors and stlyes -- like the same schizophrenic guy made all of them. I went to dig up some citations just now, and it seems like the proliferation of cheap web page templates has fixed that, though.
- VintageCool 10y ago
  That was the geocities style. Maybe the first generation of conspiracy web sites on the Internet created a cultural anchoring effect? Or maybe it just took a decade to update or replace the first generation of sites?
zuminator 10y ago
It's also the same rationale behind the rude "construction worker" catcall. Although you can tell quite a bit about a person by their gait and attire, the false positive rate is high, so it's doubtful a man will learn enough just by watching to make it worth his while to approach a stranger in the street for a sexual encounter. But whistling and making lewd remarks instantly winnows out any "difficult" (which is to say assertive, intelligent or self-respecting) women, leaving the most willing and easily pliable as the ones most likely to respond positively.
- geon 10y ago
  I never thought of it like that. So it's not just a numbers game.
  - walrus01 10y ago
    Basically the caveman version of the PUA approach. Be willing to make a boorish fool of yourself, have no shame in what you're doing and some percentage of responses will be positive.
- aj7 10y ago
  Good analogy!

LoSboccacc 10y ago

ah! I never looked at it that way

Aelinsaar 10y ago

Exactly. They prey on the weak, the disabled, the mentally ill, the old and isolated, and the desperate.

pmcollins 10y ago

I never noticed the terrible graphics nor spelling errors. I must be one of the idiots. :-)

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Razengan 10y ago

That is more likely just a result of the people available to them for drawing/writing those ads, i.e. in non-English communities, rather than a willfully intended effect. Haven't you seen all the legit Chinese/Japanese/Indian/etc. ads in their home countries with spelling errors and "terrible graphics?" It's even somewhat of a meme [1] especially some of the stuff written on their t-shirts. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/engrish https://www.reddit.com/r/engrish

siegecraft 10y ago
While I can't say for sure in this case, there are plenty of examples where ads are dumbed down because otherwise they don't appeal to the target market. Besides, if your target is dumb/gullible people, why take the risk of wasting a click on a smart person who you won't convert anyway?
barrkel 10y ago
Anecdata: once upon a time, I got into a conversation with the chap writing the sign outside a restaurant in Morocco, with the dishes of the day. With a smile on his face, he pointed out a spelling mistake on the sign: it was one he made deliberately, because he found (or believed) that more customers came in with the mistake than without. Less professional, more informal vibe? My whole trip to Morocco was very enlightening. The locals were extremely sharp WRT tourists and word got around surprisingly quickly. It's foolish to leap from an economy's development level to the intelligence or education of individuals within it. Economies usually suffer for more structural reasons.
- dasboth 10y ago
  "he found (or believed) that more customers came in with the mistake than without" I love this piece of (unintentional?) data-driven decision-making!
- blowski 10y ago
  I used to work for a price comparison website in the UK. After a big redesign which took them from being a horrendous mess to "glitzy web-2.0 style" (this was 2006) their conversion rates went down. They did some user research, and a lot of users said they trusted the site less after the redesign, because it now looked more like a typical advertising business.
  - vocatus_gate 10y ago
    I worked for a sketchy MMO site back in the day (MMOEdge), and my friend who ran the site paid $20k for a very professional and slick-looking pre-built site from a team in Australia. It looked really good, much better than the old amateur-looking site that was currently running. But when he switched to it, he found conversion rates went down, by quite a bit actually. We couldn't figure it out and eventually switched back to the old "cheap" looking site, and traffic was restored. There's something about looking TOO professional that turns people away, I guess.
    - 099182919 10y ago
tormeh 10y ago
I read an interview with a woman in the industry. She was a native speaker and she had instructions to use spelling errors.
heeen2 10y ago
I read an interview with a professional designer of ads on porn sites (maybe in wired?), she said they are crappy and amateurish on purpose. I'd provide a source but this is not something I will google at work.
mabbo 10y ago
It can actually work both ways. Imagine 100 new scammers start posting whatever they want on the internet. The ones who post with perfect English get lots of people replying, but most of the victims realize it's a scam quickly. The ones who post with bad English get fewer people replying, but those who do are the most likely to fall for the scam. You have a lovely Darwinian scenario here in which the highest return on investment comes from those with lower skill levels.

13of40 10y ago

For a long time, I wondered why all of the orgone / chemtrail / crystal worship web sites seemed like they followed a stylistic theme -- black background, spinning gifs, centered text in different colors and stlyes -- like the same schizophrenic guy made all of them. I went to dig up some citations just now, and it seems like the proliferation of cheap web page templates has fixed that, though.

VintageCool 10y ago
That was the geocities style. Maybe the first generation of conspiracy web sites on the Internet created a cultural anchoring effect? Or maybe it just took a decade to update or replace the first generation of sites?

zuminator 10y ago

It's also the same rationale behind the rude "construction worker" catcall. Although you can tell quite a bit about a person by their gait and attire, the false positive rate is high, so it's doubtful a man will learn enough just by watching to make it worth his while to approach a stranger in the street for a sexual encounter. But whistling and making lewd remarks instantly winnows out any "difficult" (which is to say assertive, intelligent or self-respecting) women, leaving the most willing and easily pliable as the ones most likely to respond positively.

geon 10y ago
I never thought of it like that. So it's not just a numbers game.
- walrus01 10y ago
  Basically the caveman version of the PUA approach. Be willing to make a boorish fool of yourself, have no shame in what you're doing and some percentage of responses will be positive.
aj7 10y ago
Good analogy!