5 ms·

It amazes me that spam style works

dylz 13y ago
Don't forget copious misuse of shitty clipart.
cclogg 13y ago
Totally lol. The funniest thing is the chart of comparisons... so many of the rows are just random things that give this watch extra checkmarks.
- nnnnni 13y ago
  Ha, so I'm not the only one who has noticed that most of those "let's compare our product to other similar products" tables are full of superfluous stuff that's obviously just there to pad them with checkmarks?
  - GhotiFish 13y ago
    i think it's fair to refer to that technique as "The Microsoft"
- kubiiii 13y ago
  is called "rock" |rock (the watch) > check | rock (the actor) > check| samsung galaxy gear > x| ...
- lewispollard 13y ago
  Ha, first thing I noticed too. Those corporate smartwatch bastards don't have the Rockin' 12 app or Rock Micro Tracker & App! What kind of an idiot do they think I am! They're essential! I also like how only this watch has the Qi battery (and separate associated checkboxes for all the charging accessories as if you'd get one without the other), but all the others seem to have a "Qi battery life"
pyduan 13y ago
That reminds me of that argument that scammers purposefully introduce spelling mistakes and other types of obvious red flags because it filters out the smart recipients and only leaves people who are likely to be gullible enough to take the bait and not investigate too much. I wonder if there isn't something similar at play here, with the unprofessional-looking style actually just being a case of tailoring your communication to your market...
- JoeAltmaier 13y ago
  Not effective then - the guys at Kickstarter are not dumb.
  - pyduan 13y ago
    Kickstarter is not the one who needs the convincing at this stage, it's the potential backers. Case in point, this post does not link to an official Kickstarter investigation, but to a spontaneous one made by a random commenter.
    - JoeAltmaier 13y ago
      Ok, so 'Kickstarter backers are not dumb'. Either way the project gets caught at an early stage and cancelled.
      - pyduan 13y ago
        Citation needed. 1/ There are gullible (not necessarily dumb, by the way) people everywhere, why would Kickstarter's user base be exempt from that? Besides, Kickstarter is fairly mainstream now, so there's no reason to think it's only frequented by well-informed technology enthousiasts. The point is that they're trying to target the most gullible fraction of the website's user base, not that all of it consists of naive people. 2/ You claim it's not effective. However, it looks like they're close to reaching their goal with 300+ backers and almost 40k in pledges, so it seems to me like it works. 3/ "Either way the project gets caught at an early stage and cancelled." This doesn't seem true. This project hasn't been taken down so far, and it looks like they were only discovered today after having run for long enough to collect 40k in pledges. Had these (alledged) scammers been more modest (40k goal, earlier deadline) they would have gotten away with it. Besides, Kickstarter has had several cases of fraud and scam recently, so it looks like their Trust&Safety procedure has not fully matured yet (which is normal since they've recently grown big enough that this is enough of a concern to create a dedicated department). This is a concern big crowdsourcing platforms are starting to face, and for working in the fraud detection space and often discussing these matters with other tech companies I can say it's still something fairly new to them. 4/ All this discussion is completely besides the original point I was trying to make. Whether this particular instance is going to go through or not, my point was that there is something interesting about scammers in that they seem to (consciously or not) have their own culture and implicit codes, one of which being this very specific type of communication that seems egregious to most of us but could drive better conversion among their target population. I thought this was an interesting/amusing thought, but you're free to disagree.
eli 13y ago
Spammers use it because it converts really well. Ugly as sin, but it converts.
- jaxomlotus 13y ago
  Yup. There's a reason for that. Spammers are trying to target idiots specifically. Normal intelligent people who would otherwise get tricked tend to be the type with the wherewithall to follow up with authorities. Idiots tend not to be.
  - eli 13y ago
    Interesting theory, but I'm not sure the data backs it up. As with all things, though, do your own A/B tests.
    - mathattack 13y ago
      It amazes me that the A/B tests work. Is it just that they catch people who have never seen a scam before? How can people who consistently fall for this crap have any money left for rent?
    - friggeri 13y ago
      The data backs it up: http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/whyfromnigeria.pdf http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/whyfromnigeria.pdf
      - eli 13y ago
        I think we are talking about two different things. It may be that spammer are telegraphing that they are probably a scam to catch people too dumb to know what a scam is, but... I've also personally seen how "boring" and "ugly" web pages with lots of bold and italics and even underlines convert better than a trendier, "prettier" version. For non-spam, non-scam products.
- adamwong246 13y ago
  "converts really well" I don't understand- converts to what? Another language?

dylz 13y ago

Don't forget copious misuse of shitty clipart.

Totally lol. The funniest thing is the chart of comparisons... so many of the rows are just random things that give this watch extra checkmarks.

nnnnni 13y ago
Ha, so I'm not the only one who has noticed that most of those "let's compare our product to other similar products" tables are full of superfluous stuff that's obviously just there to pad them with checkmarks?
- GhotiFish 13y ago
  i think it's fair to refer to that technique as "The Microsoft"
kubiiii 13y ago
is called "rock" |rock (the watch) > check | rock (the actor) > check| samsung galaxy gear > x| ...
lewispollard 13y ago
Ha, first thing I noticed too. Those corporate smartwatch bastards don't have the Rockin' 12 app or Rock Micro Tracker & App! What kind of an idiot do they think I am! They're essential! I also like how only this watch has the Qi battery (and separate associated checkboxes for all the charging accessories as if you'd get one without the other), but all the others seem to have a "Qi battery life"

pyduan 13y ago

That reminds me of that argument that scammers purposefully introduce spelling mistakes and other types of obvious red flags because it filters out the smart recipients and only leaves people who are likely to be gullible enough to take the bait and not investigate too much. I wonder if there isn't something similar at play here, with the unprofessional-looking style actually just being a case of tailoring your communication to your market...

JoeAltmaier 13y ago
Not effective then - the guys at Kickstarter are not dumb.
- pyduan 13y ago
  Kickstarter is not the one who needs the convincing at this stage, it's the potential backers. Case in point, this post does not link to an official Kickstarter investigation, but to a spontaneous one made by a random commenter.
  - JoeAltmaier 13y ago
    Ok, so 'Kickstarter backers are not dumb'. Either way the project gets caught at an early stage and cancelled.
    - pyduan 13y ago
      Citation needed. 1/ There are gullible (not necessarily dumb, by the way) people everywhere, why would Kickstarter's user base be exempt from that? Besides, Kickstarter is fairly mainstream now, so there's no reason to think it's only frequented by well-informed technology enthousiasts. The point is that they're trying to target the most gullible fraction of the website's user base, not that all of it consists of naive people. 2/ You claim it's not effective. However, it looks like they're close to reaching their goal with 300+ backers and almost 40k in pledges, so it seems to me like it works. 3/ "Either way the project gets caught at an early stage and cancelled." This doesn't seem true. This project hasn't been taken down so far, and it looks like they were only discovered today after having run for long enough to collect 40k in pledges. Had these (alledged) scammers been more modest (40k goal, earlier deadline) they would have gotten away with it. Besides, Kickstarter has had several cases of fraud and scam recently, so it looks like their Trust&Safety procedure has not fully matured yet (which is normal since they've recently grown big enough that this is enough of a concern to create a dedicated department). This is a concern big crowdsourcing platforms are starting to face, and for working in the fraud detection space and often discussing these matters with other tech companies I can say it's still something fairly new to them. 4/ All this discussion is completely besides the original point I was trying to make. Whether this particular instance is going to go through or not, my point was that there is something interesting about scammers in that they seem to (consciously or not) have their own culture and implicit codes, one of which being this very specific type of communication that seems egregious to most of us but could drive better conversion among their target population. I thought this was an interesting/amusing thought, but you're free to disagree.

eli 13y ago

Spammers use it because it converts really well. Ugly as sin, but it converts.

jaxomlotus 13y ago
Yup. There's a reason for that. Spammers are trying to target idiots specifically. Normal intelligent people who would otherwise get tricked tend to be the type with the wherewithall to follow up with authorities. Idiots tend not to be.
- eli 13y ago
  Interesting theory, but I'm not sure the data backs it up. As with all things, though, do your own A/B tests.
  - mathattack 13y ago
    It amazes me that the A/B tests work. Is it just that they catch people who have never seen a scam before? How can people who consistently fall for this crap have any money left for rent?
  - friggeri 13y ago
    The data backs it up: http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/whyfromnigeria.pdf http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/whyfromnigeria.pdf
    - eli 13y ago
      I think we are talking about two different things. It may be that spammer are telegraphing that they are probably a scam to catch people too dumb to know what a scam is, but... I've also personally seen how "boring" and "ugly" web pages with lots of bold and italics and even underlines convert better than a trendier, "prettier" version. For non-spam, non-scam products.
adamwong246 13y ago
"converts really well" I don't understand- converts to what? Another language?