{"id":3285,"date":"2008-06-27T19:47:39","date_gmt":"2008-06-28T02:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=3285"},"modified":"2008-06-27T19:50:19","modified_gmt":"2008-06-28T02:50:19","slug":"the-just-exactly-how-dumb-are-you-realtor-spam-of-the-day-inmans-non-ad-ad-might-be-extortion-but-at-least-youre-invited-to-help-them-betray-their-own-advertisers-for-a-fee-of-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3285\/the-just-exactly-how-dumb-are-you-realtor-spam-of-the-day-inmans-non-ad-ad-might-be-extortion-but-at-least-youre-invited-to-help-them-betray-their-own-advertisers-for-a-fee-of-course\/","title":{"rendered":"The just-exactly-how-dumb-are-you Realtor-spam of the day: Inman’s non-ad ad might be extortion, but at least you’re invited to help them betray their own advertisers — for a fee, of course"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is what you will see if you click on a link to an Inman News article:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First: What ad? There isn’t any ad there, just a ransom note.<\/p>\n

Who’s the hostage? That would be you. Inman is deliberately interposing itself between you and what you want, demanding payment to get out of your way. That much is extortion, and it’s extortion of the Chokepoint Charlie<\/a> variety, since the chokepoint is entirely an artifice manufactured by Inman in order<\/em> either to extort your funds or to punish you by delay for refusing to be extorted.<\/p>\n

Nice behavior, huh?<\/p>\n

There’s more. The non-ad ad actually attempts to insinuate that it is a matter of prestige to have been extorted in this fashion. “Club members<\/em>,” the concierge in the pro shop will inform you, “have first claim on available tee times.” If you cough up the dough demanded by this chokepoint, you’re not a schmoo who got rolled in exchange for faster access to regurgitated press releases. To the contrary. You’re a member<\/em>, one of the privileged elite. In essence, it’s like a line pass in Las Vegas: You’re not some ordinary sucker. No, sir! You’re a very special<\/em> sucker!<\/p>\n

We’re not done. Consider the advertisers, even though I can’t ever remember seeing an ad in this non-ad ad’s place. The “social contract” between Inman and the advertiser runs like this: “We know that our readers don’t want to be delayed. We know they just want access to whatever it is they clicked through to find. So, in exchange for your money, were going to frustrate and betray them — with your ad being the instrument of that betrayal.”<\/p>\n

I cannot imagine an advertiser stupid enough to want to try to engage the people it just pissed off, but this is literally the expectation governing that particular advertising space.<\/p>\n

But now we’re back to the non-ad ad. What does it really<\/em> say? It says that Inman will take money from advertisers to frustrate and betray its own readers. Unless<\/em> those readers are willing to pay the extortion money, in which case Inman will frustrate and betray its own advertisers, from Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is what you will see if you click on a link to an Inman News article: First: What ad? There isn’t any ad there, just a ransom note. Who’s the hostage? That would be you. Inman is deliberately interposing itself between you and what you want, demanding payment to get out of your way. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-inmanically-incorrect","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7708,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7708\/dont-vook-now-but-brad-inman-has-invented-the-undead-pool\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":0},"title":"Don’t vook now, but Brad Inman has invented The Undead Pool","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times:Plenty of authors dream of writing the great American novel. Bradley Inman wants to create great fiction, dramatic online video and compelling Twitter stream \u2014 and then roll them all into a multimedia hybrid that is tailored to the rapidly growing number of digital reading devices. Mr.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Casual Friday"","block_context":{"text":"Casual Friday","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/casual-friday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3818,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3818\/friday-afternoon-fun-can-anyone-tell-me-what-the-hell-this-bowl-of-tossed-jargon-salad-says-if-anything\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":1},"title":"Friday Afternoon Fun: Can anyone tell me what the hell this bowl of tossed jargon-salad says — if anything?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This came in my spam this morning, and I gave it nine seconds of my full attention: Babbling jargon-filled nonsense, probably with a well-hidden chokepoint to spill coins into the author's pockets. That was my instant take, but the truth is I don't actually know what it says. To the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2700,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2700\/the-all-spin-zone-the-big-news-from-the-inman-news-relaunch-is-that-much-of-the-renet-is-now-in-bed-with-brad-inman\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":2},"title":"The All-Spin Zone: The big news from the Inman News relaunch is that much of the RE.net is now in bed with Brad Inman","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I had mail from a vendor just lately asking me if I might be interested in a forthcoming story. This was my reply:Just so as not to disappoint, this is the way we work: Good for consumers, agents or lenders, we eat it up. Good for the vendor, we ignore\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3412,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3412\/bearing-the-sacred-mantle-of-insolence-in-the-parliament-of-whores-win-a-free-set-of-bloodhoundblog-unchained-dvds-in-the-just-exactly-how-dumb-are-you-realtor-scam-of-the-week-contest\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":3},"title":"Bearing the sacred mantle of insolence in the Parliament of Whores: Win one of two free sets of BloodhoundBlog Unchained DVDs in “The just-exactly-how-dumb-are-you Realtor-scam of the week” contest!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Q: What's the difference between cows and Realtors? A: When they get the urge to be milked, cows don't fly to trade shows at their own expense, wandering from booth to booth with their udders out.Well. I certainly feel vindicated. The RSSPieces clusterfrolic is further proof of the advice I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2692,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2692\/say-goodbye-to-chokepoint-charlie-in-a-world-without-walls-free-is-the-fee-of-net-economy\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":4},"title":"Say goodbye to Chokepoint Charlie: In a world without walls, free is the new green of the internet economy","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been talking about the economics of abundance literally from Day One of BloodhoundBlog:In a subsistence culture, the work of the mind is precious and literally unsupportable. We are by now so rich that millions of people can create intellectual resources that they give away, in turn to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1694,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1694\/first-the-starpower-conference-in-phoenix-then-inman-connect-in-san-francisco-posting-frequency-may-be-down-for-a-little-while\/","url_meta":{"origin":3285,"position":5},"title":"First the Starpower Conference in Phoenix, then Inman Connect in San Francisco: Posting frequency may be down for a little while","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting tomorrow and running through Saturday, Cathy and I will be at the Starpower Conference. Russell Shaw is one of the Stars, so he'll be there as well. I may write about some of what transpires there, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if my output is curtailed. 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