What's the Deal with Squidoo?
Do I like Squidoo? I do. In fact I think Squidoo is almost a perfect vehicle for legitimate marketers to promote their products and services. It's probably fun for those who want to simply write a page about quilting, star gazing or squeezing out explosive farts too. But what I don't like is being censored and Squidoo practices censorship and discrimination.
As you read this lens it may not seem like I have a growing fondness for Squidoo ... but in all reality I take a lot of pleasure in creating Squidoo pages (called a lens) and find that it can be like chocolate to some extent - addicting! However ...
Squidoo does have, at least what I consider to be, some poor, even obnoxious qualities due to the newly revised "SquidDon't" policies and I don't have any qualms about expressing my opinion and distaste for the "SquidDon'ts" bullcrap policy that only applies to those of us who are not Giant Squids and do not necessarily aspire to become one.
Do You Have a Passion?
Let everyone know using Squidoo!
If you are passionate about something, whether it be health, making money online, quilting, Nascar, fly fishing, shooting, white water rafting, mountain climbing or simply want to create a page (lens) on "50 Ways to Steal the Remote from Your Wife and Avoid Having to Watch Soaps" you can relate that passion in words and pictures to literally millions of people online by creating a lens on Squidoo. However ...If you are an online marketer like me the new "SquidDon'ts" strangle your ability to use what once was a wonderful resource for creating online income because Squidoo has come up with the brilliant idea that it is best to eliminate certain categories, words, phrases and the ability to market certain products using their platform. If your passion is quilting, star gazing or squeezing out the biggest fart in history you are in luck. You can create all the lens' you wish about quilting, star gazing or farting but IF your passion is HEALTH and you market products related to helping others achieve better health why - that could be reason to label your lens as "spam bait."
Here's my favorite link:
Use Squidoo to Dominate Your Passion's Niche' and Make Money
My Squidoo Lens is "Spam Bait?" You Gotta Be JOKING Or ...
Just plain Stupid!
Personally I find a lens being labeled as "spam bait" ludicrous. Now with an IQ of 137 I am in the top 2% of human intellectual capacity yet far from being a "genius" so maybe I am missing something but ...If my memory serves me correctly the usage of the word "spam" was to point fingers at "unsolicited email" not web pages. The reason being is that email can be sent to you without your permission and cleverly disguised as something coming from a friend - so you open it thinking you are going to read something enlightening ... When in fact it's some online pill pusher promoting the opportubity for you to increase the size of your "johnson" by 4 feet!
Now that can be anoying but how on earth can a lens be considered "spam bait?" I force NO ONE to view any lens I create, including this one, yet I have had several lens' that I have created, published, added more content too and used them to either promote products or to direct targeted traffic to my other sites that do - that were perfectly fine in the eyes of Squidoo when I first built them but ... Are NOW considered "spam bait?" One is a lens on Heart Disease characterized by Atherosclerosis and it's considered "spam bait?"
Talk about a load of "BULL!"
First - A lens or website can not be construed as spam, without a real frickin' strech of meaning for the word spam (original meaning = unsolicted I.E email).
Second - In regards to a Squidoo lens or any type of website or blog, including articles posted on directories, there is NO reason for any site to be termed as "spam" simply because a lensmaster or webmaster can NOT MAKE you or I visit his or her site. YOU and I have to phsically use our FINGER to execute a "mouse click" in order to open that lens or web page. In other words we GIVE PERMISSION for our eyes to view that particular site. Oh wait ...
Hackers - are you a hacker? Are the majority of lensmasters or webmasters hackers? I'm not. I WISH I knew how to hack but I don't. But, hackers can develop scripts that will MAKE you view a site - the sucker pops up outta thin air when you haven't even got your puter warmed up yet! But ... those are rare and yes! Those people should be banished from online usage and their scripts destroyed. However, this simply doesn't apply to the majority of web or lens masters.
So I ask you - How could ANY Squidoo lens be realistically termed as "spam bait?" And IF Squidoo is using the addition of the word "bait" to imply referrence to using a Squidoo lens as a method of generating targeted traffic to a type of "sales page" for the prupose of promoting products, services or ideas well gee ... selling online is like fishing. So in that event they need to banish any type of sales or solicitation page and banish them from usage by ANYONE including Giant Squids who now have the right to have any type of page they want or at least that is what I am seeing from my research and "reading between the lines."
Third. I'm no RAT so I won't point fingers at specific Giant Squids but ... If you are a Giant Squid, Squidoo turns it eyes and pretends blindness in regards to the "SquidDon'ts" policy. Giant Squids can create and maintain sites that violate the new policy but can I have sites that do? No frickin' way! These sites, by Giant Squids, violate "SquidDon'ts" and IF I created one it would NOT pass for publishing and similar sites I have had I needed to delete because Squidoo wouldn't even let me FIX them ... I was simply denied the usage of and the ability to create such sites. They even "locked" a couple!
If I can't have sites that help me make a living online then why can someone else? Let's get real here. I don't know how the other lensmasters, who are not Giant Squids (and maybe don't give a rat's fart about becoming one), think and/or feel about it but I'm tired of this bull crap and the issue of "teacher's pets" when it comes to Squidoo rules. Squidoo used to be a wonderful resource and tool for creating traffic to websites and sales online but Squidoo has managed to bring in a bad smell.
Spam According to Wiki
Just because someone says something doesn't make it true.
You'll notice according to Wikipedia there are many categories of "spam" - many are simply bogus bull. However ... NOT one single example is the CONTENT of a website UNLESS it is used for "black hat" SEO tactics (search engine spam) to increase search engine indexing and page results positioning and to my knowledge, which is extremely limited in regards to HTML/CSS, that isn't possible with a Squidoo lens (excluding valid backlinks). So, except for keyword stuffing or creating a link farm (neither of which helps get traffic now that search engines are "smart") I'm not sure how any Squidoo lens could be even remotely termed spam. So what's up with the censorship of viable, legitimate CONTENT on Squidoo?
I just have to reiterate. The term spam was originally used in conjunction with unsoliticited email. Now according to many everything is spam. How can a blog, web site or Squidoo lens spam someone? It ISN'T possible. I can not force you to view my Squidoo lens', my web sites or my blogs. I can submit them to search engines, I can do things like write articles that link back to them or even link them to each other in order to create backlinks that help with search result positioning but I can not MAKE you view my sites or blogs. YOU and/or anyone else must click a link to my sites, lens', or blogs in order to view them and when you do that you give your permission to view the content. Whenever someone has to give permission by doing something like "clicking" a link (in search results, online ads etc... ) or has given their permission to view or receive content in anyway - there can't be any possibility of spam. And anyone who says otherwise is either stupid or promoting an agenda while hoping you are stupid enough to fall for their crap. Idiots that scream spam in regards to an invalid usage of the word are like the idiots who claim guns kill people. And ...
I can assure you from my hunting, shooting and Marine Corps weapons training there isn't a gun made that will chase you, stalk you, or ambush and kill you. In order for a gun to kill you someone or something has to pull the trigger or cause it, in some manner, to fire. Guns don't kill people - people kill people. And without guns they'd still kill each other for they have been doing it for millenniums without guns. And if you can't understand that - gosh I am dreadfully sorry because not only should you begin a vitamin regimine to increase your brain power but you won't get this Squidoo len's point either.
Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social networking spam, and file sharing network spam.
Spamming remains economically viable because advertisers have no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass mailings. Because the barrier to entry is so low, spammers are numerous, and the volume of unsolicited mail has become very high. The costs, such as lost productivity and fraud, are borne by the public and by Internet service providers, which have been forced to add extra capacity to cope with the deluge. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject of legislation in many jurisdictions.The Spamhaus Project - The Definition Of Spam
People who create electronic spam are called spammers.
Squidoo Under Fire
Squidoo competitors stoop to "bashing" tactics ...
In defense of Squidoo and a couple reasons why they may be running scared and opting for censorship of lens' instead a growing some backbone and balls are ...
1) Competitors. Squidooo has come underfire by competitors and even Google who claim that Squidoo may be haven for "spammers" because Squidoo is nice enough to reward lensmasters for creating good content lens' by sharing some of the profits from sales procured from companies like Amazon, Ebay and Google Adsense. Now, again, this is such an ignorant and huge stretch of the word "spam" that's it's somewhat laughable. The words "spam" and "spamming" have been applied to almost everything in the online sales world. Originally the word spam was used for unsolicted email meaning that bulk emailers would fill "in boxes" with email ads or sales propositions without the addressee's permission. Ok ... sending someone email without their permission may be somewhat invasive but now ... anything is considered spam. And remember, spam was originally considered email sent without permission. U.S. Courts ruled it a crime. LOL - sending email a crime. I get junk mail at my home all the time - that's legal - eventhough those who send the mail do not have my permission to do so yet - unsolicited email is now a crime. And why is it a crime? Because email is free. Our government - the postal service - can't receive MONEY for the mail! Ok ... but now if a website sells products and services it can be construed as spam? Yes, and so Squidoo is under fire. Can you believe that crap? A website being called spam? To understand just how ludicrous this is ...
Spam is sending email without permission. Unsolicited email. They didn't ask for it and maybe don't want it. Ok ... cool. No problem. There is a possibility, small though as it is, that spam could infact cause harm via some form of muscular or tendon damage due to "clicking" the delete button to many times. I mean there are tons of articles on "How Spam Caused My Tendonitis." So I am sure there is a legitimate reason for the U.S. government to censor spam other than money or loss of money. But ... how the hell would a web site, in any stretch of the imagination, spam someone? Isn't it true that when someone does a search online for say "How to Squeeze Out Huge Farts in Public Without Embarassment" and Google gives them some search results - Isn't it true that the person must "click" the link in order to view the site? It is isn't it? So essentially isn't it also true that by "clicking" that site's link to view it they are also giving that site permission to show them content? So, if in fact someone gives permission to view content by clicking a link where is there any spam of anykind involved? Do you see how out-of-hand this issue of spam has become? All because apathetic Americans allowed, some even lobbied, the U.S. courts to infringe on another 1st Ammendment right in regards to unsolicited email. Soon, very soon, you won't be able to do anything online without paying someone to do it.
2) Google. Because of the spam issue Google, in their infinite wisdom, penalized Squidoo. Now, instead of Squidoo getting some backbone and standing up to their competition and Google while protecting their right and ours to freedom of speech/content they are cowering to the powers that be and taking it out on the lensmasters who create FREE content so that Squidoo had a site to begin with.
3) The FTC. The FTC will again be scouring the web for those dastardly villains who search out unsuspecting prey in hopes of selling some idiot, who can't determine good products from poor ones, a $30 bottle of (Dword) pills, that may in fact work, yet the site owner doesn't come right out in big bold print saying "Hey! Hurry up and buy this so I can earn a commission" and "Hey! Visitor I paid that person to say all those cool things about my product! It really sucks seaweed and is a total scam!" I mean if someone is to frickin' stupid that they don't know that someone is going to get paid when they buy something online is that the webmasters fault or even his or her obligation to explain it? Now ...
Regarding celebrity endorsements and testimonials I suppose there are people who really think that Marie Osmond and Valerie Bertinelli do commercials simply because they are kind and have nothing better to do with their time and I really FEEL for those morons - truly I do but why should I or anyone have to disclose anything about any testimonial? I mean if someone is frickin' stupid enough to believe that they can grow a full head of hair on a BALD head in 10 days simply because some testimonial said that by using "Miracle Grow Hair Rejuvenation Formula" they had a head of hair like when they were 18, in a week - well shucks, what can ya say - what's the word? Oh yeah! MORON!
Summary. When you take everything into consideration you may understand why Squidoo has elected to penalize those who are NOT Giant Squids but that doesn't mean it's right. In my eyes Squidoo simply has it's tail between it's legs like a cowardly dog facing 3 foes - the worst of whom is the FTC and who, with their Gestopo like tactics and authority, could give Squidoo a cease and disist order should they find some sites a little to full of "hype."
Quite frankly it may be the FTC that Squidoo is most likely in fear of but, Giant Squids can hype products just as much as the next lensmaster so penalizing just those who have not become Giant Squids is demeaning and of course flat out discrimmination.
The following article in Wikipedia may be of further help in understanding why Squidoo is acting like a woman instead of a warrior ...
Squidoo is a community website that allows users to create pages (called lenses) for subjects of interest. Squidoo is in the top 500 most visited sites in the world, and in the top 300 most viewed in the United States.Squidoo.com traffic details Alexa.com. Squidoo grew 91% in 2008, and had 900,000 handbuilt lenses as of February 1st, 2009.
New FTC Regs
Big Brother is having another "controlling episode."
I predict that "Big Brother" will strangle marketers and completely destroy any ability for the little guy to market products on or offline and for what? To save ignorant fools who'd believe elephants can dance Salsa in 3 easy lessons from spending $30?I'm sorry.
If someone is stupid enough to believe some of the crap extolled on or offline then - bummer! But ... The Gov gets way to carried away with itself. It's like the "Spam" issue.
I get spam.
Hell, I have spammers using some of MY email addresses to send their crap and it comes to ME using MY address as a sender "cloaking" tactic! But, can I send an email to an acquaintence without their permission?
No! Because ...
If they are to damn lazy to hit the delete button and get on with life but have just enough energy to instead hit the "report as spam" button I could face loss of my ISP, fines, prison or all 3! Way to much Gov micro-managing - yet ...
Our cities are full of illegal immigrants, gang bangers, dope dealers, rapists and pedophiles. But DANG! Let's make sure that "Fat, Stupid Harold" doesn't get ripped off or go broke buying a $30 bottle of diet pills!
If you want more info on the new FTC regs check out this lens done by a Giant Squid. Oh and notice she can use the "A" word but I can't. Still she provides decent info: The New FTC Guidlines
Here's my favorite link:
Dominate Your Niche' and Destroy Your Competition Using Squidoo
Wake Up Call
Open wide and say: "aahh"
Now if you're reading this far I want you to consider some facts and if you doubt me just do your own research and you'll find I'm right. The first thing I want you to consider is:1) 300,000 deaths occur in the U.S. each year that are linked directly to obesity. Fat kills. So why would Squidoo, the FTC, the FDA or ANYONE even give a rats ass if someone is promoting products or services that may help those people? Well ...
The FTC, under the guise of protecting "Stupid Harold" or "DingBat Sally" from getting scammed out of $30 for a bottle of diet pills, and the FDA for the banning of Ephedra (ephedra may have been linked to 155 deaths in 25 years - ALL due to abuse) may seem like noble crusaders for justice but is that really their mission objective or could the real objectives be to harass and prevent companies and marketers from selling good products that may help people, especially in HIGH demand revenue generating markets? Most natural products won't kill people when not abused or require them to have heart valve surgery from using them like the FDA approved drugs Fen-Phen and Redux (approx 27,000 women were harmed by Fen-Phen and Redux). And did you know that over 100,000 people die in the U.S. EACH year from FDA approved drugs? It's a damn fact. FDA approved drugs are the 4th leading cause of death in the USA. But that's ok right?
In order for you to do some of your own reading, here are a few sites that may enlighten you and adjust your thinking in regards to the FDA's approval record:
When Accidents Happen: Adverse Reactions and Drug Injuries
FDA: Approving the Drugs that Kill, Rejecting Herbs like Stevia
Our FDA Wants More Power to Kill Sick People
Trasylol Lawyer
Ketek Drug Scandal Reveals Pattern of Scientific Fraud at the FDA
U.S Pharmaceutical Companies and the FDA Responsible for 100 Times as many American Deaths as Terrorists
2) The second thing I'd like you to consider is: WHO benefits from banning the sale of products that may be 100 to 1000 times safer, may PREVENT or even "CURE" certain diseases (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis) - you know the MAJOR cash cows for the pharmaceutical industry and mainstream medicine - yet can not be patented or sold exclusively by one company because of either time (past the time of patent) or current law regarding natural substances?
3) Why would the FDA and FTC make it ILLEGAL to say the word "CURE" or elude to a possible "CURE" for one of the cash cow diseases or any ailment for that matter simply because it (a product) isn't "proven" in clinical trials when it is painfully clear that clinical trials mean absolutely nothing in regards to FDA drug approval or efficacy and when the greasing of palms is in fact (whether the drug is safe or not) the fastest way to drug/remedy approval?
Now one other thing you should consider, especially if you believe in vitamin and mineral supplements. The FDA has been trying for years to control the entire nutrition industry (food and food supplements such as vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, herbs,and diet products). If the FDA and FTC have their way neither you nor I wil be able to buy Vitamin C without a prescription from a doctor and WHEN that time comes it would be very wise indeed to pass on the Vitamin C because it will probably be manufactured by a pharmaceutical company and will also probably kill you.
A two (2) time Nobel Prize winner (one prize in chemistry) named Linus Pauling said that he knew the "cure" for heart disease and the common cold. He also said that "ALL disease can be traced to malnutrition" and walked the walk by taking vitamin and mineral supplements. He lived to the age of 94. Linus was ridiculed by mainstream medicine (still is eventhough he's dead). A Nobel Prize winning chemist, ridiculed by mainstream medicine because he said he KNEW the CURE to one of their cash cow diseases. So who do you think is right - Linus who extolled the virtues of vitamins and minerals, was a brilliant chemist with two Nobel Prizes or the medical doctor and mainstream medicine executive who tells you supplements are "unproven in clinical trials" or "nothing more than expensive urine?"
But hey ... all else aside ... let's all be damn careful about buying products from scummy online hawkers like me! And one sure way to help you avoid being taken by me, or someone like me (a dirty rotten scoundral) is to have my sites called and/or banned as spam! See how it all works out for the best - the best for the FDA, mainstream medicine and the pharmaceutical industry?
What Do YOU Think?
Should Squidoo be allowed to censor a lens?
When it comes right down to it should Squidoo be able to censor our lens'? Isn't that discrimmination? I can't discriminate against anyone when hiring for MY business or renting MY house but it's ok for Squidoo (Seth Godin) to discrimminate between lens'? And Squidoo is not only discrimminating between those of us who are NOT Giant Squids and those who are but they are actually violating the Constitution's 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech by censoring our lens'. And it is a censorship issue NOT a "spam" issue. They are censoring CONTENT for the majority while approving it for those who hold Giant Squid status. This is a shady area in respect to our freedoms because some of our freedoms of speech in the USA have been taken away already under the guise of "common sense." However ...
Just because yelling "Fire!" in a crowded area, when there is none, is incredibly stupid, can be life threatening and the courts having ruled that it's illegal doesn't mean that the court ruling was right according to the Constitution. Furthermore, to do so opened the door to other "common sense" freedom of speech restrictions that now limit what the average man or woman can or can't say in public. Some things have even been classified as "hate crimes." And while those forms of speech may be in poor taste, hurtful and in some instances even lead to more serious situations taking away the right to voice one's opinion is in violation of the 1st Ammendment ... No matter how you might rationalize or justify the infringement. And ...
Once our Constitutional Rights are "adjusted" even once ... the adjustments keep coming like an out of control virus. And those who sit by, say nothing and allow it to happen deserve what they will eventually receive - the total loss of freedom.
Do I like the benefits Squidoo offers lensmasters? Yes.
Do I like their discrimmination and censorship? NO.
Books I like ...
The Book of Spam: A Most Glorious and Definitive Compendium of the World's Favorite Canned Meat
Amazon Price: $20.47 (as of 01/02/2010) 
Usually ships in 24 hours
The Complete Guide to E-mail Marketing: How to Create Successful, Spam-free Campaigns to Reach Your Target Audience and Increase Sales
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 01/02/2010)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Graham Parker: Fair Use (Notes from Spam)
Amazon Price: $26.27 (as of 01/02/2010)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Absolute Beginner's Guide to Security, Spam, Spyware & Viruses
Amazon Price: $24.29 (as of 01/02/2010)
Usually ships in 24 hours
by TheHealthGuy
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