Pictures of Lily [refrain]
Update: A couple of people have emailed me to point out that the image of Yeoman Rand is being pulled into this site, and is therefore bypassing the advertising. This is true, and was, perhaps, not the best example to make my point. But Yahoo! didn't temporarily cut off access to my Geocities site because I pulled that image, they cut off access because bandwidth was exceeded. The same thing would have happened if you all would have clicked on this link to go to my Geocities site — where the advertising is. Let's conduct an experiment. Click on that link right now. It shouldn't take long for you to get the "Sorry, this site is temporarily unavailable" message.
The point remains this: If too many people visit a Geocities site, Yahoo! temporarily denies them access.
Too many potential customers seeing those ads. Isn't that a problem advertisers want to have?
* * *
Last November I was in Mississippi and Memphis for ten days and wrote several stories about my experiences, starting with Tommy, the young man I met in the Memphis airport while waiting for my friend K to arrive (Lose Yourself). K and I went to Graceland (Goin' to Graceland, Graceland) and spent Halloween on Beale Street in Memphis (I Know What Boys Like). I met many people who, to my surprise, seemed either uninterested in the upcoming election, or who didn't care that George Bush was ruining their country (My United States Of Whatever). I watched the election returns from a hotel room in Starkville, Mississippi (Imagine) and was then, and still am now, utterly flabbergasted at the results (Any Way You Want It).
I also took some pictures, and told you about them here.
I do not have a digital camera. I take pictures the old fashioned way, with a real camera, a Canon EOS. I like film. I like paper. I like photo albums. I do not like looking at pictures on a monitor. I like to make my pictures count. I do not like the disposibleness of digital pictures. I realize I am in an ever-shrinking minority. You may think I'm a luddite. You are entitled to your opinion, I'm simply telling you mine.
The first time I wanted to include a picture with one of my stories here on Blogger, I found there was no easy way to do it. Google hadn't yet provided us with the tools. And so I created a Geocities site for Postmodern Sass, which I call Postmodernes Sprachspielen: The Annex, and I posted my pictures there, in their own virtual Web page photo albums. When I make reference to a photo in one of my stories, I sometimes pull the photo into the story, sometimes link you to the "album" page, sometimes both. I do not use Geocities simply as a bucket to hold the photos — Yahoo! does not allow this, for obvious reasons, and I respect that. So I encourage you, Gentle Reader, to visit The Annex and flip through the albums from there.
There is a point to this, other than just me showing you all my pictures, so bear with me...
Last week Tim Bray, XML guru, founder of Antarctica Systems, and author of the very popular blog called ongoing, was amused by a little story I wrote about rappin' with my PhD buddies, and so he linked to it. I am, of course, flattered, and appreciative, and keenly aware that many of you who are reading my words right now are doing so because he brought you to my attention. I am also flattered and appreciative that you came back.
The sudden overwhelming traffic to Postmodernes Sprachspielen, however, resulted in a problem for me: the nifty pinup of Yeoman Rand disappeared from the story. That's because it was residing in The Annex, and I had linked it into the story, and Yahoo! has some kind of control that cuts off access to a Geocities site, temporarily, when too many people are viewing it.
Let's think about that for a moment, shall we?
When too many people are visiting a Geocities site, Yahoo! cuts them off.
Yahoo! sells advertising on its Geocities pages. Advertisers want people to see their ads. When my site suddenly became popular, too many people — according to Yahoo! — were visiting it.
Too many people were seeing Yahoo!'s advertisers' advertisements.
Once more for emphasis: When too many potential customers are seeing their advertisers' advertisements, Yahoo! cuts those potential customers off. So they can't see the ads. So they can't respond to the ads.
Can someone please explain the business model behind this?
Tim, you were talking to Yahoo! last week. Perhaps you can shed some light?
* * *
In the next story, Sass writes Jack a letter.
The point remains this: If too many people visit a Geocities site, Yahoo! temporarily denies them access.
Too many potential customers seeing those ads. Isn't that a problem advertisers want to have?
Last November I was in Mississippi and Memphis for ten days and wrote several stories about my experiences, starting with Tommy, the young man I met in the Memphis airport while waiting for my friend K to arrive (Lose Yourself). K and I went to Graceland (Goin' to Graceland, Graceland) and spent Halloween on Beale Street in Memphis (I Know What Boys Like). I met many people who, to my surprise, seemed either uninterested in the upcoming election, or who didn't care that George Bush was ruining their country (My United States Of Whatever). I watched the election returns from a hotel room in Starkville, Mississippi (Imagine) and was then, and still am now, utterly flabbergasted at the results (Any Way You Want It).
I also took some pictures, and told you about them here.
I do not have a digital camera. I take pictures the old fashioned way, with a real camera, a Canon EOS. I like film. I like paper. I like photo albums. I do not like looking at pictures on a monitor. I like to make my pictures count. I do not like the disposibleness of digital pictures. I realize I am in an ever-shrinking minority. You may think I'm a luddite. You are entitled to your opinion, I'm simply telling you mine.
The first time I wanted to include a picture with one of my stories here on Blogger, I found there was no easy way to do it. Google hadn't yet provided us with the tools. And so I created a Geocities site for Postmodern Sass, which I call Postmodernes Sprachspielen: The Annex, and I posted my pictures there, in their own virtual Web page photo albums. When I make reference to a photo in one of my stories, I sometimes pull the photo into the story, sometimes link you to the "album" page, sometimes both. I do not use Geocities simply as a bucket to hold the photos — Yahoo! does not allow this, for obvious reasons, and I respect that. So I encourage you, Gentle Reader, to visit The Annex and flip through the albums from there.
There is a point to this, other than just me showing you all my pictures, so bear with me...
Last week Tim Bray, XML guru, founder of Antarctica Systems, and author of the very popular blog called ongoing, was amused by a little story I wrote about rappin' with my PhD buddies, and so he linked to it. I am, of course, flattered, and appreciative, and keenly aware that many of you who are reading my words right now are doing so because he brought you to my attention. I am also flattered and appreciative that you came back.
The sudden overwhelming traffic to Postmodernes Sprachspielen, however, resulted in a problem for me: the nifty pinup of Yeoman Rand disappeared from the story. That's because it was residing in The Annex, and I had linked it into the story, and Yahoo! has some kind of control that cuts off access to a Geocities site, temporarily, when too many people are viewing it.
Let's think about that for a moment, shall we?
When too many people are visiting a Geocities site, Yahoo! cuts them off.
Yahoo! sells advertising on its Geocities pages. Advertisers want people to see their ads. When my site suddenly became popular, too many people — according to Yahoo! — were visiting it.
Too many people were seeing Yahoo!'s advertisers' advertisements.
Once more for emphasis: When too many potential customers are seeing their advertisers' advertisements, Yahoo! cuts those potential customers off. So they can't see the ads. So they can't respond to the ads.
Can someone please explain the business model behind this?
Tim, you were talking to Yahoo! last week. Perhaps you can shed some light?
In the next story, Sass writes Jack a letter.
1 Comments:
Well, that could be true.
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