For example, for the past week or so, there have been graphics either in the big spotlight box up top or in the entertainment section down below about Revenge of the Sith. They kept changing them, and including the word “reviews”. But whenever you clicked on the link, you would go to this page. Invariably. And how many “reviews” of Revenge of the Sith appear on that page? One.
Today, I followed a link entitled “Why are email viruses still around?”, expecting to get a neat editorial about stupid people who open any and all attachments (and commentary on more subtle methods of infection, like scripts that automatically run when you open the email). Instead, I got this page, which seems to be the front page for MSN Tech & Gadget’s Virus and Security news (with the help of McAfee). The top headlines on this page are:
- Virus writers losing their creativity
- Special: Identity theft guide
- Avoid spam and virus attacks
And then there’s a little feature box where you can download McAfee VirusScan.
The only title that sounds even close to what I was expecting to see is that third article, but it sounds so bland that I’m not even going to click it to see what it is. Where is the cute and funny editorial I was expecting? Nonexistent, just like so many other stories that MSN.com advertises.
I’m getting tired of it. I have always liked MSN.com. I like its features, its nice pictures. I like the site design. It’s always been more appealing to me than My Yahoo!. But I am getting freaking tired of the dishonesty. I’m tired of chasing illusions. I want to know that when I click on a link, I’m going to a story, and that story’s focus is summarized by the text of the link.
But I don’t know that. I can’t have any confidence in that. Now, it seems that I just have to click on stuff that is designed to catch my attention and hope that it will at least lead to something interesting.
I’m not really willing to do that.