GET OFF GO DADDY: What’s To HATE about GoDaddy? Turns Out, A LOT!

Why do so many people HATE GoDaddy?

View Amplicate’s GoDaddyHate page.

Confession: my domains are registered with GoDaddy.

I hate their advertising. Their CEO has been playing the pervy old man schtick for a long time. And their superbowl ads are legendary for their sexist content. But controversy is good for business, right? I was thinking about showing you a picture of the CEO’s website, but you’ve seen the crap Go Daddy shows. Why would I give them more promo space. Rather, let’s help the GET OFF. (pun intended)

So who’s going to make it easy to migrate my GoDaddy registrations to their site? I will move in a heartbeat, give me a script, make me an offer, get me off Go Daddy.

Their service has been okay for me. Their control panel for managing your domain DNS stuff is okay.

BUT there is no place for sexist ads. Why? What’s the point? Sure, advertise in Penthouse and Playboy, and you’re welcome to free speech, but your use of T and A to sell web hosting is deplorable.

Let’s move our domains: GET OFF GO DADDY. [I will update this page with any easy to migrate domain registration offers.]

We Can Change This!

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://www.meterthis.net/godaddy-exit/

Affluent Neighborhood Speed Traps: What’s the Point? What’s the Business? What’s the Profit?

Dear David, How Much Money Does the City of Westlake Make On Frivolous Traffic Tickets?

The Affluent Speed Trap - meterthis.net - we can change this!

I’m going to come off as a whiney white guy on this one, so let’s get that out of the way right here. I’m white, middle-class and male, and I drive a nice German car. So what!

A week ago I was cruising along my neighborhood, being a good citizen and driver. It was a nice Thursday evening and I wasn’t in a hurry or stressed. I made my way through a meandering road, past a radar speed station “You are going 32 mph!” It flashed at me. It was a 30 mph zone.

Two turns and one stop later the policeman appeared out of nowhere.

“Do you know why I stopped you?” the young officer asked.

“I couldn’t have been speeding.” I said. I was quite surprised by his appearance behind me and was unprepared for what he said next.

“No sir, you ran that stop sign back there.”

“You’ve got to be fkin kidding me,” I said, almost reflexively. “Pardon my French. (Pause) You’re going to write me a ticket for rolling that stop sign back there?”

“Yes sir.”

“So, you’re saying I just blew right through it? I was endangering someone or something? The only one around was YOU under the canopy of trees, I guess.”

“Yes sir, you didn’t come to a complete stop.”

“Oh I’m sure I was crusing!”

“Can I see your driver’s liscense and proof of insurance, please, sir?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re gonna write me a ticket for rolling a stop sign with no one around. What was I going 3 mph? This is ridiculous.”

“Yes sir, the neighbors are complaining.”

I handed him my documents and the STFU. Better for me. I could uncork my anger somewhere else.

+++

Tomorrow I’m submitting an OPEN RECORDS REQUEST to the City of Westlake and my friend, the mayor, Dave Claunch (who also drives a fancy German car, his has a convertible top.) Because I want to know, when they write these kind of other-than-protect-and-serve tickets, in an affluent neighborhood, how much of does this type of nonsense law enforcement generate for this sleepy Austin suburb generate annually. (Considering a Travis County request as well, because they LOVE to run speed traps 100 feet from the Speed Limit signs. But starting with the local government and somewhere I actually know the mayor, well… Let’s see what happens.)

I’m guessing that the contested ticket incidence is low. I mean, who has time to go sit at the Westlake City Courthouse on a weekday morning for 1 – 3 hours, for a ticket that’s easier to pay. And that’s the heart of my question. Is the Affluent Neighborhood Speed Trap about safety or is it about revenue? I think I KNOW the answer, but what I actually know is NADA. I’m going to change that part of the equation for all of us.

We Can Change This!

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://www.meterthis.net/affluent-speed-trap/

File under: Westlake speed trap, useless speed trap, local law enforcement, speeding ticket revenue, bogus ticket revenue, open records request

ACTION REQUEST: BOYCOTT SKECHERS! The SOPA of SHOES – TOMS vs BOBS – Skechers Social Media Takedown

social media takedown: Drop BOBS

Can Skechers ripoff social media darlings TOMS and get away with it? Let’s take this to the streets.

BOBS vs TOMS < the SOPA of SHOES. (initial Sopa of Shoes post from UBER.LA)

Here’s TOMS facebook page.

Screen Shot 2012 04 10 at 5.30.33 AM Social + Media: Two Simple Words Combined (and the Skechers Social Media Showdown)Again, we may be comparing pills to pumps, but the stark differences in the approach to media sharing and conversations is also quite revealing. Let’s do one more REAL TIME example and see what comes up.

HERE IS SKECHERS FACEBOOK PAGE.

Screen Shot 2012 04 10 at 5.42.34 AM Social + Media: Two Simple Words Combined (and the Skechers Social Media Showdown)

Okay, everything there looks good. Now here’s where the REAL TIME experiment comes in.

Skechers has started a COMPLETE KNOCKOFF of TOMS called BOBS.

Screen Shot 2012 04 10 at 5.46.26 AM Social + Media: Two Simple Words Combined (and the Skechers Social Media Showdown)

Okay, see the similarity with TOMS? Nice to read their quote below the aspirational video, “Inspired by the South American alpargata shoe and the idea of gifting a pair with a purchase…” To be honest they would’ve had to have said something more along the lines of, “You know TOMS is kicking ass, so we’re introducing a clone idea just different enough to avoid a lawsuit.”

Okay fine, so how will Skechers deal with my BOBS knockoff comment on their facebook wall? Will I be deleted, moderated, or answered. And how long will it take. Will they find this post and comment? Will they ask me to take it down? Will Pfizer show up and ask me to remove their copyrighted images? It’s all open in social media. So let’s see what happens.

It is almost 6am CDT (central daylight time). And here’s my post for Skechers wall:

How can your company so blatantly copy TOMS with your BOBS campaign? Do you think the public is going to LOVE your ripoff marketing campaign? Can you brush off the criticism with this kind of response, on your BOBS page, “It isn’t a new idea, but it’s a great idea…”? You should be ashamed of your blatant knockoff of a beloved national brand. In the name of selling shoes you have sunk to a new low. Sure, you’re now going to do good by copying TOMS? Perhaps your statement should’ve been, “Inspired by TOMS and the idea of gifting a pair with a purchase…”

Screen Shot 2012 04 10 at 5.58.41 AM Social + Media: Two Simple Words Combined (and the Skechers Social Media Showdown)

Let’s see how this goes. I’ll post this and keep you updated with any results.

Interesting to find this post on the “From Others” page:

Screen Shot 2012 04 10 at 6.23.02 AM Social + Media: Two Simple Words Combined (and the Skechers Social Media Showdown)

Still no answer to Karen’s question from yesterday. Hmmm? Okay, so let’s try one more thing. If you read this post and want to contribute to the experiment, please visit Skechers facebook page and post your own TOMS v BOBS question. And go LIKE all the other posts by people asking the same question. We can create a cascade of comments that they will have to respond to. This could be the SOPA of SHOES. (I’m pretty sure that’s gonna require it’s own post. So far I’ve liked 15 TOMS vs BOBS post. Facebook told me to “slow down” in my use of that feature or be blocked from using the app.)

So let’s set our screengrab on another site instead. Here’s my post on the TOMS page regarding this issue.

Screen Shot 2012 04 10 at 6.18.10 AM Social + Media: Two Simple Words Combined (and the Skechers Social Media Showdown)

Let’s see how this works out, shall we? (Updates to come.)

UPDATE: TOMS has a BOBS Response page:

If you have seen the Skechers TV commercial for “BOBS” and wondered what the heck it was all about, you’re not alone.  We about fell out of our chairs when we heard the voiceover state, “Skechers is proud to join companies like TOMS,” as they show young women dancing through a forest in what appear to be replicas of our shoe designs.  Maybe “join companies like TOMS”  should have read “imitate shoes like TOMS?”   We’re not quite sure.

We Can Change This!

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://www.meterthis.net/sopa-of-shoes/

What Now? Why Meter This Has Been Re-Launched

There is too much good news about online activism not to rejoin the clan. Arab Spring, Komen, Rush Limbaugh, the list goes on. SOPA and the ongoing sneaky way the US government is STILL ATTEMPTING to get some SOPA in our internet freedom.

Get Out There CodeforAmerica.org

Click to visit CodeForAmerica

Okay so what issues, what stands, what movements are we aligned with at this point?

A few things we’d like to join or start:

We Can Change This!

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://www.meterthis.net/re-launched/

An Amazing Book Spells It Out for Detractors: Global Warming Has Arrived

It’s too late to shout it from the hills, they are covered in mud where once was ice.

bill mckibben's eaarth - a reviewIn his recent book Bill McKibben’s eaarth has stunning facts and figures about the state of the global environment today. A dear friend said today as they were flying into Florida they flew over the oil in the gulf for close to HALF AN HOUR! So much for the MSM saying 70% of the oil is gone. That just goes to show how HUGE the full-on spill was.

The media has been surpressed, the activists have been threatened and jailed. Pictures of the devastation have been limited and respun for our comfort. But the story is not comforting at all.

After a littany of scary facts, the writer goes on to say:

Don’t let your eyes glaze over at this parade of statistics (and so many more to follow). These should come as body blows, as mortar barrages, as sickening thuds. The Holocene is staggered, the only world that humans have known is suddenly reeling. I am not describing what will happen if we don’t take action, or warning of some future threat. This is the current inventory: more thunder, more lightning, less ice. Name a major feature of the earth’s surface and you’ll find massive change.

The book is already brilliant. Bill McKibben is the author of The End of Nature, that twenty years ago foretold of global warming as a future we must try to avoid. Well, we is there. We IS the future. And we IS in trouble.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://amzn.to/eaarth_book