The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

From the “I'm doing this so you don't have to” department …

I should know better. But alas, one of the latest virtual gewgaws a friend sent me via MyFaceSpaceBook intrigued me enough to click on it. Yes, sign me up for this MyFaceSpaceBook “application” and okay, I see what it is. Fine. But right at the top of the page I see:

(2) of your Friends Challenged you at the IQ Quiz
(1) of them thinks you are dumb!

Accept Challenge

Alright, fine. I'm curious.

Click.

I'm taken off MyFaceSpaceBook to some other website that's asking some very easy questions. I answer a bunch and have to type in my phone number to get to my results. No way I'm doing that, so it's “555-555-1212” and …

More questions. And one of the questions leads off to yet another site asking questions. I answer all those questions, answer for my phone number as “555-555-1212” and got back “Thank you. We'll text your results.”

Heh. Good luck.

But the quiz that lead off to that quiz is still open. I type in my birthday, and then I have to fill in all this personal information. It didn't like my first name of “S”—apparently that's not a valid name. And it didn't like my address of “123 Main St., Boca Raton.” When I typed in the address of The Company, it somehow knew it wasn't a residential area and required an apartment number. Oh, and it didn't like my phone number, so I made one up (sorry to whomever that is).

Good lord!

Okay, fine.

Then a screen asking if I'm interested in any of the following optional promotional items, select “Yes” or ”No” for each one. I answer “no” to each one, and then I'm informed that I need to answer “yes” to at least one of them.

So much for optional.

I pick one (I think it was for a motorized wheelchair) and get yet another screen of “optional promotional items.” Same story, I have to select “yes” to one of them. A third page of “optional promotional items.” This time, I disable Javascript so I can answer ”no” in peace. Next page comes up saying I need to enable Javascript and a “submit” button, and nothing else.

I can't get past this screen, so I re-enable Javascript, and hit “submit.” Now I get a page asking for my preference for cancer sticks cigarettes (really? Did I say “yes” to cigarettes?).

Sorry, I don't have one. I de-select the “I certify that I am of legal age” checkbox and hit submit. I then get the following:

There were errors in your submission:

Electronic Signature*

Please enter your name and address as they appear on your driver's license or official ID:

No! While yes, I am of legal age to consume tobacco products, I do not want to receive offers, premiums, and/or coupons from a tobacco company. And yes, I do understand that giving false information in order to accept these offers may constitute a violation of law, but I don't want the offers! I just want my results.

There simply is no way on this page to say “No thank you.” So therefore, I am unable to continue, and get my results.

Oh, and the quiz?

It's the “How Smart DUMB Are You?” quiz.

Sigh.

To my MyFaceSpaceBook peeps: I love ya, but I'm simply going to ignore all virtual gewgaws from now on. Just saying …

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