2008 Campaign Crap
I'm still not quite sure why I did this, but I just created a shell address and signed it up for e-mail updates from everyone running for President. A few notes on this little project.…
For one thing, none of the Democratic candidates' websites required my phone number or street address to sign me up for e-mail updates. Similarly, they did not demand that I open an account at their campaign websites, join their "teams," or any such horseshit. Basically, all they needed was my e-mail address, ZIP code, and (in some cases) my name. I regret that I gave all these websites the same fake name. It would have been smarter to give them each a different name so I could track which ones shared/sold my e-mail address. Oh well.
On the Republican side, not surprisingly, things were a bit more--oh, let's just call it thorough. Ron Paul demanded my phone number (I gave him the 800 number for Empire Carpet). Rudy and Mitt demanded that I open accounts and join their "teams" ("Team Rudy" and "Team Mitt"). In order to join Team Mitt, I had to give them my street address (123 Fake Street). Fred Thompson didn't call it "Team Fred," but he did make me register an account and surrender my address on Fake Street.
The only two candidate websites that demanded more of (fake) me than I was willing/able to provide were those of Alan Keyes and Tom Tancredo. Alan demanded that I sign his creepy "Pledge for America's Revival." No fucking way, Alan. And Tancredo, pathetic lunatic, demanded that I join "Team Tancredo,"but had his web form didn't work… Strike that. It's just that the Team Tancredo website doesn't work with the Firefox browser; I was able to join the Team using Internet Explorer. Had to give the Team my Fake St. address.
For one thing, none of the Democratic candidates' websites required my phone number or street address to sign me up for e-mail updates. Similarly, they did not demand that I open an account at their campaign websites, join their "teams," or any such horseshit. Basically, all they needed was my e-mail address, ZIP code, and (in some cases) my name. I regret that I gave all these websites the same fake name. It would have been smarter to give them each a different name so I could track which ones shared/sold my e-mail address. Oh well.
On the Republican side, not surprisingly, things were a bit more--oh, let's just call it thorough. Ron Paul demanded my phone number (I gave him the 800 number for Empire Carpet). Rudy and Mitt demanded that I open accounts and join their "teams" ("Team Rudy" and "Team Mitt"). In order to join Team Mitt, I had to give them my street address (123 Fake Street). Fred Thompson didn't call it "Team Fred," but he did make me register an account and surrender my address on Fake Street.
The only two candidate websites that demanded more of (fake) me than I was willing/able to provide were those of Alan Keyes and Tom Tancredo. Alan demanded that I sign his creepy "Pledge for America's Revival." No fucking way, Alan. And Tancredo, pathetic lunatic, demanded that I join "Team Tancredo,"
2 Comments:
I could join your little project & use different fake names. Hell, I could create a different account for each one.
Eh. It's not a big deal, dji. I almost went back and re-registered after I caught my "error." But I decided it wasn't worth the trouble. There's more interesting data to collect in this world than who sold my name to whom.
(Although, back in The Day, I bought the Laserbeam Wristwatch (from the ad at that link) as a joke. They ended up spelling my first name wrong and I got junk mail addressed to "Anty" for years--all traceable to the stupid laserbeam watch.
In other news. The WIIIAI person also subscribes to the candidates' junk mail lists. This line from a post today cracked me up:
"Of all the subject lines in emails I’ve received from presidential campaigns, this has to be the most pathetic: 'Biden surges past Richardson in Iowa.' He has 8% to Richardson’s 4% in a poll of likely caucus-goers."
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Speaking as a scientist, etc.