Every once in a while, a news headline catches my eye and tempts me to hit the link and get the scoop. Lately, I've been growing very, very frustrated with supposed news services that do nothing more than republish hot stories published by other outlets.
I'm quickly reaching the point I don't want to read any news because it's all plagiarized with a big asterisk: Put each paragraph or bullet item onto a new page, and force the reader to gobble up bandwidth with the same-old/same-old autoplay promotional videos and megabyte-chugging ads (and often unwanted, tracking cookies and malware) reloading again for each stupid page.
Aaargh!
One of the ways I'm combating this is by subscribing to a TEXT-ONLY news brief service. I still have to put up with the annoying and unwanted gigabyte hogs if I click links to read more, but at least I can be a little bit informed if I can read the headline and the first paragraph.
Don't even get me started on headline writers who don't read the content of the story and plug in a headline that sensationalizes but doesn't tell the real story...
Saving that rant for another day, another way I'm fighting the irritating uninvited loss of expensive bandwidth is to do a search on a trusted search engine for the keywords in whatever story I want to read. I'm slowly beginning to recognize which supposed "news" services are bogus, and I can avoid them altogether without finding out via hard experience all they will do is crash my computer with malware and tracking cookies.
My most recent experience was a teaser for this year's list of overused words that should be banned. I'm a writer, so this topic very much interests me. However, I don't get much time to surf the 'net and stay on top of real news, so the header snared me, hook, line and sinker.
Easily solved. Exit the browser immediately. Clear all cookies. Open a new browser with my trusted search engine (usually google.com or startpage.com) and search for "words that should be banned." Top of the the list is Lake Superior State University, which conducts the annual survey, and I roll my eyes for not just going there in the first place instead of even bothering to click a link on a stupid teaser. What can I say? Born blonde; didn't come from a bottle. I can be a real space case. Truly.
Which reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw the other day and absolutely love:
"I Like My Space" - NASA
And now, back to that list...
I don't watch TV and didn't have to endure the dance that created the twerk fetish. Thank goodness. But I do know what the word means. Recently a reader/snowflake crocheter commented she likes how I've been tweaking my old snowflake patterns as I work through my special project. I couldn't resist replying, "Better to tweak than twerk..."
I really dig the word "unselfishie." I think that should become next year's most-used word. As long as we are using it to become more unselfish.
haha yeah they are a pain in the arse with all their reposting the same news story over and over so their videos can play and ads can show. Then they give it a click bait title and get people to read it.
ReplyDeleteStealing my bandwidth is what irks me most, Pat. I don't mind most ads, but don't hog up my bandwidth. I'm paying for that! Dearly!
DeleteWe definitely need some reboots out there!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Lizard!
DeleteIt is a great word!
ReplyDeleteUnselfie? I like it, too, Karen!
DeleteWow, I don't know either of these words. Will have to Google them (ba-dump-bump). No, really. That's pretty much the only search engine I use.
ReplyDeleteDo you have Ccleaner? It's a free downloadable program that you can use to wipe out cookies and all kinds of things. We run it every time we exit a browser. (Every time.) If you use it regularly it just takes a second or two to clean things up. Also we never leave browsers open ... too much like leaving your doors unlocked! We do what we need online and exit the browser. And run Ccleaner. (Is this getting too repetitious?)
P.S. If you don't have Ccleaner and want to download it, Piriform and Filehippo are both reputable sites to get it from. Just Google (!) Ccleaner. :)
You are so funny, Sue!
DeleteI do not have Ccleaner, but we do update Vipre EVERY day, and it's running continually in the background whenever we are online. I have both my browsers set to delete all cookies all the time, and we never ever save passwords. Ever.
I will have to speak to one particular user about leaving browsers open... He likes to monitor weather, so sometimes will leave a page open. Hopefully that's not inviting too many unwanted guests...