Looking for a More Interesting Way to Die?

Posted on 22 April 2008 by


I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read the title of Nick Denton’s “Eleven Ways the Internet Can Kill You” this morning; filed under “Webtards”, his choices used to make the point did live up to the hype. Included were the following items: YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, pornography, SPAM, blogging, eBay, drugs, webcams, chat rooms and his number one item, which I will leave for you to discover.

Among the gems, item #6…Blogging.

At risk: Those already at risk of dying
Case 1: There’s a trick to making listicles like this: Put the weakest item in the middle. Unfortunately the New York Times spent an entire trend piece on the bogus idea of “death by blogging.” But Gizmodo editor Brian Lam tells me, “Only bogus to lazy bloggers. I did 75 hours this week and anyone over fifty would die doing that.”

Each one of Denton’s points includes examples which led…well, to death in some way. Perhaps the most surprising was item#7, Spam

At risk: The terribly gullible
Case 1: Spammers and scammers can easily take your money if you’re dumb enough to give them your passwords and financial info. But some Nigerian scams go far beyond online fraud; many scammers lure their victims to Nigeria to continue paying money in person; fifteen victims were killed after they got suspicious.

I mean honestly! There is gullible, and then there is…death-wish stupid?

Anyway, the list is interesting, so go take a look. :-P

Source: Gawker

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- who has written 1699 posts on Gear Diary.

I started Gear Diary on September 30, 2006, and my goal was that this not be an easily labeled site. We all have gear that we use daily – some of it electronic and some of it organic. I think it is fascinating to explore the equipment that makes our lives easier, more entertaining, more productive, and more manageable. My hope is that Gear Diary visitors will find this site to be a comfortable and friendly place to discuss interesting topics – and not only those that are tech related, as well as a location to discover various types of gear – whatever that term may end up implying – that they never knew existed. My specialty is in-depth reviews written in a layman’s terms, because everyone can understand technology, sometimes it just takes a little translating. +Judie Stanford

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