Monday, June 7, 2010

What is Lookville?

Hey, Springhill.

If I may step slightly out of character for a bit, I just received this in the mail and thought I might share the automation of the internet with you. First, read this [Anything in brackets is my addition]:

Hi there blogger! [Hello, Robot]
Just visited your [Machine Voice] "In the Red with Kagy" [End Machine Voice] blog and I was super impressed by its design and content. [That's Super! Clearly, you didn't notice I use a stock design that barely works with my content, but thanks for the flattery.] We just opened up our site Lookville for beta testing. [Uh-Oh, I see where THIS is going.] It's a place for people to have discussions, share tips, and ask questions about fashion. [Okay, clearly you didn't read my blog nor its description] Currently, memberships are by invitation only and I would love to have you on it! [What? Why? I'm a Goth DJ in Podunk Oklahoma, not Tyra Banks] Use this invitation link to sign up if you're interested: [Link withheld]

And we would love to hear your feedback.
Ciao!
- Heidi C.
[Goodbye, Robot.]

I won't pretend to be slightly flattered that In the Red has gathered the attention of bots so soon, but it does seem out of place, doesn't it? Lookville, if you are interested, is like Digg.com, only with fashion blogs at it's center instead of the news. This seems like a stable concept, but their recruiting methods leave something to be desired. Is it a scam spam? Probably not. As Dr. Nick tells me, it's just a budding website, trying to get it's wheels off the ground.

Tune in tomorrow, Springhill. I shall endeavored to continue my transcripts.

20 comments:

  1. I have just received the same email. The only difference is
    "Ciao!
    - Bella C."
    :-)

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  2. i recieved it this morning with
    "ciao
    - Bethany C."

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  3. I received 3 days ago with
    "ciao
    Adeline C.

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  4. ha i recieved this email too except its mine was
    ciao
    Stefani P.
    did you guys sign up for it?

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  5. hi, me too, same thing except Ciao, Miranda. I agree with all you said. good blog.

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  6. Ciao, Bethany C! here. I looked them up just to see what the heck they were. I'm not following a link from my email. Anyway, absolutely badly targeted in my case, too... library blog.

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  7. thanks for this post. i received the same email this morning. i was instantly flattered and felt my blog had finally been discovered, but then had the exact same thoughts as you had (i.e., wait a minute... she obviously hasn't even read my blog...). so i googled what is lookville, and your blogpost was the first thing that came up. very handy. thank you.

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  8. Ciao! -Chelsea M. Lol this is depressing, I thought someone actually thought my blog was good! How disappointing....Yeah, I knew it had to be too good to be true. I thought the same thing too. Super impressed by my blog? LOL! Except I was thinking of maybe signing up for it...I love fashion. =p

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  9. LOL Goth DJ. I know the feeling. I had to bring up my blog to make sure it hadn't gotten hacked, but then I remembered that fashion is all about matching colors and textures and less about knowing how to match the dress to the occasion. Seeing your blog says that yeah, maybe someone did stumble here (hell, I visit 500 web pages a day most days, and quite a few of them random-as-anything blogs), so, I shall mouse on over to the blogs of the people who commented...

    (by the way, immaginacija, that's a really cute idea for a diary! I don't think I've ever heard of someone doing that before! *applause* You should have it's caretaker journal every day in it so you not only get the pictures but also the stories that go with it!)

    (TaBiThA, I totally know how you feel! Keep up the waiting, and write more poetry like that nighttime one. Longer poems are more freeing than shorter ones, easier to write because you have more room to develop an idea. As for blog design though, it was slightly annoying to have to scroll down forever to get to your blog posts.)

    ... and so I've skimmed over all of the blogs that the commenters (odd spelling, I choose you!) here have written, and it seems that between either the template decision or the content of the blog there is something that is attractive about each blog. Therefore, I don't think that the bot-mail is completely random - perhaps the users of Lookville have a bookmarklet, extension, addon or freaking toolbar button that says "send invite to this blogger" and it sends a preformatted invite like the ones Google Apps that are still in Beta send out. Like when I was invited to Docs (back in 2006, was it? Seems so long ago...), Wave, Voice, etc - it was totally a bot-mail, but I know that someone somewhere had to type in my name to send it. Usually because I asked them to, ;P .

    Anyway, don't get so depressed! I think everyone who posted before TaBiThA has a great blog, and that TaBiThA has great poetry! J/K, Tabitha - screw the caps - has a great blog as well.

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  10. Same email, but Ciao, Miranda B.

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  11. Got the same email too from ...Ciao, Adeline C.

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  12. Yeah, I was pretty skeptical that this wasn't spam, so I did a google search and I guess I was right. Ciao, Bella C.

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  13. Received the same e-mail from a robot / person called Bella C. My blog provides literature reviews - way off the mark.

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  14. Your post just help my kid to be/war in the insanity of the web...

    Many tanks! ;o)

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  15. Thanks for the info. I just received the same email addressing my Yorkie's blog. While Emma is an extremely well-dressed pooch, I do not believe she is interested in sharing her fashion tips.

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  16. I have just recieved the same email - thanks for letting us know.

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  17. I got the same email today... from "Heidi C." I was thrown off by the whole fashion thing! My blog is about Jesus... what made "Heidi" think I am interested in fashion!?!? Big joke. smh

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  18. I got the same...from Chelsea M. LOL.

    Love that outfit, by the way!

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  19. I have a blog called ''Live.Laugh.Love.' I checked my email today to find an email also with an invitation to ''Lookville.com.' from a ''Heidi C.'Thanks for the heads up!

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  20. "...And we would love to hear your feedbacks.

    Ciao!
    - Daphne G."

    My feedback? :)

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