The bad news is that you fell for it
, the good news is that at the moment of this writing besides you, other
6513 morons inexperienced internet users people
fell for it.
To partially excuse your momentarily brain fart (and that of probably most of the other 6513 people), the site is well designed, pleasant to the eye, the "pop-up" or opening window linked by "What is Green Plug?" is intentionally written in a very unclear manner,
carefully avoiding to use the
TM TradeMark symbol (which viceversa is all over the place on the "real" site).
Compare the above with the text here:
http://www.greenplug.us/oneplug.phpOne Plug - One Planet
Green Plug is the developer of GreentalkTM - a secure, digital protocol for realtime collaboration between devices that need power and their power sources. The first Green PlugTM implementation is a highly efficient power adapter hub that is able to simultaneously power multiple devices, each with its own energy demand. Green PlugTM technology maximizes resources, minimizes solid waste from obsolete chargers, and eliminates wasted energy. When devices collaborate with power supplies, an unprecedented amount of monitoring, control and optimization becomes possible.
Our long term mission is to ensure that every electrical device from refrigerator to server speaks GreentalkTM to level power requirements for utility companies and reduce energy consumption.
Which one is clearer?
Mind you, the idea is nice, most probably the device is good, but why do they ask consumers to "vote" them?
Most probably to be able to tell someone (the Press, the U.S. Congress, presidents of foreign countries, manufacturers, whoever):
"look we are the best, people like us, look at how many votes we got".
Let's see the "other" page:
http://www.iwantmygr...om/comments.phpHOW THE HECK
did they get all those (
ONLY) positive comments, since there is no comment form (unless of course you vote
, and you can only vote YES
)
Let me think ......
Do you think they are edited?
But the most interesting thing is the "Why?" link on voting page:
The reason for giving them your e-mail address is:
Providing an email address makes our vote count more credible when we share the number of votes with manufacturers
Now let me see.
Their Privacy statement:
http://www.iwantmygr...om/privacy.htmlContains:
Commitment to Data Security
Your personally identifiable information is kept secure. Only authorized employees, agents and contractors (who have agreed to keep information secure and confidential) have access to this information. All emails and newsletters from this site allow you to opt out of further mailings.
So, you may be targeted by e-mails and newsletters (without anywhere a place to give or refuse your consent - and of course a Privacy Statement has much more "weight" than the promise inside the "Why?")
but Only authorized employees, agents and contractors will see your e-mail address.
Now I wonder how they would
share the number of votes with manufacturers, while making the vote count
more credible WITHOUT sharing actual e-mail addresses?
A list like:
2008-12-12 10:15 AM 1 vote (positive) from <real e-mail address removed> Comment: Great! Keep up the good work.
2008-12-12 11:24 AM 1 vote (positive) from <anonymous> Comment: None
.....
Definitely first line looks
a lot more credible than the second.....
Let's see the
logic:
In the text everyone (well not everyone, but most people) reads, they induce the reader into thinking that a number of manufacturer
ALREADY license the technology:
Consumer electronics, residential and commercial builders, power tools and power supply manufacturers license ....
whilst in the mostly unread "Why?", it is clear that they will use the votes to induce manufacturers to adopt the technology
in the future.....
My "spreadsheet" detects a Circular Reference somewhere....
jaclaz
