Are You a New Pornographer or Just a Stumblin’ Fool?

StumbleUpon is a bloody great power for the old attention-grabbing, isn’t it? An awesome plugin with which to turn the collective head of the blogosphere, and make some (hopefully) viral statement that guarantees your fifteen minutes of cyber-fame? But in the past few months, I’ve noticed one little glitch in the mechanics of the social tool, and in some cases it could make or break a website’s respectability. That’s right, it’s the pesky category button, that which defines a website’s contents on the search results page. Upon being asked to provide information about their site on StumbleUpon, many are choosing the “Adult” option, in the mistaken belief that the cuss-words or financial discussion in their gourmet food and wine blog qualifies it thus. But no, people! Upon choosing the “Adult” option, you automatically have the word Pornography situated right next to the name of your site for all the Googlers to see! Or are you actually a New Pornographer in town? Nobody knows unless they click, and if they don’t click, they don’t visit, and you know where this is going…if they are looking for The New Pornographers tickets they’ll be out of luck won’t they?
A more harmless spin-off is when someone else decides that your cutting-edge blog belongs in the “History” category, for malicious, mischievous, or accidental reasons, but this, too can cause web-surfers to skate over you and choose some utter claptrap instead of your top class banter. Social networking is a muddy pool populated by bloody fools, so be warned. All is not what it seems, and your friendly-neighborhood StumbleUpon could turn out to be your worst enemy. And oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

Speaking of stumbling, what the heck is going on with this farce of a Van Halen tour tickets hunt now? I work with a bloke called Bob, and he is a demon for the latest info on pretty much anything that moves, and even Bob has been bobbing about on this one. One minute it’s on, the next it’s off. Van Halen’s “atrocious” guitarwork, the support act, Ryan Shaw (who?) stating the tour was a goner, etc, etc, all very troubling for those who like to keep their finger on the cold and distant pulse of wrinkly rockers. It’s been a hectic day here at Watson Towers, and the night is young. Van Halen are spitting in your eye when they refuse to come out and tell you that their main man has lost his marbles and is stumbling around like a drunken pornographer, and instead choose to ride the wave, hoping Eddie gets his crumpled act together.

But back to StumbleUpon. What’s in your website? Maybe you like this article, in which case Stumble It! as they say, and let's hope there's no funny pornography business...