But the thing is, by using clips, this presents me with an awkward conflict morally. (Perhaps I think too much about these things...)

As I see it, the idea of Clipmarks is to organize information from the net in order to achieve one or all of three goals:

1.) Remember cool stuff we see
2.) Share things we think are important with others
3.) Exchange opinions with others on the world

Now, I personally don't clip anything that I created myself, since I feel that would violate the spirit in which I use clipmarks. Sometimes this is inconvenient because I would like to discuss something with you all, but can't find a site to clip. However, I think that linking our ideas to extrnal evidence is ...

But the thing is, by using clips, this presents me with an awkward conflict morally. (Perhaps I think too much about these things...)

As I see it, the idea of Clipmarks is to organize information from the net in order to achieve one or all of three goals:

1.) Remember cool stuff we see
2.) Share things we think are important with others
3.) Exchange opinions with others on the world

Now, I personally don't clip anything that I created myself, since I feel that would violate the spirit in which I use clipmarks. Sometimes this is inconvenient because I would like to discuss something with you all, but can't find a site to clip. However, I think that linking our ideas to extrnal evidence is an important part of the clipmarks format, one that is lost if I clip my own stuff.

On the other hand, that's just my personal feelings about the site, and I by no means expect everyone to see it my way, and I have never held it against a person just because they have different concepts of right and wrong from me.

So what if a person genuinely feels like the stuff they are promoting by clipping is worthy of attention? What if they think it really is something everyone else should know about? I might not think their clips are worthwhile, but who am I too judge what should and should not be clipped? I think the radical democracy of information on clipmarks is one of its greatest strengths. So if these "spam" clippers are genuinely promoting something they think we should all know about, isn't that the same as what all the rest of us are doing?

On the other hand, if they are doing it for profit, then that certainly crosses the line. (Even profit from advertising secured by higher traffic on clipped sites.)

But what really troubles me is that as far as I know, you can't have a "clipbot" like the scumbots that victimize most other sites. It seems like these accounts were set up by people and clips were created by hand. (Am I wrong?)

So it's not the same as sending out a million emails indiscriminately, often which are totally irrelevant to me. (For instance, breast enlargement, which I'm not interested in, and penile enlargement, which I don't need, thank you very much!)

And it's not entirely unsolicited. By joining and browsing clipmarks, I am actually soliciting information about interesting websites from other clippers.

My anger is that they are overwhelming the meaningful clips, but mean...

But what really troubles me is that as far as I know, you can't have a "clipbot" like the scumbots that victimize most other sites. It seems like these accounts were set up by people and clips were created by hand. (Am I wrong?)

So it's not the same as sending out a million emails indiscriminately, often which are totally irrelevant to me. (For instance, breast enlargement, which I'm not interested in, and penile enlargement, which I don't need, thank you very much!)

And it's not entirely unsolicited. By joining and browsing clipmarks, I am actually soliciting information about interesting websites from other clippers.

My anger is that they are overwhelming the meaningful clips, but meaningful is a subjective judgment on my part, and I don't think I have a right to impose that judgement on the community.

So I've been thinking: Let's deal with this as a community. I like what Eric mentioned about finding a way for the community to deal with them, although I'm not sure what it would be, I am looking forward to it.

In the meantime I will email the Clip Team whenever I see one, but I will also comment on every spam clip I see with the following sentences:

STOP SPAMMING US LOSER! GET A LIFE!

I hope other people do that too. We can show them the community rejects them. Oh, and it is of course important to boycott every website and business that uses this technique to promote itself.

The clip&comments reminded me (once again) of something I read in a novel: Someone advertising for several firms in an 'interesting' way (and was get paid of course): as she was chitchatting with friends, she somehow brought the topic up and added something about something she bought and how great she did find it, or how good she found a movie she watched. Without them being her personal opinions, said just for advertising.

I hope there is no such thing in the real world. This would make people paranoid, and all the reviews in the internet null and void.

(I cannot remember the title or its writer. I usually log the books I read, but I must have forgotten that one. If someone recognizes an...

The clip&comments reminded me (once again) of something I read in a novel: Someone advertising for several firms in an 'interesting' way (and was get paid of course): as she was chitchatting with friends, she somehow brought the topic up and added something about something she bought and how great she did find it, or how good she found a movie she watched. Without them being her personal opinions, said just for advertising.

I hope there is no such thing in the real world. This would make people paranoid, and all the reviews in the internet null and void.

(I cannot remember the title or its writer. I usually log the books I read, but I must have forgotten that one. If someone recognizes and knows it: information on this point would be appreciated.)

Splendidus, you will find these three Wiki pages of interest...

viral marketing
undercover, buzz, stealth marketing, or roach baiting
astroturfing

As to O's concerns, which are as usual noble and admirable, I look at the issue from the technical point of concern. I believe that the reason they are spamming Clipmarks servers is to attain higher Google rankings for their targeted sites. Do a Google search for your Clipmarks login and see how many hits you get when you "repeat the search with omitted results included." Here's my...

Splendidus, you will find these three Wiki pages of interest...

viral marketing
undercover, buzz, stealth marketing, or roach baiting
astroturfing

As to O's concerns, which are as usual noble and admirable, I look at the issue from the technical point of concern. I believe that the reason they are spamming Clipmarks servers is to attain higher Google rankings for their targeted sites. Do a Google search for your Clipmarks login and see how many hits you get when you "repeat the search with omitted results included." Here's my BartendingBear search outcome... about 32,500 results! For the spammers these links to their clips are valued as inbound links to their site in the Google algorithm, raising their sites in Google search results. They only need a few clips to get the Googly goodness for their site, but many clippers doing the same adds up to unneeded server and storage load, which ultimately affects all of our experiences negatively.

The bottom line on this point is that they are exploiting Clipmarks technical resources solely for the purpose of link value, without any concern about the community's response or interest to their clips, or as real users storing private clips within the extent of the system. That makes them common thieves in need of correcting. That correction would best be expressed by clip deletion and booting from the system, IMHO.

That's good to hear. I also clip soft stuff from time to time to share with everyone, like my eggnog recipie, but I don't worry about that because that's a different kind of information. I'm not trying to sell anyone on my eggnog, and I gain nothing from sharing it, and most importantly, I'm not using evidence I constructed to prove an opinion I hold, which is my real concern.

I can actually deal with a certain degree of commercialism on clipmarks, as long as it's not:

1. Manipulating clipmarks resources for personal gain not shared with the community. (Although, recoomending a good product is gain shared with the community because we gain good information, as long as that recommendation i...

That's good to hear. I also clip soft stuff from time to time to share with everyone, like my eggnog recipie, but I don't worry about that because that's a different kind of information. I'm not trying to sell anyone on my eggnog, and I gain nothing from sharing it, and most importantly, I'm not using evidence I constructed to prove an opinion I hold, which is my real concern.

I can actually deal with a certain degree of commercialism on clipmarks, as long as it's not:

1. Manipulating clipmarks resources for personal gain not shared with the community. (Although, recoomending a good product is gain shared with the community because we gain good information, as long as that recommendation is made in good faith.)

2. Colluding between clipper and source. That is to say, as long as I'm not clipping a site that appears to be indpendent confirmation of my arguments, but in fact is also content produced by myself to lend credibility to my own arguments.