Brief Open Letter to Fool.com

by John S. Rhodes

Summary: I had a (rare) bad experience with Fool.com today. There was a deceptive banner ad on their site so I wrote them a letter. I have posted it below to raise awareness.

Brief Open Letter to Fool.com

I really enjoy Fool.com and generally
throw praise your way. But come on 
folks, what is the deal with this totally
deceptive banner ad?

>> http://webword.com/images/fool_banner.gif

The "brought to you by autobytel.com"
is too small. You *must* have known
that the banner matches your navigation
and colors. It seriously detracted from 
my user experience and made me lose
some faith Fool.com. 

This might seem a bit harsh, but I would
bet my bottom dollar that many, many
folks were tricked and did not tell you
that they were angry about the ad. You
folks are smart enough to know that your
site depends on trust and longer term
reader relationships. 

Please do whatever it takes to prevent
this kind of deception again. If you 
require any further input or assistance,
I'm here to help.

Regards,

- John

p.s. I am posting this information and
this email on Webword.com, my web
site dedicated to usability and human
factors. When you respond, and with 
permission, I will post your comments.

The page can found here:

>> http://webword.com/reports/openfool.html

John S. Rhodes
WebWord.com -- Industrial Strength Usability
http://webword.com
john@webword.com
607-427-WORD (9673)

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