• by Mark Naples , November 11, 2005

After a truly exhausting Ad:Tech this week, I'm left feeling a bit wrung out.

It's not so much about our industry or its enthusiasm. As much as this show felt like 1999 all over again, most of the companies on display or in attendance at the Hilton actually make money now, it seems. Those of us old enough to have been in this business seven years ago or longer know that's a big difference compared to "back in the day."

On the other hand, I think we can all agree that the world may actually not need another performance network/SEM/SEO and/or lead generator... okay? Anytime I entered a conversation about today's irrational exuberance, I spoke about the consolidation to come in our industry, not about any bubble. Talking about a bubble is too easy, especially when the fairly complicated facts indicate something quite different.

However, into this seemingly unbridled Ad:Tech enthusiasm walked this weird uncle I write about once in a while, and during this show, I heard a bunch about one of his drinking buddies. The uncle I'm referring to is cookie misinformation, of course, and his weird pal is the suddenly nasty stream of accusations surrounding who among us is a spammer.

Please, everyone, when you hear anything about the threats of cookies, first- or third-party, or the threats of this company or that company as a spammer, consider the source before making any judgments.

How many companies have made money on the third-party cookie deletion scare? To arrive at an answer to this question, ask how many people have coddled the scare. Is it funny to anyone other than me that people in our industry know that merging offline and online data, even on an opt-out basis, is not only illegal, but unproven if not impossible? Yet somehow, third-party cookies--which enable frequency capping, contextual and behavioral targeting having nothing to do with an individual's identity, as well as more basic counting--are somehow credibly demonized by companies that--you guessed it --sell software that deletes third-party cookies from users' hard drives.

Why are we still paying attention to this scare? Any of you who think third-party cookies are bad needs to send me 50 cents for every newspaper or magazine you read free online before you say another word on this topic.

Why can't we grow out of this?

Maybe it's because it's so much easier to foment fear than it is to communicate benefits. Anyone who recalls the huge solid waste crisis of the mid-1980s knows what I'm referring to. Most of you are probably too young to remember the "garbage barge" as a symbol of how we were all running out of places to dump our trash. Fear is a whole lot easier to communicate. Just ask "Scooter" Libby.

Which brings me to Spamhaus, and their cop/judge/jury/executioner site, which reminds me of f*ckedcompany.com, only slicker. While f*ckedcompany.com sold T-shirts and coffee mugs on its site, Spamhaus sells--you guessed it--anti-spam software! Some of their stuff is a real bargain too--at only $14,500 for the unlimited seats version of one of their filtering tools. Of course, that's a small price to pay for enabling users to avoid hitting their delete keys, right?

Why does anyone believe these guys--because it's easy, controversial, and because it panders to our base nature? If so-and-so is successful, they must be doing something illicit. Is that it?

Are we becoming nihilists in our industry? Things are great, so we expect it's a bubble. These companies are doing so well, so they must be doing something illicit...

Well, I guess I should admit that I'm beginning to take some of this personally. After all, my column in your inbox today is considered spam by one of Spamhaus' criteria, as are the recent additions to the MediaPost stable of columns. At least four clients of mine have been implicated in these scares over the years. But, I think that our entire industry is being somewhat scandalized by the bald-faced fear-mongering of these unaccountable web-based Witch hunters.

Still think they're credible? Then, feel free to buy their software. I'll be in touch with a bridge and swampland to sell you next Friday.