A brief list in no particular order:
1. Nigerian scam victims.
I’ve been involved with scamfighting groups for a number of years now, often assisting victims who were taken for a ride by online scam artists. Lately, it seems like I’m running low on compassion. Major news outlets have been warning people about this scam for years now. Even Western Union, the money wiring service preferred by Nigerian scammers, has signs and warnings prominently displayed about this kind of scam. But people still fall for this crap … I don’t understand it anymore.
2. Digg and other Digg-like sites.
Digg is an interesting concept: users vote for the most relevant news tidbits, the most popular of which make the front page. Unfortunately, the only lesson this has taught us is that people are morons. At the time I wrote this, the front page of Digg was full of exciting stories about Wikipedia censorship, Ron Paul, global warming, and other nonsense. It’s almost as if Digg users deliberately vote for the most mindless submissions on the site.
3. Serious bloggers.
I was watching CNN a few nights ago and they were interviewing some ugly woman about the current presidential candidates. The producers prominently displayed her name and the address of her blog throughout the interview. How the hell does writing about politics on the Internet make you qualified enough to be interviwed on CNN?
4. RapidShare warez downloaders.
RapidShare really is the bottom of the barrel as far as finding warez goes. Searching dozens of forum posts to find your favorite movie is bad enough, but manually downloading 16 different files, and piecing them together is just plain retarded. It amazes me that there are huge communities full of morons who chase down RapidShare links for their favorite movie or program.
5. Web 2.0
I have no idea what this means, but I hate it. I read the Wikipedia entry on Web 2.0 but doing so only made me hate it even more.
6. Fan Fiction sites.
Fan Fiction stuff really creeps me out. Fantasizing about running away into the sunset with your favorite celebrity is OK, but forming huge communities where thousands of users discuss their odd fantasies about B-list celebrities? Writing 5 page short stories about having sex with some baseball player? That’s just sad.
7. AdSense.
I really, really hate the belief some people have about Google AdSense being some magic moneymaking machine. At my previous job, we hosted hundreds of sites that promised visitors that they can easily make $2000 per week just by hosting some sites that had little on them other than some prewritten articles, and some AdSense code. Believe it or not, the only people making $2000 per week off this nonsense were the ones selling these moneymaking packages to suckers who were willing to buy them.
8. “Rating” Sites
FaceTheJury and similar sites are really strange. Do people really need to be reassured by 1000 viewers that they have a symmetrical face, nice lips, or a cute ass? FTJ has been online for years now, and hundreds of similar sites are up as well, so I guess that answers my question… 
9. Craigslist
I’ve probably sold over $5,000 worth of stuff on Craigslist over the last few years, but I still hate it. Selling a car for $2500? You’ll get at least half a dozen offers for $1000. Selling a phone for $200? You’ll get at least half a dozen offers for $90-105. Do some of these people really think that someone is going to accept half the asking price for an item!?
This was originally going to be a list of 11 things I hate about the Internet, but I got bored and stopped writing, so it looks like 9 points will do for now. I certainly don’t want to become a “Number 3″. 
My broadband situation sucks at the moment. I’m currently subscribed to AT&T’s U-Verse VDSL service, which has been great up until the last week or so, when they’ve started making a lot of changes to the service. I’ve spent a few hours tonight researching alternate providers for broadband here in Houston. There are three choices from two different companies here in my part of town, and all of them seem to suck one way or another. Let’s look into this a bit more:
AT&T DSL
Price: $34.99/month plus $14/month for phone line (required)
Speed: 6016/768
Pros:
No limitations whatsoever on bandwidth usage. I’ve pissed away 1TB/month before — no issues.
Consistent broadband speeds. Service does not slow down at all during peak hours.
Good official support on DSLR.
Cons:
Slow speeds. I was able to order 6mbps service back in 2003, and they still can’t do any better than this!?
Phone line required. This adds $15/month to an already bloated bill.
No IPTV service available, have to get satellite TV, which is a bit of a pain in the ass.
Overall:
Great service, but it feels “so 2003″. The packages haven’t changed at all, the speed is crappy at best, and the service itself just seems like it’s stuck in the bowels of time!
AT&T U-Verse (VDSL)
Price: $ I have no idea, because at the time of writing I can’t even log in to my account to check the bill — all because the site is “down for maintenance”!
Speed: 6144/1024
Pros:
Static IP address
Consistent Internet speeds, just like DSL.
No bandwidth limits, just like AT&T’s DSL service.
Fastest upload speed in town. That’s nothing to brag about though, since 1024kbps isn’t all that fast. This should probably be a con.
“High tech” — well, at least higher tech than the DSL service. AT&T’s new U-Verse service at least has more room to grow than antiquated ADSL, which has a protocol limit of 8192/1024…
No POTS phone line required!
Cons:
Awful TV service. They took away all the west coast feeds, the DVR is choppy, the interface (while better than Comcast’s) still needs a lot of help.
Weekly outages for “maintenance”.
Disorganized call center staff — you’re better off just going to bed and hoping that the service will fix itself by morning.
Overall:
U-Verse used to be great, but now it feels like it’s starting to go to hell. The Internet speeds were never that great to begin with, but the TV service (I really loved having west coast feeds!) really made up for it. Now that those are gone, I’m having a really tough time finding something I like about this service.
Comcast Cable
Price: $54.99 without TV, slightly less with cable TV bundles.
Speed: 8192/768
Pros:
Fastest downstream in town. 8mbps with temporary 16mbps boosts.
DHCP IP address, which won’t change unless you swap the modem.
No POTS phone line required!
Cons:
Dealing with Comcast. Imagine getting kicked in the testicles by one of those football players who does the kick-off or whatever it’s called. That’s how bad talking to Comcast is.
The downstream means nothing. Comcast will shut you off if you’re one of the top users in the area — heavy NNTP, P2P users beware!
Crappy upload speed.
Much more expensive than the other options, even though you get only slightly ‘better’ service.
Cable TV service is expensive, interface is crappy, outages are frequent in my area.
Final Words
As you can see, all three of the major options here in Houston suck badly one way or another. This brings me to the question I’ve had on my mind for a few years now: How hard could it be? I’ve spent a lot of time browsing AT&T’s and Comcast’s sites, only to read things about free virus protection and free access to over 10,000 wireless hotspots. Frankly, I don’t give a damn. I don’t want Comcast’s bloated security software, and I don’t want to sit at McDonald’s like an idiot with my laptop, using my free AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspot service. I have no need for “state of the art anti-spam” or a “best rated Internet user portal”. I want an ISP that gives me a fast Internet package (let’s say 15mbps down, and at least 2mbps up), a static IP address, and maybe (if I should be so lucky) IPTV service that doesn’t suck.
Essentially, I want an ISP that wasn’t designed for absolute idiots. I want common sense from my ISP. I want good, honest, reasonable service. I just want… things to work.
How hard could it be?
How nice! Thank you for wishing me luck, eBay!
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