Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Friday, May 26, 2006

Why I don't spend money at Absolute Poker 

I click on e-mail support in the help menu thinking it would actually allow me to, well, e-mail support. I realize now the problem is my expectations and not the fact the e-mail support menu item does not actually allow you to e-mail support. It brings up a whole other window that has one lonely e-mail address that disappears (!!!) when I hover over it.

I won't even mention the fact the address is red. I just don't want to think about that. I can't right now. I'm trying to figure out the functional advantage of having the only piece of information on the window disappear when a mouse pointer touches it. It produces an odd mental state as i rollover the address and then off it again and again.

Have you ever really looked at people like the Hare Khrishna or Scientologists and thought hard about the set of circumstances led them up to the edge and then convinced them it was a good idea to keep going? The feeling produced by the absence of understanding of a specific thing? It's like that but substitute programmers for cult member.

As an experiment I click on the place where the address was and finally get a compose message window from Thunderbird with the address in it. I start writing this thinking I'm going to send it to their support people. The I think about the time I had problems at AP before. How I had to reread the messages I sent and wonder how they got from what I asked to what they answered. How I ahd to keep my cool and ask that they reread my message and answer the question I asked. Not provide a stock answer to a question I didn't ask. That's when I decided to turn it into a blog entry.

When I got on the site earlier I saw a freeroll tourney with an interesting prize pool taking registrations. It's dated a month from now but OK. I register for it. No problem. So I thought. I want to play right now so I find the freeroll I was initially looking for and go to register for it but NO!!!! Busted!!!

I get a message box sternly informing me that I cannot register for more than one freeroll at a time. In other words if I want to register early for one freeroll I can't play in any others. Even if it's a month away.

I don't even go into the play money games at AP anymore. I did for a while but when it came time to put in real money I went to another site.

Somehow AP doesn't get that a good freeroll and/or play money experience turns into to cash deposits and bad ones turn into blog entries.

--PB--