Re: Linking to other's pages

Subject: Re: Linking to other's pages
From: rmedinger -at- LUCENT -dot- COM
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 12:43:09 -0500

Arlen said in part:

Microsoft's "Seattle Sidewalk" contains links to Ticketmaster's on-line
ticket ordering site for specific concerts. Ticketmaster has a site with
information about the concerts it sells tickets for. Ticketmaster didn't
like the fact that people were getting their concert information from MS.
(At a guess, I'd say it might be because of lost advertising revenue, but
I'm not fully aware of the circumstances here, so I could be wrong.)

Ticketmaster wanted MS to pay them a royalty for the privilege of linking
into their service. MS declined. So now Ticketmaster is feeding the
referring page reference through a filter on its end and rerouting all
referrals from "Seattle Sidewalk" to a page explaining their position on
this matter, telling the user essentially "you can't get here from there."
(I believe the phrase they're using is "the sidewalk has come to a dead
end.")

It's an interesting issue, but whether you agree with Ticketmaster's
position is not the question. Even if you think they're behaving like
morons, they have a right to behave like morons. The idea we should take
away from this story is this: it's time to recognize that it's a Good Thing
to get permission for those links after all. The technology is there to
greatly inconvenience your audience (and harm your site's image and
utility) if you don't. And as more sites become ad-supported, this
phenomena may soon become the norm, rather than an aberration. Ticketmaster
has given the tube a good squeeze; the toothpaste won't go back in readily.

Just a "heads up." (Wall Street Journal 15 May, via EDUPAGE)
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Maybe I'm missing something but doesn't Ticketmaster get increased exposure
for its service by the link? If so, why should they object? If anything,
"Seattle Sidewalk" should charge them for the link.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Bob Medinger

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Bob Medinger
Technical Service Bureau, Inc. Technical Documentation Specialists
8150 W. 111th St., Suite 5 Specializing in Electronic Publishing
Palos Hills, IL 60465 Utilizing Frame, Interleaf & Word
708-430-7300 708-430-7306 (FAX)

"Providing Technical Documentation from Concept to Completion."
Technical Writing Consultant to Lucent Technologies
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