If rants about stupid inanities of daily life bother you, then please read no further.
If not, then read this in a Ron White or George Carlin kind of mental voice, right?
/rant on
So half the websites I get linked to have a popup that asks if I will enable them to send me active notifications. I always decline, of course. Why in GOD'S NAME would anyone allow random and usually stupid websites to send them active notifications??? Does anyone actually DO this???
And why don't browsers (like Chrome, which is what I use) allow a global opt-out for these things? We already have options for disabling the submission of personal tracking data, etc. But somehow popups asking for specific permission to send DESKTOP NOTIFICATIONS aren't something to which we can just globally and categorically say, "Hell no!" I mean, seriously?
And I get them on my phone from lots of apps... now, most apps, I've blocked from sending me alerts and notifications. I've had to do this with Domino's and Pizza Hut ads, for example ("Do you feel like pizza tonight???" popups and notifications), as well as lots of other apps. Bixby, all AT&T apps, certainly Facebook (which I can't even delete), a Bible app, Hilton HHonors, Moutrie Mobile, most airline apps that somehow think I want to hear from them even when I'm NOT sitting in an airport waiting for a flight (???), TripAdvisor, Walgreens, WalMart, YouTube, etc.
But one in particular has been bothering me lately, and that's Weatherbug. Now, I like Weatherbug's general format for weather, I've used it for probably 10 years.
And I don't want to completely disable Weatherbug's ability to send me notifications AT ALL, as part of its primary function. You know, things like TORNADO WARNINGS in my area? Or even severe thunderstorm warnings? This is Oklahoma, sometimes those things can and do pop up in no time out of nowhere. But I can't disable the stupid "lightning alerts" in my area, or even "heat alerts".... seriously, folks, it's August in Oklahoma. I'm aware it gets hot.
But even worse... now they're sending notifications NOT for weather events but some kind of stupid stories they want me to check out. I think they're kind of trying to move in to The Weather Channel territory trying to expand to anything nature-related.
For instance, I just noticed they sent me a notification for some story about, "How do sharks find their prey?" REALLY, Weatherbug????? I mean, REALLY???? THIS is the s**t you think I want NOTIFICATIONS ABOUT from my WEATHER APP?????
I've looked through their app and I cannot find a way to disable these specific and stupid things without blocking their notifications altogether and losing the ability to get Tornado Warnings and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings - you know, things I might ACTUALLY want a WEATHER APP to notify me about???
Don't get me wrong, I'm not losing sleep over this, it's just another in a long list of minor irritations that make me roll my eyes and go on about my day - but just like annoying automatic audio ads online - they actually make me LESS likely to patronize your business or product simply based on the fact that your marketing department is too stupid to realize people don't like being constantly bothered. At least people like me.
So anyways.... /rant off.
Time to go put some babybacks on the smoker. Give me a "Like" to let me know if you agree.
If not, then read this in a Ron White or George Carlin kind of mental voice, right?
/rant on
So half the websites I get linked to have a popup that asks if I will enable them to send me active notifications. I always decline, of course. Why in GOD'S NAME would anyone allow random and usually stupid websites to send them active notifications??? Does anyone actually DO this???
And why don't browsers (like Chrome, which is what I use) allow a global opt-out for these things? We already have options for disabling the submission of personal tracking data, etc. But somehow popups asking for specific permission to send DESKTOP NOTIFICATIONS aren't something to which we can just globally and categorically say, "Hell no!" I mean, seriously?
And I get them on my phone from lots of apps... now, most apps, I've blocked from sending me alerts and notifications. I've had to do this with Domino's and Pizza Hut ads, for example ("Do you feel like pizza tonight???" popups and notifications), as well as lots of other apps. Bixby, all AT&T apps, certainly Facebook (which I can't even delete), a Bible app, Hilton HHonors, Moutrie Mobile, most airline apps that somehow think I want to hear from them even when I'm NOT sitting in an airport waiting for a flight (???), TripAdvisor, Walgreens, WalMart, YouTube, etc.
But one in particular has been bothering me lately, and that's Weatherbug. Now, I like Weatherbug's general format for weather, I've used it for probably 10 years.
And I don't want to completely disable Weatherbug's ability to send me notifications AT ALL, as part of its primary function. You know, things like TORNADO WARNINGS in my area? Or even severe thunderstorm warnings? This is Oklahoma, sometimes those things can and do pop up in no time out of nowhere. But I can't disable the stupid "lightning alerts" in my area, or even "heat alerts".... seriously, folks, it's August in Oklahoma. I'm aware it gets hot.
But even worse... now they're sending notifications NOT for weather events but some kind of stupid stories they want me to check out. I think they're kind of trying to move in to The Weather Channel territory trying to expand to anything nature-related.
For instance, I just noticed they sent me a notification for some story about, "How do sharks find their prey?" REALLY, Weatherbug????? I mean, REALLY???? THIS is the s**t you think I want NOTIFICATIONS ABOUT from my WEATHER APP?????
I've looked through their app and I cannot find a way to disable these specific and stupid things without blocking their notifications altogether and losing the ability to get Tornado Warnings and Severe Thunderstorm Warnings - you know, things I might ACTUALLY want a WEATHER APP to notify me about???
Don't get me wrong, I'm not losing sleep over this, it's just another in a long list of minor irritations that make me roll my eyes and go on about my day - but just like annoying automatic audio ads online - they actually make me LESS likely to patronize your business or product simply based on the fact that your marketing department is too stupid to realize people don't like being constantly bothered. At least people like me.
So anyways.... /rant off.
Time to go put some babybacks on the smoker. Give me a "Like" to let me know if you agree.