Mar 22 2007
Tagged.com Sucks!
It is seldom that I get really ticked off with a product or service. This company, Tagged.com, has managed to do it.
I had received a few of these invitations recently, from people of casual acquaintance. I ignored them, despite their plea for someone who evidently “needs” friends. Then I received one from someone I have known for a while, and I wanted to get back in touch with. Against my better judgement, I followed the link.
It took some generic contact details from me, then informed me who else in my email list is also a member. I figured, sure, I will add them to the set, since they are already involved. But one thing I did NOT want to do was spam all my friends - I KNOW who my friends are and I don’t need a stupid internet network to tell me who they are. I hit send…
Then I scrolled down as I waited for the next page to load.
And discovered it had not just flagged the people in the system but flagged EVERY SINGLE PERSON I HAVE EVER EMAILED for an invitation to this stupid network!
I had messages going out to customer service departments of a dozen companies, billing companies, former clients, casual acquaintances, my PASTOR, my professors! I tried to cancel it, but it was too late.
For the next two days I spent my email time replying to all my friends who were ticked off at me for sending them this spam. And explaining myself to countless people who hardly knew me, wondering why I was being such a twit as to beg them to call themselves my friend.
Then the 2nd round started.
Tagged.com RE-EMAILED everyone after 3 days! Begging them again! My gosh! How pathetic is this thing?
I logged into my account and scoured it, to find out how to turn off these stupid spam messages. There was no way. I closed my account and told Tagged.com EXACTLY what I thought of this system.
Avoid Tagged.com at all costs. Reply directly to any of your friends who send this to you, telling them yes, you are their friend, but no you will not join any spamming network to prove it.
Sometimes I hate the internet.
My apologies to anyone who reads this blog who received one of these. Now you know the full reason why.
46 Responses to “Tagged.com Sucks!”
I have seen stuff like this before. It’s a pain in the butt to get rid of, but eventually, it does go away.
Sooo… you didn’t actually want to tag me? You don’t want to be friends? We can’t keep in touch?
Hehehehehe!
That’s right ya homer. I’d never ask you to be my friend…
Which reminds me… I still need to come up to Smithers to pummel you for going to see more Canucks games this year than me.
Ahhhhhh HAH!
I wondered about that. I ignored the first one, since I don’t generally like these things, inevitable registration process.
But then the second one came along, so I went to the site… But after a quick look discovered that it was exactly the thing I was trying to avoid.
But I just felt so guilty thinking that you would think that I wouldn’t want to be your friend………
As the right proper bastard that I am… I laugh at your pain.
It is a pathetic system indeed when it sends an email to your wife asking her to be your friend. Are we having some marital problems I don’t know about?
Was wondering myself how the tagging happened, but there are some generally nefarious places in the cyber world and this be one of them.
Glad to find your new blog again though….take care!
Now I am confused! Are you my friend or not!!!
The spam world, what a beautiful thing.
It appears that I am most definitely NOT your friend, as I promptly deleted both messages.
Well, I never wanted to be your friend anyway, Beth. Your husband would have words with me.
What I cannot understand is that Tagged markets itself as a premier teen social networking site stating that “Tagged.com is the premier social networking destination for the Millennial Generation and an ideal place for advertisers who are trying to reach the teen market. Tagged provides a fun, safe, and exciting environment for teens to showcase their personalities and talents, and to connect with friends and meet new ones. Tagged maintains this great environment by only allowing teenagers to register on the site.â€
If that is the case then why am I receiving an invite from a 51 year old Harsh from India?
I’m also receiving invites from people who I wrote to once in a lifetime that have me in their address book. If you click on the “No†button you are still taken to a sign up page that requests your birthday, zip code, email address etc
I was able to search the database and their are more than teens on this site.
By the way I hope that you don’t mind my quoting you in a post and linking to your blog?
[...] Shane signed up for tagged and was not all that impressed with the service. Shane states, ” I discovered it had not just flagged the people in the system but flagged every single person I have ever emailed for an invitation to this stupid network! I had messages going out to customer service departments of a dozen companies, billing companies, former clients, casual acquaintances, my pastor, my professors! I tried to cancel it, but it was too late.” [...]
[...] my email password… After a quick search on google - some other people who was caught by tagged:Confessions of a Shiftless MindPower to the People Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | [...]
I too have had problems with tagged. Recently I have been getting added in msn from people who i do not know from anywhere and everywhere in the world. I’ve actually added a couple of them for a few minutes to see where the hell they got my address from and the always relpy tagged.com. I have reported to the tagged website of my problem with their privacy policies and so forth and am still waiting for a reply. If something is not done SOON I will definately not be scared to let anyone and everyone know what is going on and how shaudy their privacy and site really are.
[...] previously I tore a strip off tagged.com as a social networking site. Forgetting until recently that about 3 or 4 months ago I signed up for [...]
[...] like the ads are fairly local in flavour and most of my visitors are international, thanks to my tagged.com post that has been linked by a few [...]
I have found that any time anyone “invites” me to something on email about which I was uninformed by that particular friend, I get on the internet and do a quick search. That way, I don’t accidentally add anything questionable to my system. If it happens that it is harmful and there just aren’t any reports about it yet, well, so be it. But, if I can save myself the time by looking into it beforehand, I am a lot happier in the end.
Om ~
Tagged Rulez
TAGGED.COM IS GREAT!!!
Seems we have a couple of tagged.com fans here. Care to articulate why you actually think so or rebut any of the raised concerns of myself and others who all think it sucks?
i also hate tagged and once was a member for a sort time. I canceled my service because it was a pointless website that accomplishes nothing. But what this person says is not fully true. First off tagged gives you ability to chose who you want to send your request to. If you do not scroll down and read the whole page before hand it is not their fault. You should read everything before accepting anything. After all this is the Internet and it is full of all sorts of nasty things! Also tagged does give you the option of not emailing people again. You do have to look pretty hard for it but its there. That is a dirty trick on there part and is not fare to its users. On the other hand make sure you know what you agreeing to before you agree to it.
It is fully true - you admitted it yourself. They pull dirty tricks, making a page look like it is at an end, when there is more below out of sight.
Yeah it is buyer beware, but when a site touts itself as something it is not, and then uses skullduggery to create spam and embarrassment for the people it purports to serve, that is bad, and hence why I said they “suck”.
If you don’t like tagged then don’t mind block the site. I can see that people like you are around 30 and 70 yrs old, and still complaining. To let you know tagged is only for teenagers not adults like you people, try to understand what is going on.
Yeah, you got me. I am an old coot who doesn’t “get” the intarwebs right?
Sorry kiddo. I been using the internet since before you were born, and as such, I actually “know” what the difference is between an organization that is taking advantage of what you think is “cool” to create spam and make money off your back.
I maintain: tagged.com sucks. If you actually read my blog you would find that I don’t mind facebook, another comparable social networking site that does much the same thing. THEY don’t take advantage of you to make a buck, and they DON’T spam.
Clue in: those who are older than you are not by default stupider than you. In fact, 99 times out of 100 they know more than you and you should learn from their advice.
[...] lot of people really hate tagged.com. I got a notice this evening that I’d been tagged by an [...]
I am totally frustrated with the domain, can we stand together against it. http://www.idealwebtools.com/blog/tagged-com/
Aji
I like tagged but for some reason my page cannot be display anymore so i lost all my friend please fix it if u can.
I also got an invitation.
Glad I didn’t supply my Gmail-pasword.
I already thought it had a smell, and Googling for “tagged.com” confirmed this.
Johan.
how can u say that. i love tagged.com it’s great. so please dont make sites like these because its stupid
Lexi, read the above comments. It is not stupid to tell people the truth. If you disagree with me, fine, but I hope more sites like this are made because people need to be told when a company is creating spam and annoying people and making the internet worse for everyone.
Monsignor Shane -
I think the most troubling thing about tagged is that it uses your account as a proxy mail - you’re surrendering your *real* email login and password to them. No matter the caveats and cant about ‘your password is safe and not stored anywhere’ - this is a script running around your webmail blithely emailing whosoever it wants. ARGH! That people would trust their login details to an unknown third party staggers me - and, on one level, I can understand the cries of caveat emptor. I can imagine a similar site baldly requesting a credit card number or a social security ID to ‘tailor our advertising to your buying habits’ or ‘personalise your site to match your racial and ethnic background…’
Eww… god. I just slid into tinfoil hat territory, there. Regardless - the idea of a site commandeering your email is just not kosher. Tagged… yeah… tagged.com sucks.
how many people actually go around reading critques like this one of sites that they want to go on? i mean…do you really want to spend all of your time telling people how much you hate a site? aren’t there better things to do with your life?
i personally don’t care whether a site spams me or not. it’s just the internet..and most people know when they get spam mail. just click the delete button. it’s not that difficult. it took you longer to write this entire hate letter than it ever would to just click delete.
The Laugh’s on you Kayleigh. You’re here aren’t you? 32 comments seems to indicate how much interest there is in this. I have had over 1000 people come to my site searching for tagged.com info. I am no expert, but some people are discerning shoppers, and what to know what they are getting into before they do it. Just because you don’t doesn’t mean nobody else does.
I wrote this as a public service, so other people wouldn’t be burned the way I was. Some people, in fact most people, HATE spam. They don’t just want to delete it, they want to avoid it at all costs. They would be embarrassed if they sent it. I was embarrassed that these were sent in my name. Hence, it was worth every second of my time to write this, if it saves one other person from the annoyance of being involved with spammers and little thoughtless girls like yourself who don’t care if they spam their friends.
yes…little thoughtless girls like me. because in fact..i don’t think at all. is that what your saying?
If you think nothing of spamming your friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, and businesses you deal with, then yes, I would say you are acting without thought. It doesn’t mean you don’t think at all, but in this regard, you are not.
I try to live by that idea, antiquated idea as it is, that you should always think of others before yourself. I don’t always succeed, but I believe it is important to make the effort. Your remarks indicate you disagree. Your remarks suggest that you don’t waste your time thinking of others, because the world sucks, and crap happens no matter what, so we might as well not waste our time.
I contend that if everyone attempted to think of others before themselves, the world would be a better place. If everyone took your position, the world would become an unlivable hell.
oh yes…an unlivable hell. that is why i have decided to run for president. i would make everything so hellish.
no in actuality the reason i don’t take spaming as a big deal is that people are so used to it. and don’t worry about it that much. you’re friends said it themselves…when they opened up your email requesting the affirmation of friendship they immediately deleted it. sure i bet it would get quite annoying over time…but they aren’t going to kill themselves over it. it’s email..everyone is used to spam. you get it all the time. it’s expected of the internet. and the fact that you didn’t purposely send the spam mail makes it all the more not a big deal. businesses such as tagged and myspace are needing to make money. while some people like yourself get easily irrated over they’re advertising strategies..i am sure you annoy many people with the way you do things. not everything is perfect in the world. yes, it’s all nice and dandy to state your opinion. but why go to the extent of tagged.com sucks? do you really care that much to get annoyed over something as small as that? why not cure world hunger, or stop child slavery, or improve the lack of education in poverty areas?
Because you can’t solve world hunger by putting up a blog post. You CAN affect people’s choices when it comes to which way they engage web 2.0 with a blog post though.
As for your contention that my friends really don’t care if I spam them or not. Yes, some just deleted it. Others did not. Others earnestly thought I was such a needy fool that I would email all my friends to confirm that they are in fact my “friends” People I had spoken to once or perhaps were nothing more than business contacts, received a “friend” request. That is embarrassing, unprofessional, and at worst, possibly jeopardizing relationships.
Not everyone is as tech savvy as you and many actually take these literally still. Sad but true.
well then i am embarrassed to know people like that exist.
Well well well im actually lost for words at present ive been tagged yes i was stung by the is Edith your friend yes (no bloody way)by this bullshit now ive just been surfing around and I clicked onto the bebo and as ive had several people here and accessing my computer well the name i put in was wrong and the password but when I clicked on the more bit on the bottem it was as if I was being threatened and what kept popping up in front of me was a disk doctor and then the bebo back I went i copied it but can bet you I wont be able to paste it as it was saying from Bebo that theyve hijacked my entire computer basically and this is not atall amusing to me …we know your isp and gave the number and repeated no matter what I did the disk crap aka spam shit kept popping up saying how it would do allthese wonderful things for my computer …I personally think this is really getting criminal whilst trying to opt out of the tagged,bebo,freindster etc bit im promtly told that they know what colour knickers im wearing they are the Skidmarks on the underpants of society and if only id have seen this blog b4 id said yes to edith who may I add is a little bitch anyway and started the whole sorded bullshit for me …..I am trying to get underway legitimate work online in helping pple with Mental illnesses but what am I going to get next?how do I get out of this mess?iI have the plan together but I don’t want pple knowing what colour undies I have on …plse???sorry for my ranting but im so angry I could just kick the person who sent me the email in the 1st place as I do not want my business [lastered ….now I guess I have to buy another computer ..get my ip service to change my service …Could I terminate my account and open another and get rid of them that way?I just want my details and most of all the SPAM is not an everyday thing young lass its absolute BULLSHIT and I take a lot of it as threats…..and YES I too do like some of the tagged stuff but if you got the message as I just did with Bebo you too would be totally pissed.Ur not shiftless you are shiftie about hese assholes who have started this thanks for your Time I have read up b4 on here please keep it up as Tagged,bebo ,freindster etc may just stop the bullshit with pple like yourself warning us newies to chat etc
Your IP Address
Each computer connected to the Internet is allocated a unique address known as an Internet Protocol address (IP address), made up of four series of numbers separated by dots, for example: 123.45.67.89. An IP address can be linked to the physical location of the computer used to access Bebo.
We thought that you would like to see what your IP address is, and we would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that the actions our members take on Bebo are not anonymous.
OMG IT PASTED THERE SHIFTLESS THAT WAS BEBO?AND THIS WAS SOMEONE ELSE ON MY COMPUTER …..sorry for my lengthy whine!
you definitely can’t type proper english…way to go.
i think that tagged is so good! i dont know why people hate it!
WHY WHY WHY??????
[...] However, it appears that my first hunch is correct. The point of this is for you to allow Tagged to spam EVERYONE on your contact list. See here. [...]
[...] your address book for users already existing in the system. But what Tagged will really do is send email to everyone in your address book inviting them into the system and subjecting them to the very same process. It will not even ask [...]
Hey, how u doing? today I joined to Tagged, and I agree with you in what you said, but all the internet’s spaces are more or less like that, this sompany is one of the more rude ones, but still the same thing, do you have a better idea? can you recomend some other company? anyway I agree with you, tagged.com sucks!!!!!
take care.
Woa. I got one of those and followed the link.. then when it took me to something else i ignored it and i delete them all now.. but i had no idea that it sent them to your friends too! Im soo glad that it was a new e-mail adress and i didnt have any of my friends or relatives as contacts yet! thats crazy! thanks for the heads up. I have a Tagged. I’m so gonna delete it know! but Ive treid to delete one before and when i did Tagged kept sending me messages saying.. that I should re-join or that they would like me to. I got soo much spam from them!
Thanks for the blog entry, Shane! This was exactly the sort of info I Googled for, as I had received multiple Tagged emails from past acquaintances (along with reminders about every 2 weeks). Somehow, I didn’t think these people I barely knew were really trying to get back in touch through this site when they could just contact me directly (they obviously still have my email address). Plus, I even received a Tagged email at my work email from a former coworker (apparently she didn’t know that would happen, just like you).
Pay no attention to Kayleigh - people do check these things out in order to avoid the the problems you had, and I definitely don’t want to add more spam to the world! Since I always give my friends grief when they forward messages (spam) without checking them out on snopes.com or other sites, I would have caught hell if I’d kicked off such an email frenzy.
Thanks again, Shane.
P.S. to Kayleigh - You’re an immature kid…but hopefully you’ll learn. You should not be embarrassed to know there are non-tech savvy people in the world - not everyone had a computer in front of them since infancy. A lot of older folks email and surf but are much more naive when it comes to messages like those from Tagged. And there’s nothing wrong with Shane’s post trying to alert people to a site that engages in underhanded business practices. Lastly, you shouldn’t criticize other people about their grasp of English until you have learned how to use it yourself. Your grammar could use a lot of improvement (case in point - your/you’re - learn the difference…basic punctuation/capitalization, etc.).