OT: End to "blogger payola"

While we're not usually fans here of more legislation, this is good news for independent blogs like ours that are putting their own money up to review products in a fair and unbiased manner:

New rules to end 'blogger payola'
By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

US regulators will for the first time crack down on bloggers who fail to disclose fees or freebies they get from companies for reviewing products.

The Federal Trade Commission, FTC, decided to update its nearly 30 year old guidelines to clarify the law for the vast world of blogging.

Offenders could face eventual fines of up to $11,000 (£6,900) per violation.

The updated policy on how advertisers can use endorsements will also apply to celebrities and research firms.

Until now, bloggers had not been covered by the guidelines - something which had concerned consumer groups. They had argued that for a long time that the links between some bloggers and companies were not always totally transparent and clear for readers.

"Consumers are increasingly dependent on the internet for purchase information," said Jack Gillis of the Consumer Federation of America.

"There's tremendous opportunity to steer consumers in the wrong direction."

Full story at: BBC News Technology

00:51 GMT, Tuesday, 6 October 2009 01:51 UK

Dunno about you but the last thing I want to do is spend ages online researching a product or service, trying to find what's best for my needs, only to have my time completely wasted by borderline unscrupulous people who'll say whatever they're told with an eye to a fast buck.

Obviously that's in the States but it's a move in the right direction for anyone searching for honest unbiased reviews online.

What do you think?

Product review: the barrier method!

Okay this is something I found earlier this year and bought some, been using them for a few weeks so it's time for a review:

S###a-trap

Now I know that looks just plain STOOPID, but because we promise to NOT show the "S" word, it's right there in the name of this product and website (albeit spelt with a "-da" ending not "-der") so I'm going to hash out the body of the word for the more sensitive among us. Full name whited-out between the asterisks below:
* Spida-Trap, from www.spidatrap.com *
One thing you need to know about their website is, there are no big pictures of arachnos greeting you when you click to enter, and it's considerately graded so you know what you'll find before you click on any page (and you can buy the traps without having to see ANY pictures of arachnos) - in fact, the whole thing's been designed with arachnophobics in mind, because the guy who invented these traps is an arachnophobe himself!

It does feature the "S" word prominently and repeatedly however, and I'll put contact info to the site under this review, so you can order without having to see that if it really makes your flesh creep.

But I genuinely can't see how they could have a website and not mention it, no bugger could find it without that search term!!

Concept: glue traps, come in packs of two and 45cm/trap so each pack covers 90cm, designed to trap arachnos and deny them access past a certain point to create a barrier, or you can place them to randomly trap any night-time strollers. One pack of 2 will cover the width of a doorway, so you can protect your bedroom or wherever.

Effectiveness: excellent, I bought four, one of them had caught 3 arachnos of varying sizes within just 48 hours! The record is a 6½ inch Australian Huntsman according to the site, and I can well believe that, they are VERY sticky and the sloping sides give no purchase for the arachno to pull free.

Unlike craneflies, arachnos can't shed legs, so they stay put - also, due to the {ick} speed they travel at, they've usually committed more than one leg before they realise they're stuck.

Price: free post & packing, 2 traps for £4.99, 4 for £7.99, 10 for £16.99, 20 for £26.99 at date of this post.

Pros: great price for such peace of mind, very effective indeed and basically the closest to a "arachno force-field" you're going to get. The arachnos don't seem able to spot and avoid the traps either, I placed one randomly with clear ground on all sides and it still caught a couple of the little sods.

Great customer service as the inventor is a fellow arachnophobe, and so completely "gets it" - I had a question that he answered comprehensively the very next day by e-mail. Really fast delivery as well - they're a UK-based company so mine arrived next day, and they ship worldwide.

Cons: only a few but I'll detail them - first off, you have to deal with the trapped arachno (but, you'd probably have had to deal with it anyway, and with it free to run as it chose), only work on level floors (but you can be inventive, surely?) and not on walls etc (but again, maybe deploy a bit of creativity!), but then again most arachnos do travel along the floor, it's easier for them.

The traps can't be just left open permanently as the glue eventually dries out, you have to re-cover the strip during the daytime to keep it tacky.

(I also kept forgetting where they were at first, and trod on mine a couple of times, but then I am a moron...)

NB: All those are IMO minor drawbacks and completely unavoidable: I'm just mentioning them out of fairness, and so you'll know what you're getting. These are an excellent product and I highly recommend them.

Once they're trapped and you need to kill them, the site recommends covering them with the cover-paper (which is like that waxy stuff you get to back stickers and stamps) and then whacking them with a long stick or something, but I used a torn-up cornflake packet (and a handy hammer) because I couldn't have touched the coverstrip if it had ... erm, JUICES {ick!} on it.

Don't use the Bayer spray I posted about previously for the kill - it has fats in, and the grease will mess up the rest of the glue in the trap, and might even free the one you've caught.

I'm now going to give you the contact details - because they contain the "S" word, I'll give you the phone number first, so if you're really sensitive you can order without seeing any "S" words: 01560 482588

And here's the whited-out web link, postal address and e-mail:

Website:www.spidatrap.com


By Post:
Spidatrap.com Ltd
21 Rigg Street
Stewarton
East Ayrshire
Scotland
KA3 5AG

If you're ordering these spider traps, make cheques out to SpidaTrap.com ltd.

Email: info@spidatrap.com

==

PS: 6th October '09

Robin who invented these traps got in touch to say the traps only dry out after exposure to direct sunlight, and sure enough I just poked a finger onto a !CLEAN! bit of a trap, and yeah, still plenty sticky. He's also left a comment on this post with some backstory, which is really neat!

For the win: for the KILL! Product review

Okay, I'm cutting to the chase here with the fastest KILL I've found for arachnos here in the UK. Because at this time of year, that's what you need!

S-words whited out below, just in case they help anyone find this post:

fastest spider killer, that quickly kills spiders within seconds, independent review of fastest spider killer, possibly the most humane spider killl, so if you have spider here's how to make them a fucking guestlist pass to spider heaven.

Okay: fastest knock-down and humane kill for arachnos, has to be, Bayer Garden "Organic Pest Control" pump-action spray.

I have NOTHING to do with this company, and find their links to vivisection absolutely appalling by the way.

But I'm just talking about what works here for arachnophobes, and if you're one, you'll appreciate maybe that principles can best be debated when you're not terrified. If you care, PLEASE go send some money to the legal and non-violent British Union Against Vivisection, or any other organisations who support ending cruelty to animals.

We're here to get rid of arachnos, and I make no apologies for buying this one product by them.

This puppy (Bayer website link with no nasty pics) is described as - "Organic, ready to use contact insect control." The page FAQ on Bayer's site for this product then rather bizarrely goes on about something called Cat-A-Pult, a cat repellent, I put that down to the web designer accidentally breathing in their products lol... anyway you can buy it in most garden centres.

Basically, £5 or so buys you a chunky 1 litre blue pump action spray of fatty acids in solution, which if you know your enemy you'll know she breathes through things called "book lungs" modifed into tubular tracheae in most species (yeah, I don't get it either) and they branch out, and open through her entire body into her outsides.

My theory (as a moron) is this stuff has fats in solution, so it's like, I could be drowned in water and come up gasping for air, but drown me in olive oil (liquid fats) and I'm fucked - to use a technical term...

Whatever, this stuff knocks 'em down fast - I had a runner the size (legs included) of my palm earlier, ran into the bathroom, I caught her 12 - 18 good squirts with this stuff, and found her stalled and dead as a doornail by my sink.

Downside? yes, there is one from the user point of view. It's fats in solution, so don't spray it on granny's antique silk wedding gown, and it'll fuck up your wallpaper, and stain most emulsion paint. Bayer will sort you out with other instructions and cautions, although it is an organic approved product - like most insecticides, it's particularly dangerous to fish, so bear that in mind right now.

And it won't repel arachnos as a barrier - I suspect those bastards (who taste through their FEET - what kind of "fuck you" is that to the world?!) will happily run past a barrier of this stuff - nonetheless I found it to be a reliably good contact killer for even the biggest UK arachnos, and having had to score one eight-legged soul tonight, posting it up for my fellow travellers.

Oh, and its precursor was called "Baby Bio Organic Houseplant Insecticide" and I used that reliably for years too and for me, I'd rather clean up the stains than deal with having a live one in my home.

So posting this up first as using this stuff wasn't even on the menu when I was a kid and jumping at every shadow, we relied on permethrin (pyrethrum, etc, all the same basic principle) sprays, which attack the nervous system (ouch!) and basically make your arachno act like it's whiffed up some PCP before it dies, and is NOT humane, imo - though I would use it given no other choices.

Anyway - Bayer Organic Pest Control for the win, and God bless sister arachno, may she reincarnate FARRR from my front door.

Welcome to ArachNoNo!

This is a blog for and about arachnophobia, by fellow sufferers, about the irrational phobic fear of our eight-legged exo-skeletal web-making enemy. Other stuff whited out in the blank space below, because we know that many of you don't like to even read or see the "S" word... So this blog is about spiders, spider phobia, being phobic about spiders, killing spiders, spider capture, humane spider killing, and getting rid of spiders. Arachnophobic as well, repelling spiders, spiders are evil puppets from hell. Etc! You get the idea...
I'm a lifelong arachnophobic, and I'm still shocked at the lack of realistic resources online for serious arachnophobes: instead, we get "helpful" answers informing us that our little buddies kill flies (is it just me: I often wonder at their level of personal hygiene, that the people who exalt the eight-legged ones NEED a rampant fly-assassin, on their daily roster?!)

So, anyway: that's what this is all about.

Oh, and none of the blogging contributors to ArachNoNo have ANY commercial interest in any product or service, we're basically hijacking google blogger's good nature to write a few rants and reviews about arachnophobia resources, and hopefully write an entertaining few posts, and that's yer lot.

It's not going to be daily, and you won't read about the Brangelina three-way with (insert current meeja obsession) here. We don't tweet, either (though I have been known to let out screams only dogs can hear, upon seeing an arachno in my kitchen...)

Arachno is the term we're going to use, to refer to the you-know-whats. This isn't for us: my family share the phobia, and dislike the "S" word, and many other people do too.

You will not see photos of arachnids on the posts in this blog, and you will not see the "S" word in posts either, although we will occasionally use it whited-out so people can find this blog. Be aware of that if you go to copy-paste anything, which will highlight ALL text.

We're not going to click the "monetise" link here, in hopes of keeping ill-advised ads (which may lead to big gross pictures of - exactly the THINGS we hope to not have to see again!) off of this blog, and we have only one rule - no applauding the little furry eight-legged gits!

So if you're an arachnophobe in the northern hemisphere, and dreading September (when they RUN) and looking for a place to check in say hi, read reviews (UK-based) and so on - this is your blog. Abuse of commenting freedom will be punished with quite surprising amounts of supressed rage.

If you're looking for manga about lady-boys being slowly sucked dry by mutant tarantulas - then go to it, and good luck - oh, and please go away!

If you're looking to promote your NLP/EFT/EMDR service - well, make a PROPER reply, not just a "hi and here's my link" or we WILL delete and report you - I've personally tried EFT, NLP, hypnotherapy, ayahuasca, vodou, all sorts - but we're open to hearing.

But NOT to spam - and my sword is swift, and sharp.

So.... September is coming, folks - if you're an arachnophobe, it's also known as Hellmonth here in the Northern Hemisphere - I'm living in an inter-war years house, with open chimneys, that has recently got a moth problem, and now got an arachno-problem (eating all the yummy moths!), my blog-buddies live in various older buildings too, and well be trying several commercial "solutions" in the next few weeks/months - and reviewing them ruthlessly here.

Because a random blog you find can often seem randomly inhuman, our e-mail address is arachno666 at googlemail dot com - we'll answer serious questions, and laugh at anything else...

Erm - 'sall!