The Internet F-Word

 by: Judy (Wogoman) Cox

For the last several months I've been collecting and organizing links for the free Christian Resource Center. Now that the public area is up and the members’ area is well under construction, I'm running into one problem: the Internet F-word.

One of the most popular search terms in the world. One of the Web's biggest search term lies in the wrong hands. It’s so controversial that I can't put it in the subject line of an e-mail. (Thanks to those self-appointed e-mail guardians who have done such a commendable job of protecting the sanctity of our e-mail in-boxes by eliminating the f-word, thus leaving more storage space for Viagra ads, adult sites, and really personal growth secrets.) It’s still one of the best magnets to draw targeted traffic.

So, what if I have to advertise that my "Members Area" will have links to over 25,000 fr^e resources? Or that my public area has links to over 1,000 fr^e resources. Or that my e-zine will feature fr^e resources in every issue.

It's all part of life on the new frontier, keeping up with the changing rules, avoiding misdirected vigilante "justice."

No, I don't like the stupid e-mail filters that filter out the e-zines I subscribed to while apparently laying out the welcome mat for the scammers, spammers, smut merchants, and gamblers. I could gripe to my family and friends or change my domain name to keep my URL from triggering somebody's spam filter. But, hey, I live in the land of the fr^e and the home of the br@ve. Think I'll keep my domain name and post the e-zine on the Web site for those who can't get it by e-mail.

If I can't figure out some way to let people know my site is out there, then I'm just not a good enough promoter. If I can piggy-back that onto---say, an article that (I hope) advances the cause of exposing the Spam-nazis and ISPs for their meddling, ineffective and intrusive (non)solution to "the problem of spam," so much the better.

Maybe I could even come up with a title that piques the reader's curiosity while illustrating the woeful inadequacy of "filters." After all, I'm fr^e to submit fr^e articles to fr^e content sites and fr^e e-zines all over the Internet to advertise my fr^e resources. I just can't use the f-word in the subject line.

Note to self: add "fr^e" to meta-tags on Web site before the Google-bot's next visit ;-)