I was going to write about how annoying a whole bunch of Sunday drivers were (and this being Friday, they have no reason to be on the street), but I got an email which really got me going. To wit:
Subject: IMPORTANT CHANGES AT ZAGAT.COM
As a registered user of our site, you are invited to become a Charter Member of zagat.com, which became an online subscription service today.
What does this change mean to you? You will still be able to visit zagat.com to locate a restaurant or to vote, but from now on only members will have access to our site’s other features, including:
[deletia]
Given all these benefits, we believe that your zagat.com membership is sure to pay for itself many times over — each time you have a good meal or avoid a bad one.
Join now for a 14-day trial and enter promotional code CHARTER when you subscribe. If you like what you see, you can join for just $9.95 (that’s 33% off the regular price of $14.95). This offer ends on October 18th.
Please join us.
Tim and Nina
P.S. – To learn more, visit: http://zagatnews.zagat.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eI8I0EaOEz0DAn0BjJ30A4
If Zagat’s content was better — and if it wasn’t generated by people like me — I might be more inclined to subscribe. But as it stands, Zagat is just not interesting enough to merit a subscription. So long, Tim and Nina. Incidentally, I interviewed Nina Zagat last year and she didn’t mention anything about going subscription. I’d link to that interview, but Ziff-Davis — being the ridiculous company that it is — has deleted all the archives for Smart Business. Oh what a beautiful morning!