
“Single?” Lawn Signs Conquer the American Landscape (2008) - colinprince
https://blog.rjmetrics.com/2008/11/06/single-lawn-signs-conquer-the-american-landscape/
======
cosmiccartel
I remember seeing one of these signs in 2013. I was immediately intrigued
since, outside of facebook and craigslist, there was very little web activity
in my state, much less my impoverished hometown of 4000. The fact that the
town's name was misspelled in the URL was even more interesting.

I also tracked the source down to NuStar Solutions. After a bit of digging, I
found that just before the signs went up, a Craigslist ad was posted looking
for a local to place signs around town. Not long after, there was a "response"
ad posted by the person who had placed the signs, warning others that it was a
scam and that they hadn't received payment for it.

~~~
zokier
Seems bit odd to risk a scam (and the attention it brings along) if you are
generating $45M revenue. I would rather just pay out and keep under the radar,
considering that the company seems shady enough as-is.

~~~
cosmiccartel
That's a good point. Most likely that would have been the work of some low-
level employee at a regional office trying to boost their numbers.

------
blakesterz
That's a really interesting read. FTA:

"My first stop: WHOIS. The WHOIS database is designed to serve as a master
directory of all domain name owners, although in my experience there are no
controls enforcing the submission of valid information. Moreover, most domain
name registrars now allow registrants to register anonymously by serving as a
proxy for the registrant. Despite these shortcomings, it’s always a good place
to start."

I know on balance the GDPR is a good thing, but we are really going to miss
WHOIS.

~~~
always_good
Who is going to miss WHOIS?

I'm not. If it was opt-in I bet nobody would even reveal their details at all.

At worst, you're just accidentally doxing yourself and setting yourself up for
a social engineering attack.

For example, name, email, and (wrong but close) address were enough to get
someone into this guy's Amazon account: [https://medium.com/@espringe/amazon-
s-customer-service-backd...](https://medium.com/@espringe/amazon-s-customer-
service-backdoor-be375b3428c4)

~~~
dredmorbius
Many interested in mitigating abuse.

~~~
always_good
They can report the domain to the registrar.

Doing something with WHOIS info sounds more like a cloak and dagger fantasy.

In reality, having your personal info in your WHOIS sets _you_ up for abuse.

~~~
dredmorbius
Tying together multiple domains to a single authority (as here) is useful.

Essential? Dunno. But definitely useful.

Source: used WHOIS extensively in abuse mitigation and reporting.

Registrars tend to DGAF, though I suppose blanket blocks of all domains from a
given registrar, practiced widely enough, might have impacts.

------
patorjk
This was a fascinating read! I was pretty blind to these signs until recently
when my 5-year old son started asking me what they say. There are a number of
"We Buy Houses (xxx)-xxx-xxxx" signs where I live. I bet it's a similar type
of operation.

~~~
stochastic_monk
I’ve been seeing those signs for 20 years.

~~~
patorjk
The article is 10 years old, and the company it focuses on had 45 million in
revenue 12 years ago.

------
tgb
I figured these were a step further towards MLM: a single company selling
individuals signs and a generic dating site for $3000 or whatever and
promising them a portion of the proceeds. That way the central company never
has to plant signs or study the local market, etc.

There's also a handwritten sign for a dating site in my city I've seen a
couple places now. It's not obviously hyperlocal so I imagine it's someone's
actual "I'm going to be the next Zuckerberg" project.

------
dwighttk
I never saw any "Single?" signs, but I do wonder about all the signs I see
around here offering cash for diabetic test strips... I'm guessing those are
given out free by some program and then sold, but don't you kind of need those
if you are getting them?

~~~
ALittleLight
My assumption with the diabetic strips is that well insured people can get
large quantities from their doctors at the expense of the insurance provider
and then sell them for a profit for cash. Alternatively, people in the medical
supply supply chain likely have good sources for large amounts of test strips
they could offload at a profit.

This is purely my guess having seen the same signs and wondered the same
things.

~~~
russdill
Could also be a ploy to get diabetics in the door for some other sales
program.

------
kevin_b_er
How is Together Management Group, Inc thus not a criminal enterprise for mass
littering for profit?

~~~
Impl0x
Buddy wait til you hear about oil companies

------
zokier
> company charges their customers from $3,000 to over $15,000 for their
> matchmaking services

Wait, what, how?!

~~~
sp332
High-pressure sales tactics. They target people who are feeling vulnerable due
to not being able to find a good relationship. They get them in a room, pitch
them on a match telling them how perfect it is and how lucky they are to make
this connection. Then they say: you have to pay $3,000 or we won't give you
the name or contact info. And the offer is only good until you leave the room.

edit: I can't find a good link, but if you search for "imasucker" there are
some details.
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5TqEWNF...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5TqEWNFLg9sJ:https://blog.rjmetrics.com/2008/11/06/single-
lawn-signs-conquer-the-american-landscape/&num=1&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0)

~~~
lovehashbrowns
There's another reply there that talks about the service more in-depth by a
user named "Crumb."

What's interesting is that he got the same $3,000 service for $500. And he
actually got to have some low-quality dates! I figured these were full-blown
scams. They also sell their leads to other dating companies.

------
chrisbennet
As an aside when I see those “Single?” signs, some quirk of my brain thinks of
an alternate version for devorce lawyers:

“Single? Would you like to be?”

------
balnaphone
The article states: "Remember when I said that certain dating businesses can
print money? This is one of them. A 2006 reveals that the company was then
bringing in about $45 Million of revenue a year."

I'm wondering what the missing word is after "2006". Any clues? Where did the
revenue figure come from?

~~~
mirimir
Annual report?

------
inetknght
The town I'm at is infested with so-called "bandit signs" advertising "Soandso
buys houses. Soandso pays cash." with a phone number to call.

It strikes me as odd that there's little to no enforcement of not only the
signs but of the _extremely_ shady business practices therein.

~~~
0x00000000
I just knock them down. The ones that block my view when making a left turn
anyway, plus any others in the vicinity for good measure. I have relevant
sections of the county code bookmarked on my phone but no one has ever stopped
me.

------
rajacombinator
This was a nice bit of observation and sleuthwork, but he kinda punts at the
end with his conclusion. Who is paying $3000-$15000 for matchmaking in the era
of internet dating?

I fully believe there are a lot of desperate low-info lonely people out there
who would try a dating website from a random lawn sign. And I believe that
there are a lot of desperate wealthy people out there that would pay 3-15k for
a dating service. But I really doubt these sets intersect at a high enough
rate to make this a profitable endeavor. And the people willing to pay 3-15k
are not looking to pay a random lawn sign caliber company.

Most likely the majority of their revenue comes from reselling the info they
acquire in various shady methods.

------
wishinghand
I've seen a sign in San Diego recently for a neighborhood in the uptown area.
I didn't go as deep as as the author of the article, but after seeing the site
I figured it was either a scam or a more traditional matchmaking venture.

------
quickthrower2
> Why the scattered infrastructure? Is it possible these identical road signs
> that all appeared within 100 miles of each other are actually operated by
> different companies?

When I used to be into SEO there was a theory going around about owning
multiple sites and linking them together. Different IPs and locations 'looked'
better to Google than all these sites linking to each other from the same IP
address. Maybe this theory motivated the different servers.

