Leaving aside the fact that I'll never in any way, shape manner or form give Zango any credit for anything, this will boil down to the people who created this widget.

I'd be willing to bet they are indeed Zango affiliate. as you pointed out, why would anyone insert the Zango ads if they weren't geting paid? And as we learn from history, anyone having anything to do with Zango is in it for the sheer $$$ angle.

It's not like they'd do it to gain an edge anywhere.

And any other soc networking site that lets itself get tangled in the Zango soup is just foolish. JMHO
TeMerc | Homepage | 01.07.08 - 8:15 pm | #

There's two others on there that I saw, that are identical to Secret Crush (if I recall correctly, they were called "Secret Admirer" or something similar, but do a search from your Facebook account for "Admirer"), that were found whilst trying to find the "My Admirer" widget referenced by Zango
MysteryFCM | Homepage | 01.07.08 - 9:56 pm | #

Found them ..... first two results inside Facebook when searching for "My Admirer". Everything to do with them is IDENTICAL to Secret Crush.

Application: Secret Admirer - CRUSH on ME (PERFECT MATCH)Developer: Platform Software Inc.,

Application: Secret Admirer
Developer: Alex Aylesbury

If you can access it and the URL works, you can find them at;

facebook.com/s.php?q=my%20admirer&n=-1& k=40000000020
MysteryFCM | Homepage | 01.07.08 - 10:00 pm | #

Its Zango everyone knows its Zango and yet they continue with the tired old game of blame this other guy it wasnt us...
milligansghost | 01.07.08 - 11:09 pm | #

I think the Alex guy that is listed as the developer really is the author. His facebook page is atleast very authentic and he links to a website: http://agency23.co.uk/facebook.php . Maybe Zango paid him, but most likely he only gets affiliate commision per install.
Stefan Lundström | 01.08.08 - 2:21 pm | #

I "played" with it several times, and it always displayed the same Zango ad ("crush calculator").

The secret crush authors are indeed the ones to blame; Zango reacted that violently because they just got convicted by the FTC for not being able to control their affiliates methods. Which is what happened here.
Anonymous | 01.10.08 - 11:51 am | #

Yeah, so, I check IP addresses when people post anonymous comments to hot-button topics.

Might want to disclose your affiliations next time, or not bother posting again. Thanks.
Paperghost | Homepage | 01.10.08 - 2:16 pm | #

Just as an FYI, I've posted some additional comments on the "brouhaha" on my blog.

http://smithkl42.blogspot.com/20...- generated.html

(It's more-or-less along the same lines as what you've already posted, Chris.)
Ken Smith | Homepage | 01.10.08 - 4:37 pm | #

A zebra is a zebra no matter how many stripes it has. Secret Mow, secret snow.
MowGreen | 01.19.08 - 11:00 am | #