So my phone rang one day last week and, naturally, there was a computer on the other end. But this wasn't a political robo-call trying to confuse me into voting for the wrong candidate. This was a commercial robo-call from a Web site called MerchantCircle, telling me there was a "new review of my service" on the site.

MerchantCircle is an attempt to create a localized Yellow Pages community on a national scale. So if you run a hair salon, you can put a page on MC with a map to your address, information about the salon, photos, testimonials, and ways for potential customers to contact you. Their tagline is:

"    Join the 430,000 businesses across the country who rely on MerchantCircle to prove that their business is trustworthy!"

Read more of Cringely's stupid marketing escapade on his Notes from the Field blog

Related articles
• Stupid hacker tricks, part two: The folly of youth
Tech-savvy delinquents set the Net aflame with boneheaded exploits that earn them the wrong kind of fame
• Stupid hacker tricks
Looking to enter a life of cybercrime? Beware the boneheaded miscues of these infamous cyberschnooks
• More stupider user tricks: IT horror stories redux
Idiot-proof your enterprise with these 10 hard-luck lessons of boneheaded IT miscues
• Stupid user tricks: Eleven IT horror stories
A long-suffering consultant and InfoWorld contributor recounts his tales of user catastrophe and lessons learned -- and shares astounding stories from readers, too
• The 7 dirtiest jobs in IT
Somebody's got to do them -- and hopefully that somebody isn't you
• Test your geek IQ
If you truly want to know how smart you are when it counts, then InfoWorld's Geek IQ test is the puzzler for you