Karoline Leavitt Absolutely Owns Some Loudmouth LIB Media Blowhard, Someone Farted on Saquon & Tenderloin!
Plus: Bengals fans weren't happy with Patriots fans
People who are furious that Twitter is being manipulated haven't paid attention to the Internet over the last 20 years
The big drama on Monday, I'm told, is over how Twitter is now showing where an account originates from. You're being manipulated by some bot in Africa, the truthers are screaming.
Uh, guys, did you just realize bots have been a massive problem on social media apps? Have you been in a coma? And did you just realize the Internet is being manipulated and algorithms are gamed?
As someone who has worked on the Internet for 18 years, and has been profitable nearly since day one, let me tell you that manipulation has been going on since at least 2007. That's before Twitter existed. Facebook barely existed.
On Dec. 3, 2007, I was approached by a guy named Nat Berman. You might've heard of him on LinkedIn where he now presents himself as some sort of self-help business guru. He asked me that day if I wanted to be in a Google Group, yes, via email, that would work together to manipulate social apps of the day — StumbleUpon was the biggest in 2007 — where Internet users discovered new content.
Nat figured out that the way to game Stumble was power in numbers. So, that day in 2007, he built a group of power bloggers who formed an alliance to game Stumble, Digg, Reddit and any other outlets where there were opportunities.
There were daily emails featuring links to content that each guy wanted help promoting. Hey, could you post this on Digg for me? I could use some up votes on Reddit.
Or, there was the holy grail of traffic — a link in the Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard column.
If one of us in those groups received a highly-coveted link to the Hottest Woman of the Day, or whatever SI editor Jimmy Traina was calling it at the time, it was an absolute goldmine.
We're talking 50k clicks a day, which at the time, could pay rent if the right ad was running on your site. If you got that coveted link on a Friday, it meant 2 ½ massive days of traffic.
The Google Group figured out that if we posted links to our friends on the page that was being inundated with traffic, we would all win. We would all pay our bills.
There were weekends where I would have a $5 CPM (cost per mille; $5 per one-thousand impressions) movie ad running on my site, BustedCoverage.com (RIP — it's still alive, but it pains me to even look at it in its current state), combined with the Sports Illustrated link and I would make more money in a day than I was making in an entire week at my newspaper job.
The lesson here during a week where we're sharing, "What I've Learned" nuggets is that if you've survived more than 10-14 years on the Internet, there's a good chance you've manipulated the Internet at one point or another. It's a battle for survival out here. It's a kill or be killed business.
In this business, you either have great business relationships, or you don't mind getting into the mud when necessary.
It's why I've always said Screencaps should and will be built one email at a time, one interaction with a reader at a time. The emails are my business relationships. I refuse to be killed, so my plan was to build an audience so big that it's impossible for an employer to ignore. Loyal, legitimate audiences are GOLD on the Internet.
Zig when others zag. Befriend the common man as Meta, Musk and others deploy their bots to steal your brain.
Am I afraid of some African bot stealing Twitter impressions? No, my business model isn't as reliant as it once was on Twitter traffic. The current business model is built on humans connecting on a human level through our appreciation of Instagram models, sports, pop culture, food and commentary.
Humans desire the interaction that Screencaps provides.
Emailers can rest easy at night knowing that I'm a human, I'm not asking them to click on a link that's going to hack their Social Security check and I will give them a human-generated column on a daily basis.
The only thing I ask is to not get offended when, here and there, I use Paige Spiranac in a headline. It's just how I was raised on the Internet.
By the way, to answer the Twitter bot, this is the lore behind my header:
More ‘What I’ve Learned' emails from the greatest readers on the Internet
— Honda Scott in WV says:
A couple of things from training future cancer researchers at a University (not all are crazy purple hairs- thank God). Find them applicable to life in general:
1. You will rarely regret starting a task early
2. The more you do, the smarter you are. The smarter you are, the more you do.
Thanks for all you do and keep up the great work!
— Dave in Rhode Island has one:
A simple one from my grandfather, who was often fond of saying: "Can't" never did anything.
Still with me, 30 years gone!
— John in Northern New Hampshire checks in:
Saying I learned from a friends father who was a commercial fishing boat captain.
"Procrastination is a lot like masturbation. At first it feels kind of good, until you realize your only screwing yourself"
Enjoy the Turkey and the blessing of Family and Friends!!!
— Eric P. keeps it simple:
The biggest one I taught my boy, and it worked through grade school, high school and now he reminds me when he see’s an example while he’s in college.. Four simple words;
"Don’t be THAT guy".. The first time he asked me who THAT guy was, I just said, You’ll know him when you see him..And he has.
Kinsey:
This is a good one. I like to think "Know how to read the room" goes along with "Don't be that guy." To me, if our kids can master these two, we will have won at life.
— Gary in Grand Junction, CO stops by:
I learned early with my 1st kid (of 3) the question "How was your day?" usually got me a 1 or 2 word response. What I learned was if I wanted to get any kind of meaningful answer was making my question a little game.
"What are the two most interesting things that happened today", then I would award the "Most Interesting Thing of the Day" to one of the replies.
It caused them to actually reflect on their day and often started good convos, instead of one-word answers.
— SHL says:
I make sure that every phone call that I have with my loved ones ends with, I love you...that way if that is your last conversation with them, either they or you know that those were the final they heard from you,,,
I had no idea that NIL has turned NCAA cross country into a shady world
— Jeff D. in VA opened my eyes with this one:
Now that you are a cross country dad, I was wondering if you heard about the controversy at the NCAA championships this past weekend.
One of the major controversies has been the influx of Kenyan runners who can make more with NIL money than they made running professionally.
Of course foreign student athletes aren’t supposed to receive NIL money, but the coaches now pay a third party who then funnel money to the athletes. These Kenyans are usually older and a 22 -26 year old sophomore is common.
Kenya has also been plagued with doping allegations amongst their athletes. Top ranked Iowa State suspended a number of their runners for breaking team rules ( which many speculate was due to doping)
With the Power 4 conferences reducing their roster sizes it is much more difficult for a high school runner to earn an NCAA roster spot and this then trickles down smaller NCAA schools.
During the actual race a number of athletes were visibly cutting corners on the course (which the NCAA ruled was not a violation.)
Most people only concentrate on the major NCAA sports but the smaller non-revenue sports have been completely changed by the NIL rules.
https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/11/20/nil-changing-the-game-for-colleges-universties/
Do you remember the Cowboys fan we talked into going to the 2024 Thanksgiving game as his first-ever Cowboys game?
— Derek is back:
Just wanted to check back in.
Last year I attended my first NFL game. The setting: Cowboys Thanksgiving tradition game. The players: Cooper Rush vs Drew Lock. The price: $20 for nosebleeds.
This year: Dak Prescott v. Patrick Mahomes. The price: $325 for nosebleeds. Stakes: each team vying for playoff contention (outside looking in)
Will not be attending this year but will loudly (to the annoyance of my family) cheer for MY COWBOYS!!!
Kinsey:
I love how Derek can puff out his chest now that he has the Thanksgiving game on his resume. I'd love to get to the Lions game this week, but the cheapest seat is $354. I'm out, dawg. I might pull the trigger on Red Wings tickets. It's WAY cheaper.
Volvo Island
— Kurt writes:
I'm one of those guys who looks things up on Google maps. When I saw the Volvo island post you shared on Tuesday I had to check it out. What a bizarre scene this is.
You can see the Volvo on the island in the background, but then there's 2 VW beetles hanging on trees, and on the right there's another car partly submerged in the water. I don't know what the orange dots are all about on the beetles. Does anyone in screencaps nation have some insight on this?
Thanksgiving Week golf in the Midwest
— Chris P. writes:
Hey Joe, as a transplanted Buckeye up here in WIsconsin I enjoyed the golf talk about how late we all have played into the fall. I really enjoyed the reference to Ottawa Park GC as the oldest public course west of New York.
While attending UT that was my course for a few years. A little short in length but fun with elevation changes which are not always around in flat NW Ohio. When we lived in Waterville RIverby was my go to. We played this past weekend at our golf club here.
If you had told me when we moved here we would be playing golf the week of Thanksgiving I would have laughed at you. I joke that since we live here I am all for global warming. I always enjoy the references to PBurg and the Toledo area.
Kinsey:
Chris, I'm participating in a pre-Thanksgiving, eight-man, 27-hole marathon scramble on Wednesday with some serious weather coming in. The weather guys are saying the 50-degree high will be set at like 1 a.m. tonight.
The winds are expected to howl to 45 mph — or more.
Why do it? Because it's a challenge and our balls haven't been chopped off. I'll be teamed up with Canoe Kirk. Diesel is teamed up with a school principal. Another guy is a school teacher. A couple of guys work in the automotive paint industry. We're talking absolute golf warriors. I have my doubts we'll make it 27 holes, but that's the plan.
Do you remember when people on Twitter laughed at me over the e-bike gang question? Well, well, well…look what we have here
Too damn soon! Turn on those lights after you suck down Thanksgiving dinner
— Marty in Hailey, ID sent in this one:
I was leaving a parking lot in Billings, MT Saturday and this car pulls into the coffee shop line. I like Christmas as much as the next guy, but I hope this isn’t a trend. It was before Thanksgiving too.
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And that is it this morning. REMINDER: I'M OFF TOMORROW. SeanJo will handle the column as I get a day off for the 27-hole blowout. The local weather guy is saying the barometric pressure drop while we're golfing will be wild.
What does barometric pressure drops do to a golf ball? We're about to find out.
Go have a great Tuesday. I'll see you Thanksgiving morning…Screencaps Jr. is running his very first Turkey trot…which means I will have a VERY EARLY Thursday morning.
Take care.
📩 Email: joe.kinsey@outkick.com or use my personal Gmail
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