warez, porn, and clipart

After several hours of running around the Internet, seeking a single graphic clip art for a stupid demo for work, I have determined that clip art sites belong to the same sadistic people who put together porn and warez sites.

Why?
• It's nearly impossible to get into the site -- Top 50 lists, voting, redirection. The never ending loop of sites.
• Two words: Pop Ups -- "You've won this" "Come look at this" and "Please come again"
• Free login required -- Would this include the NY Times' site?
• Quality sucks -- Even if you manage to find what you're looking for, it'll be terrible quality and not suitable for your purposes.
• You have to pay for the really cool stuff -- TANSTAAFL, buddy.

What did I learn from my adventure? Hand draw it and print it out.

This also occurs if you've ever tried to find a certain font online. Fonts Top 100, Top 50 Fonts, Font 25 Elite... gah.

If anything the good ol' Warez n' Porn industry is decidedly more friendly. If you know where to look, then you can find the stuff for free, on non-popup sites, etc*. Clearly this is due to real-world competition from jazz mags and people with CD burners.

Mordel's final analysis is right. These evil net-monopolies need real-world competition. Distribute awful clip art pictures on the street! Learn calligraphy! Smash the system!

...or just use Comic Sans MS, like you always do.

*Please, no chatterbox requests for URLs <g>