Why I don't like web scripts that automatically update the copyright year

It's not that I have something against automated updating - I LOVE it. RSS and other technologies have made it so that metapages - pages sourcing others content - are not that difficult to do.

This is more of a philosophical issue.

What does philosophy and the internet have to do with eachother? It turns out, a lot. The philosophy of serving your users - the philosophy of giving to get something back - the philosophy of great user interface. However, this is the philosophy of lazyness.

I was at an event the other week, and heard someone talk about how they can make your site automatically update with the copyright year. First off, this is simple - second off, I don't like the theory.

Why? The number one thing I see companies and clients do is say they need a website, but completely gloss over the fact you need content. Compelling, good, fun content.

Many companies look at automatic things like that as "the sign that their website is up to date." Grand, you have the right year at the bottom. A gold star. Now, how about presenting value to your visitors?

Another great conversation I had was with someone who thinks that an internet presence is useless. And, well, frankly, his is. It's five pages with the standard listing of service driblle - no call to action, no unique offers, no reasons to choose them over someone else. So of course, it's useless. He's not using it. Yes, everyone should be online - but also, you need to be the purple cow.

There is a bevy of great writers, content creators out there - and the extra few hundred or thousand bucks you're going to spend is going to make thousands, if not hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in difference in what your web strategy is going to do for you.