[CLUE-Talk] Oh No! Not Again! (spam spam spam spam ...)

[Jed S. Baer]

On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 08:38:16 -0600
Charles Oriez <coriez at oriez.org> wrote:

> At 07:59 AM 4/16/2003 -0600, you wrote:
> 
> >So, Maureen from IBM one of the "thieving scum who are trying to steal
> >a communications medium and make it worthless..."
> >
> >Huh.  <dumbfounded>
> 
> if she's spamming, yes

A few salient points, I think.

No, Maureen isn't in the same company as Alan Ralsky. I'm sure she thought
she was acting in good faith. But ...

One should not (furtively isn't the right word here ... drat!) collect
e-mail addresses by way of CLUE. How hard is is to put, at the top of the
signup sheet, in large type, "Signup here to receive e-mail from IBM about
our products". This parallels the "confirmed opt-in" and other similar
arguments for web-based signups, privacy policies, etc. -- be explicit
about what you're doing. That is the sense -- correct, IMO -- in which
this e-mail was unsolicited.

Marketing is (or should be) about establishing a relationship, and part of
that is that you don't blind-side your audience. Know your customer. Don't
blindly send 500KB e-mails, even if you believe you legitimately have an
address, without spending some time first to find out what the interest
is. Why would anyone think that each person attending a CLUE meeting has
ability to influence purchasing decisions? And has a broadband net
connection? At the IBM level, this should be obvious.

The truth is, that this sort of behavior irritates me more when it comes
from people who should know better, than from people like Ralsky, who know
exactly what they're doing. I'm not disappointed in the latter, but in the
former. It irritates me most when it's done under the "cover" of
participating in CLUE -- and that's why I think it's relevant on the list,
in this case.

Finally, remember Dave, that it's nearly guaranteed that for each e-mail
on this list, there's somebody on it who's already tired of whatever
subject, or not interested in it. That's the nature of the beast, in this
case. I didn't care for at least 50% of the whole Irag/Oil thread. So
what? I hit the delete key.

I completely agree with Charlie.

It's nice, Dave, that you get such a small amount of spam. The percentage
(by count, not KB) of spam I get each days runs from 25% to 60%. I do pick
and choose the ones I respond to -- there are only so many hours in the
day. But when I have viable target, I'll use it.

jed
-- 
I wouldn't even think about bribing a rottweiler with a steak that
didn't weigh more than I do. -- Jason Earl