baxter@robespierre.ICS.UCI.EDU (Ira Baxter) (06/06/90)
I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE COMMERCIALS IN NEWSGROUPS.
I received the following today:
Date: Tue, 5 Jun 90 12:24:23 EDT
From: Books Account ...address deleted...
To: baxter@...
Subject: Technical books
Hello. I saw your name in comp.unix.i386.
Would you be interested in receiving periodic email announcements about
new technical books in your field? If so, can you send a note to me?
Thank you.
<name of marketdroid deleted>
Market Research Dept.
<Random Book> Publishers
DON'T RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THIS UNLESS YOU WANT NEWSGROUPS EVENTUALLY
BURIED UNDER SUCH COMMERCIAL REQUESTS.
Now, I do sympathize with commercial vendors *answering*
questions posed on newsgroups... as long as the questions
are posed by legitimate users.norm@oglvee.UUCP (Norman Joseph) (06/06/90)
baxter@robespierre.ICS.UCI.EDU (Ira Baxter) writes: >I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE COMMERCIALS IN NEWSGROUPS. ^^^^^^^^^^ I tend to agree, but I thought you said this showed up in e-mail? >I received the following today: > [...] > Hello. I saw your name in comp.unix.i386. > Would you be interested in receiving periodic email announcements about > new technical books in your field? If so, can you send a note to me? > Thank you. Looks like harmless junk mail. The Post Office delivers pounds of it to me (and I'm sure to you) monthly. I usually throw it away. If you're really offended, reply to the sender and ask him to remove your name from his mailing list. >DON'T RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THIS UNLESS YOU WANT NEWSGROUPS EVENTUALLY >BURIED UNDER SUCH COMMERCIAL REQUESTS. ^^^^^^^^^^ Maybe you mean "newsgroup -readers-". >Now, I do sympathize with commercial vendors *answering* >questions posed on newsgroups... as long as the questions >are posed by legitimate users. Now -there's- an interesting scenario. One marketing jockey plays the "stooge" and feeds loaded questions to a newsgroup where the other marketing jockey is standing by ready to post the answers that will "prove" the superiority of Product X. Now -that- would be something to start a diatribe over. But, of course, in some other newsgroup ... -- Norm Joseph - Oglevee Computer System, Inc. UUCP: ...!{pitt,cgh}!amanue!oglvee!norm "Whaddya mean he had bullet holes in his mirror?"
m1jjh00@fed.frb.gov (Jeffrey J. Hallman) (06/07/90)
In article <9006051701.aa28475@PARIS.ICS.UCI.EDU> baxter@robespierre.ICS.UCI.EDU (Ira Baxter) writes: > I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE COMMERCIALS IN NEWSGROUPS. > ... told of email Ira received offering to send (also by email) > notices of new technical books. > ... > DON'T RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THIS UNLESS YOU WANT NEWSGROUPS EVENTUALLY > BURIED UNDER SUCH COMMERCIAL REQUESTS. I don't see the problem here. I also received this message and I responded positively to it. The marketroid at least had the grace to make his offer by email rather than posting it, and he did indicate that only those who ask will receive the messages. So how is this "burying the newsgroup"? I think it's more like junk mail, which you can always just throw away.
debra@alice.UUCP (Paul De Bra) (06/08/90)
In article <M1JJH00.90Jun6214152@macs1.fed.frb.gov> m1jjh00@fed.frb.gov (Jeffrey J. Hallman) writes: >In article <9006051701.aa28475@PARIS.ICS.UCI.EDU> baxter@robespierre.ICS.UCI.EDU (Ira Baxter) writes: > >> I DO NOT THINK WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE COMMERCIALS IN NEWSGROUPS. >> ... >I don't see the problem here. I also received this message and I >responded positively to it. The marketroid at least had the grace to >make his offer by email rather than posting it, and he did indicate >that only those who ask will receive the messages.... There is a difference between posting and e-mail: - if many companies start posting commercial junk to a newsgroup then it takes too much time to hit 'n' all the time to skip the junk messages, so people who do not have all day for reading news are going to quit reading the newsgroup. - if those companies start e-mailing commercial junk to people who post in a newsgroup then it takes too much time skipping the junk mail so these people will refrain from posting to the group in order to remain unknown. In either case it is likely that the people who could provide the most valuable contributions to the newsgroup are going to stop contributing in order to not waste their time on reading junk news or reading junk mail. Paul. -- ------------------------------------------------------ |debra@research.att.com | uunet!research!debra | ------------------------------------------------------
richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) (06/08/90)
>Now -there's- an interesting scenario. One marketing jockey plays the >"stooge" and feeds loaded questions to a newsgroup where the other >marketing jockey is standing by ready to post the answers that will >"prove" the superiority of Product X. Now -that- would be something >to start a diatribe over. Are you suggesting that this isn't already in common practice? -- Richard Foulk richard@pegasus.com
ggw@wolves.uucp (Gregory G. Woodbury) (06/14/90)
Several people have complained about one vendor sending a small inquiry via email to see if they are interested in being on the vendors email mailing list. There was quite a discussion weveral weeks back in one of the news.* groups about whether a vendor should contact news posters via email. The upshot of that discussion was that it would be appropriate for the vendor to send an inquiry via email when they felt that a particular user might be interested. The whole round of discussion does not need repeating here, although most of the obnoxious points have been made already. There is a simple answer. If YOU do not want to be on that vendors mailing list, simply answer the questions in the negative and (if you want) tell the vendor VIA EMAIL to leave you alone. Personally, I appreciated them asking me if I wanted to be on the list since I do use their products a lot. -- Gregory G. Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC UUCP: ...dukcds!wolves!ggw ...mcnc!wolves!ggw [use the maps!] Domain: ggw@cds.duke.edu ggw%wolves@mcnc.mcnc.org [The line eater is a boojum snark! ] <standard disclaimers apply>