Oh wait! I've changed my mind again. :-) I've found an argument that
legitimately distinguishes the Topica request from being spam:
journalism.
Requests to publish another's information or verification of public
information can be classified as an execption to UCE being spam.
While it is, certainly, unsolicited, commercial, and email, I think it
is reasonable to make it an exception.
PAML's requests to update information on unsolicted listings is
journalism. Requests to publish another's information is also
journalism (e.g. to archive messages). I get email requests to
republish FATFREE recipes all the time, many from commercial sources
that sell subscriptions and ad space. I also get email requests for
interviews by professional journalists. None of this bothers me, nor
did I think to consider it spam.
I feel much better now that I have an objective non-spammer-type
reason to not classify Topica's email as spam. Does this explanation
seem right to others as well? How about you, Nick? Also, since this
explanation wasn't proposed before, I don't see Nick's accusation of
"spam" absurd. Especially when the first arguments offered him were
the very same ones we used to hear from Spamford. Nick just didn't
take into account that we make an exception for UCE that is purely
journalistic and no one offered it is a reason.
--
Michelle Dick [EMAIL PROTECTED] East Palo Alto, CA
Owner, FATFREE Vegetarian Mailing List
