> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of SRE
>
> I got one today... from topica. Is this a coincidence? Probably?
> Full text is below. It appears to be bulk mail, not using my name
> (which is available if you read the list charter). It was sent to
> a generic address and not my personal address. It states that it
> was sent unsolicited. It tells me I'm already included but I have
> the option of opting out.
>
> At least now we're talking about a specific example.
Hi,
I'm from Topica, and I thought it was important for me to respond to this
message on list so I can clarify a few points directly.
Yes, SRE, it's just a coincidence that you got this email...but it's an
indication that people are finding out about your list through Topica.
The email that you received is a request to allow your subscribers to be
able to read your list's messages through the Topica web site, as an
additional option. Please do note that this is *an opt-in request* i.e. we
will NOT archive your list and subscribers will NOT be able to read your
list messages on the Topica site without your explicit permission.
This email is sent to the "owner of" the list to verify that you are indeed
the owner of the list. We're verifying the owner as added security before
making any changes to a list. Based on feedback we had gotten, we thought
it was preferable to send to the owner address, rather than personal
addresses. I'd certainly welcome any additional feedback on that.
You are correct that this means that your list is currently in the Topica
directory. To be clear, we licensed all of the data in our directory from 3
sources of publicly available mailing lists: our partners, Liszt, Tile.Net
and PAML. It was (and continues to be) our understanding that all of this
information was meant to be public. If that is not the case, I can assure
you that we will work diligently to address it. Based on feedback we've
gotten in the past week, we've made changes to make it clearer and easier
how to remove your list from the Topica directory, if that is what you'd
like us to do. Please do let us know if you have additional suggestions.
Just to give you some perspective, from the very beginning, it was our
intention and desire to build a service to address the needs of the existing
list owner community. We solicited input for the past year and formed a
list owner advisory board. Working with a group of list owners, we made
decisions based on what we thought would be best. There are a number of
very sensitive issues, and it is apparent that we still need to refine our
approach on some of these. I'd ask for your help in highlighting these
issues (as you've already started to do here) so we can make our service
valuable for you and the overall list owner community.
If any of you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact me directly.
Thanks,
Tina Lin
Co-founder, Topica
