Amazingly, just a couple of days after I posted to List-Managers my
comments regarding what should and (more importantly) what should not
be contained in an initial greeting message (or a subscriber confirmation
or re-confirmation message) from any given mailing list, I received the
message below from Qualcomm.
The message below was definitely triggered by my act of having downloaded
the latest version of Eudora recently. (I did that recently.)
This is a wonderful example of how to do things right, and I want to com-
pliment the people at Qualcomm for taking the time to do it right.
Please look at the following message, and as you do, please note that:
o It is essentially devoid of anything that could be construed as
``advertising copy''. (Good!)
o It indicates that if I *do not* respond in any way, my ``profile''
will be automatically deleted from their records within two weeks.
(Good!)
o It goes the extra mile to give me detailed information about how/
where/when my e-mail address got onto their list. Specifically, it
provides the exact date, time, and IP address from whence this
subscription originated. (GOOD!) This information is, of course,
critical for tracking down the perp, when/if someone is using
Qualcomm's web sign-up form to repeatedly harass me.
It is worthy of note also that the message *does not* start off with a bunch
of incomprehensible HTML gibberish. (Good!)
Also worthy of note is the fact that the message was sent using an ordinary
(non-variable) envelope sender address ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). Thus,
if for any reason I was to consider these mailings inappropriate, I could
very easily block them all (in my MTA or in a sufficiently sophisticated MDA,
e.g. procmail) _without_ having to block all mail from the entire qualcomm.com
domain. (Good!) (People using variable envelope sender addresses take note!
You may perhaps want to set-aside a separate subdomain of your main domain...
like for example foobar-list.example.com... for your mailings so as to make
it easier for any postmaster who wants to block all foobar-list traffic to
do so WITHOUT also blocking all mail from your entire domain.)
Again, I want to compliment Qualcomm for providing a proof by example that
mailing lists can indeed be run both responsibly and with sincere concern
and thought for the desires of the recipient.
Ron Guilmette
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
P.S. I also give Qualcomm extra points for injecting a bit of levity into
the first paragraph.
P.P.S. When Qualcom mentions ``customizing ads'' in the first paragraph,
they are almost certainly talking about the ads one would see IF one elected
to actually use their new `free' version of Eudora, which, as I understand
it, allows you free use of the product in exchange for your eyeballs... a
fair bargain. I don't believe that there is any implication here that
Qualcomm is going to start blasting ads my way... at least not until I
myself `opt-in' by electing to use the free version of their product.
------- Forwarded Message
Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Received: from e-scrub.com (e-scrub.com [207.126.97.39])
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Received: from adserver.eudora.com (adserver.eudora.com [208.48.73.150])
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Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 23:34:21 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Subject: Eudora Profile Information for [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="isw6jFG_lLUCmdEQMBGX6yjD2zRXkkM"
X-Original-Recipient: RFC822;[EMAIL PROTECTED]
- --isw6jFG_lLUCmdEQMBGX6yjD2zRXkkM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
Thank you for filling out our survey and downloading Eudora. The
survey information will be used by Eudora for customizing the ads it
displays so that they better match your interests and your demographic
profile. The way we do this is by associating a Profile ID with your
information. We do it this way to ensure your privacy. With the
Profile ID, you are just a number to us. :-) We don't associate your
profile with your name or email address. Here is the URL for our
Privacy Policy <http://www.eudora.com/privacy/>.
WINDOWS USERS:
By now, you should have received a dialog asking you to
accept your Profile ID. If you clicked the "OK" button, you have
nothing more to do. If you clicked the "Cancel" button, your Profile
ID will not have been accepted, and Eudora will not be able to
customize ads for you.
If for any reason you think you need to reenter your profile ID (for
example, you clicked "Cancel" in the dialog, or you installed Eudora
on a new computer), please click this link and press "OK" in the
dialog that follows: <x-eudora-option:Profile=-------------------------------->.
MACINTOSH USERS:
By now, you should have received a dialog asking you
to accept your profile ID. If you clicked "You have my permission",
you have nothing more to do. If you clicked "No thanks" in the
dialog, your profile ID will not have been accepted, and Eudora will
not be able to customize ads for you.
If for any reason you think you need to reenter your profile ID (for
example, you clicked "No thanks" in the dialog, or you installed
Eudora on a new computer), please double-click the attachment at the
bottom of this message, and press "You have my permission" in the
dialog that follows.
ALL USERS:
If you wish to remove or update your profile, please use
the Customize the Ads You See button in the Payment & Registration
window, which is available from the Help menu. Please save this
message for future reference.
You completed the survey on Fri, 18 Feb 2000 09:08:36 -0800,
from the host [206.14.136.180].
If you do not accept this profiling information, it will expire
two weeks from the date that you completed the survey.
- --isw6jFG_lLUCmdEQMBGX6yjD2zRXkkM
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=Profile.dat
Content-Type: application/vnd.eudora.data; regcode=yes
Eudora-File-Type: profile
Profile: --------------------------------
Profile-Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2000 09:08:36 -0800
Profile-Address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Profile-Source-Agent: sendprofiles 1.0.3
- --isw6jFG_lLUCmdEQMBGX6yjD2zRXkkM--
------- End of Forwarded Message
