The key issue here is *opt in*. Here is a well written site about permission based marketing: http://www.messagemedia.com/rc/ten_guides.shtml
Highly recommended is the "non solutions" page by CAUCE, http://www.cauce.org/about/nonsolutions.shtml On Thu, May 30, 2002 at 12:02:35PM +0100, Barbie wrote: > Personally I think you're being a bit harsh. How are Manning to find > credible reviews for their technical books. If Manning cared so much about reviews they presumably would put something on their website (I don't see it) offering people the opportunity to sign-up review their books. If they want credibility then when an author reviews a book they can ask for it! ("I run $this site, I wrote $that module, etc") > mailing list going I suppose, but that would take time and they wouldn't > necessarily reach the people they wanted too. They have targeted a credible > publically available list and are offering effectively a free book in return > for a review. Just because it's public doesn't mean it can be used for spamming! It's the standard leaving the front door open argument. The point at which you start saying "oh well, it's OK to this or that even though it is basically spamming" is the thin end of the wedge. Imagine if this what you think is acceptable was done by every commercial company who had a product you could conceivably be interested in. > To my mind spam is when a blanket mail is sent to several thousand > addresses, the majority of which have no interest in the product or service, > and the senders of which are also likely to disguise their origins in the > email header. I agree that on a scale of evilness it probably isn't up there with the worst practices, and I'm not really beating on Manning any more than anyone else that sends unsolicited commercial email. And, as you point out (and I previously acknowledged) Manning have plenty of other graces. It does bother me that Manning is a respectable company setting, IMO, a bad example. > Manning have targeted their audience, At the end of the day, they used an email address without permission. It's really just that simple. Unless I asked for it, don't send sales pitches. > and I'm sure are would > be quite happy to remove you from any list they have created for mailshots, > should you click reply. This is a "non solution" as explained here http://www.cauce.org/about/nonsolutions.shtml Do you expect to spend the rest of your life unsubscribing? Do you then subsequently trust a company who has already a history of abusing that trust to then not sell your address elsewhere? It is much easier for me to blacklist their mailservers and save $large_number of other users here being hassled by them & their ilk too. Anyway, I'll keep quiet now :-) Paul -- Paul Makepeace ....................................... http://paulm.com/ "If there is a will, then I shall drink till I sleep." -- http://paulm.com/toys/surrealism/
