Re: Pentax Wants Your Digital Pix

[Keith McGuinness]

I mostly agree with Tom C here, and I'm certainly not getting 
stuck into either Aaron or Pentax.

In response to the "thanks but no thanks" email from Marco, I 
sent the following reply to him (note that I sent this message 
*before* most of the recent discussion and, in particular, before 
information about abusive messages):

---Message to Marco
Hello

You gave up too easily, I think!

I saw several responses on PDML from people who thought it was 
okay, a few (including me) even thought it was fun to do.

It was inevitable -- given the large number of internet scams 
running -- that there would be some doubt about the legitimacy of 
the request.

Also, given the nature of the internet, there were always going 
to be some negative comments. To me, it seemed to be worst on the 
Pentax User Forum (which I visit rarely) than on PDML. On PDML 
(and I read the whole thread), the main issue was concern that it 
was a scam. Once that had been settled, several people indicated 
that they would "give it a go".

As a fan of Pentax gear for 20 years (although I've only recently 
taken up the *ist DL), if there is some reconsideration I'll 
happily take part.

Keith McGuinness
---End message

Tom C wrote:
Aaron,

I'm not beating you up over this... please believe that. I understand 
what Pentax Canada does, they do however represent Pentax (the company 
that produces cameras and photography equipment).

I just don't get how you're jumping to the conclusion that "you assume 
they intended to steal people's images or do something different from 
what they said".  When did I say that?  I never assumed that all.  I did 
require more information, however.

Lets face it.  The whole thing was handled somewhat unofficially.  In 
this day and age of legalese, things appear unusual when we *don't see 
it*. I'm not pointing fingers at you. You did exactly what I would have 
done in the same circumstances and Frank was passing the message along. 
I would assume that anyone truly interested in submitting photos, 
including myself would be thankful, and I am.

In the end what I don't understand is the about-face that was taken.  
Why not just delete and ignore the e-mails from the jackasses and 
continue to engage those who responded in a sincere and civil manner?


Tom C.



From: "Aaron Reynolds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: pentax-discuss@pdml.net
To: pentax-discuss@pdml.net
Subject: re: Pentax Wants Your Digital Pix
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 11:56:00 -0500

Tom, Pentax Canada, like Pentax USA, produce nothing.  They import and 
re-sell cameras atincreasingly poorer margins.

If you had read the e-mails, you'd know why they canned it.  They were 
disgusting.

They were looking for goodwill and attempting to engage their customer 
base in a friendly, grassroots way, and for their troubles they were 
called things that would make Harvey Keitel blush.

Why you assume they intended to steal people's images or do something 
different from what they said because there wasn't a legalese 
paragraph at the end of the message is beyond me.

As I said, this is on my shoulders -- my bad advice led them here.  
Please stop beating me up over this.

-Aaron

-----Original Message-----

From:  "Tom C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subj:  re: Pentax Wants Your Digital Pix
Date:  Tue Feb 7, 2006 11:36 am
Size:  2K
To:  pentax-discuss@pdml.net

Godfrey,

I stated in my original post, that I had lost the original message.  
After
reading your copy of it, I find that I insinuated nothing at all. The 
words
"more trouble than it is worth" are hardly kind words for a business 
to use
in any context when their customers are involved. Additionally I find 
it odd
to the extreme that a company whose business is producing and selling
products that allow people to engage in photography would have *any* 
trouble
in having a coherent policy and procedure regarding copyrights of 
submitted
photo.  Likely any inquiries and perceived negativity would have been
minimized if complete information was presented up front.


Tom C.






>From: Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: pentax-discuss@pdml.net
>To: PDML <pentax-discuss@pdml.net>
>Subject: re: Pentax Wants Your Digital Pix
>Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 16:47:35 -0800
>
>Rather than present an insinuation about Pentax Canada's business
>practices by posting interpretations of the note, here is the text 
of  the
>message sent to me on Saturday:
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>>From: Marco Veltri
>>Date: February 3, 2006 6:20:40 AM PST
>>Subject: RE: Pentax Wants Your Digital Pix
>>
>>
>>  Hello,
>>    Due to the negative response on the forums and all the questions
>>people
>>kept asking about copyright the powers that be have decided that we  
will
>>use
>>other sources to find images. We received great images but due to the
>>problems it has been decided that it is more trouble that it is  worth.
>>Thank
>>you to all the people who sent in images. There were about 10  
people who
>>sent in images and I will be contacting them individually with this
>>message.
>>
>>Again, thanks to all who sent in images.
>>
>
>Marco was very responsive when I corresponded with him, I submitted a
>gallery of 20 images for him to select from and he wrote back to  
thank me
>within an hour. It sounds like his project for the marketing  department
>foundered due to a perceived negativism expressed in  people's 
responses.
>
>I'd have cut it short as well.
>
>Godfrey
>