I remember the time of the change over well. I had been on the Pentax run list for awhile and was sure the list would fail with their leaving, but you proved me wrong - thank you so much for all your involvement in keeping the list going.
-----Original Message----- >From: Paul Stenquist <pnstenqu...@comcast.net> >Sent: Jan 1, 2021 5:43 PM >To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net> >Subject: Re: It was twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to >play > >Thanks for 20 great years. I had been subscribed for less than a year I think >and didn’t want to see it go away. You saved the list, and my memory may >be faulty but I don’t recall a lot of hiccups. Well done sir > >Paul > >> On Jan 1, 2021, at 5:27 PM, Doug Brewer <d...@dougbrewerphoto.com> wrote: >> >> sort of. >> >> During the Christmas season of 2000, while I worked on a museum project for >> a local university, I got a call from Don Nelson, a friend and Pentax sales >> guy some of you will remember from GFM. He told me that Pentax USA, which >> carried the PAML and PDML on its website, was looking to get out of the >> email list game because of potential liability issues arising from >> unsanctioned and borderline dangerously irresponsible technical and repair >> advice getting posted to the PDML. >> >> Don then asked if I knew anyone who could take it over. I thought about a >> few members I knew at the time, even reached out to one or two, who pretty >> much laughed, and I reported back to Don that there didn't seem to be much >> interest. He said ok. >> >> A couple days later, a nice woman from the marketing department at Pentax >> called to tell me she had heard from Don that I would like to be considered >> for the role of List Guy. After a long pause, followed by some muttering and >> me repeating "wait, what?" a few times, the nice woman in marketing assured >> me that Don said I was very interested. >> >> That was Don, as those of you who knew him would agree. >> >> I told the nice woman that I was not a list guy by any stretch of the >> imagination. I wasn't a software guy, didn't know anything about how to run >> an email list, was in all things comprehensively incompetent and liked it >> that way, and so on. >> >> The nice woman in marketing was unimpressed, so it was decided. I >> begrudgingly agreed that I would download some list software packages and >> see if I could make any sense of them. After that, I said, I'd get back to >> her in a week or so with my decision. The nice woman in marketing rang off. >> >> That afternoon I found and downloaded some software, installed it, and poked >> around for a few minutes until I had to do something with my actual job. The >> only thing I had really discerned from my brief time with the software was >> that I was out of my depth and needed some serious hours with it before I >> could even begin to think about whether or not I would take over the PDML. >> >> Some time that night the PDML broke. >> >> The next day, the nice woman in marketing called to tell me that the guy who >> worked at the advertising agency that handled the Pentax USA website and was >> the only one there who knew the list software and how it interfaced with the >> website was off on Christmas vacation and the server was down and hey, she >> would email me a list of everyone who was subscribed to the PDML. Good luck >> and godspeed, it was now my baby. >> >> I still can't tell you how I got it going, but here we are, and I'm grateful >> for it. >> >> Happy New Year, kids. >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> PDML@pdml.net >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > >-- >PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >PDML@pdml.net >http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow >the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
