Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 13:49:29 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Fuhrman <cfuhrman@tfcci.com> To: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> Cc: <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Request for opinions: what is spam Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0111061342190.1650-100000@icestorm.tfcc.com> In-Reply-To: <3BE81422.7080304@potentialtech.com>
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Howdy, Did a little googling and came up with some of the following links: MAPS Definition : http://mail-abuse.org/standard.html CAUCE FAQ on SPAM : http://www.cauce.org/about/faq.shtml There is also a petition set up by Ronald F. Guilmette which attempts to come up with a commonly-accepted definition of SPAM: http://www.monkeys.com/spam-defined/definition.shtml As for your advertising problems, have you tried to do targeted snail-mail mailings? (Of course with the postal system in it's current state that might not be all that reliable to begin with... ) Cheers! On Tue, 6 Nov 2001, Bill Moran wrote: > I've been having a tough couple of months and I just had some > things happen today that are causing me to re-evaluate some of > my beliefs. > > One thing, central to this, is where do you draw the line > between promotion and spam? > > I'll give the example that really got me thinking: > > Got an email today through the "moreinfo@" address for my > company, which is listed on the web site on the contact > page. The email stated that "I got your email from a > list server". > Now, technically this is a lie, because the "moreinfo@" address > is _never_ used to _send_ mail, so it would never appear on > any list server. > I can see what _might_ have been done, however. Notice my > sig below. Now, that'll be on list servers for any list I post > to and this guy may have stopped by the web site, checked out > the contact page for the address, and sent me the mail. > > So my first question is: "Is this spam?" > > But the deeper, underlying question is: "Where do I draw the line > with promotional activities?" This is _the_ key question for my > business right now, because we _must_ promote to be successful, > but there are obviously some ways of promotion that are simply > unethical. > An example is that I recently posted to the jobs@freebsd.com list > an announcement about my company and that we're seeking new customers. > To me, that's what that particular list is for. I would never > have posted such an announcement to questions@ or any other FreeBSD > list. I received one complaint that it was an inapprorpiate posting, > and while I don't know how many people subscribe to that list, I'm > assuming that that's a pretty low percentage that I offended. > (On the flip side, I'm wishing I had never posted it, since it resulted > in no new business for me. IOW it was totally ineffective and made > me 1 enemy) > I don't want to get too long winded at this point, but beyond the spam > questions, what kind of promotion do you guys consider legetimate and > what do you consider "over the top"? How about cold-calling? Our > current budget simply won't allow for magazine or similar advertising > at this point, so what should we do? > > - -- Chris Fuhrman | Twenty First Century Communications cfuhrman@tfcci.com | Software Engineer (W) 614-442-1215 x271 | (F) 614-442-5662 | PGP/GPG Public Key Available on Request -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: PGPEnvelope - http://pgpenvelope.sourceforge.net iD8DBQE76DDGtZTBgtmnGNERAjKlAJ9WReAYXGjC96cHTYyp13ZbUlsEQwCfcfm9 DS9vWOIvivtT1eM7Pe0PyEU= =WjU9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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