Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 15:53:50 -0500 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: "Gary W. Swearingen" <swear@blarg.net> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Request for opinions: what is spam Message-ID: <3BE84DDE.8090201@potentialtech.com> References: <3BE81422.7080304@potentialtech.com> <3r3d3racp8.d3r@localhost.localdomain>
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Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> writes: > >>One thing, central to this, is where do you draw the line >>between promotion and spam? > <SNIP> > > You have to judge your market and your spamees. Are they going to be > annoyed by your e-mail? Some might not. Like freebsd lists which get > spam about freebsd books. I really wasn't considering bulk mailing, but looking at things that would be borderline, such as: I see request for help on a mailing list, so I privately email about providing consulting services. I'm sure there are other examples, and this is the "fuzzy" area you speak about. You even state below that such things have to be done "judiciously" and for the most part, I have avoided doing them at all. > You don't send promotional e-mail to people who haven't asked for it. > If someone asks about gizmo-thingy, and you sell a one, send to them > or the list they asked on. Even that has to be done judiciously. You're sticking strictly to email, which _was_ the original question, but I've been thinking about promotion on a broader scope. Cold-calling for example. I don't know of anyone who likes getting cold sales calls at work. Cold-calls don't bring up the same ethical question as spam, but they still "annoy people" and does that make them right/wrong or are they even effective? >>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 > > That list is for seeking new employees and new employers. I don't see > any way you could justify seeking new customers on that list. "freebsd-jobs FreeBSD employment and consulting opportunities." Which is all I could find on the web site concerning that list. Perhaps that charter should be better defined. If I could make the mistake, so could anyone. >>Our >>current budget simply won't allow for magazine or similar advertising >>at this point, so what should we do? > > I'll bet you already know enough of your options; you get the big bucks > for making the correct choices, through good judgement or luck. True, but making the wrong decisions could ruin us at this stage in our growth. It's a little scary, but I guess that's all part of the game. Thanks for the feedback. -- Bill Moran Potential Technology http://www.potentialtech.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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